Content marketing…the new frontier. Or is it? The concept of content marketing has been around for a long time, but only in recent years has it really come into its own and morphed into a rigorous and significantly important part of marketing.

As a fellow marketer, I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “content is king” enough to make your head spin. We all know content marketing is important, but how many of us are actually doing it, and doing it well?

Considering the CMI did a survey showing that only 34% of marketers feel their content marketing is effective, we thought it would be beneficial to provide some insight and inspiration on doing amazing content marketing.

With the help of our publishing unit MyCustomer, we’ve put together The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing.

But knowing how pressed for time we all are, let’s just cover some of the key points briefly now and when you are ready for more you can download the guide.

 
  1. Marketing Strategy

“If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.”

― Terry Pratchett

Before you jump into the deep end and start churning out content have you considered why you are doing this? What goals are you striving to achieve? And who are you writing for?

In our guide we take a closer look at the following five stages which will ensure you put together a comprehensive marketing strategy:

Audit, Targets, Research, Goals, Interaction

  1. The Value of Curated Content

It might seem like “cheating” to repurpose someone else’s content but in fact the curation of content (when done correctly) can add significant value to your marketing strategy. Because let’s face it, many companies don’t have budget or resources to produce all the content they would like to in a timely fashion.

By striking a balance between your own-produced content and curated content you can keep up the pace and provide your audience with valuable information (even if it’s not always your own).

Our guide shares three questions which every marketer should ask themselves, as well as two dozen steps you can take to help you formulate an answer which suits your company resources and business needs.

  1. Blogs & Videos

With a chapter dedicated to both in our guide, each has a slightly different message for marketers. For blogs it’s that these are still a relevant and powerful tool to share your brand’s message and reach out to your target audience. Stats show that 60% of consumers feel positive about a corporate brand after reading their blog.

The guide offers several tips to ensure it is a success, from having a realistic publishing schedule and setting the right tone, to thinking beyond your own site in terms of where to publish.

For video, as mentioned earlier, the message in our guide is focused on urging companies to embrace this format as a powerful form of content marketing. One of the biggest barriers we hear is about cost. While you may spend a bit more compared to other content formats a study has shown significant difference between the average website conversion of those using and not using video (4.8% compared to 2.9% respectively).

We discuss not only how videos can get better conversion rates but also how you can do video marketing and not break the bank, as well as measurement tips specific to video content.

  1. ROI

Now speaking of measurement, no guide about content marketing would be complete without discussing how to measure the effectiveness and ROI of your activity. According to the CMI, less than a third or organisations believe they are successful at measuring the return on investment of their content marketing efforts.

It can be challenging but not impossible. We share several points in our guide to consider when measuring ROI, one being a more “holistic approach” which looks at three measures:

            1. Commercial measure – the hard and fast stats. Think audience share, sales, and leads.

            2. Tactical measure – the indicators that your content is visible and worth sharing (views, clicks, and engagement).

           3. Brand measure – perhaps a little easier for bigger brands as it’s all about sentiment, share of market mentions, and site traffic.

This is all a very brief overview from just a few of the chapters in our guide but hopefully is enough to get you considering your own marketing strategy and where it can be improved to deliver real success for your business.

If you’re ready to immerse yourself in these topics then The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing is your next stop.