Content Marketing is everywhere! According to SEMrush, a whopping 91% of businesses make use of content marketing. But allow us to let you in on a little secret few know, most of them are doing it all wrong! Music to your ears, isn’t it? This is your chance to finally have the upper hand over all your competitors. In this article, we will go through all you need to know about content marketing, and how to get that edge you need.
What is Content Marketing?
Content Marketing is defined succinctly by the Content Marketing Institute:
“Content Marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
This can come in the form of articles, infographics, videos, podcasts, or books. Since the common form of content marketing is articles, we will focus on it from here on. Unlike other forms of marketing that seek to interrupt a user’s activity, content marketing is something people actively search for and want to consume. One example of content marketing is none other than this article (Yes, you are now part of our content marketing). But, NO before you click away, we are not here to sell you our miracle content marketing service, we are here to offer you genuine valuable advice for your business. So read on, as we learn how to do content marketing the right way.
What on earth should I write about?
Use Data
What data? Your competitors of course! Look at their content marketing strategy and see which articles work and which don’t. Once you find their top-performing articles, analyse them. Why are they so popular? Most likely, these articles have eye-catching titles, accompanied by content that answers a common burning question among the consumers in your market. From these articles, you can also learn more. Look at the length, writing style and tone of the article. Also, see how they incorporate their brand. Here, it is important to note not to over-mention your brand. As David Beebe, CEO of Storified Hospitality Group analogised aptly “Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” Got it? Let’s move on. After you gather all of this important information, put yourself in the shoes of the reader. What can be improved? There are definitely areas where you can do better. In conclusion, be smart! Let your competitors do all the trial and errors, learn from their successes and create your own!Consider your readers and your goals
Understanding your target audience and goals will dictate how you write your article. Like it or not, your article isn’t the only one from a reader’s search result. So, we have to attract only the readers we want. How? Here’s a little secret. Incorporate your target reader and your goals in your introduction or your title. This lets people know what questions you are going to answer and encourages those with the same questions to read your article.Ok, I published my article. I’m done, right?
Nope! Don’t publish and forget! This is the time to see how you fared. Analyse the data. Look at the number of shares, likes, page visits and conversion rates. Depending on what you want to achieve, you should focus on one particular set of metrics. For instance, if you want to increase brand awareness, focus on the number of shares, likes and page views to measure your article’s success. Didn’t perform as well as you hoped? Don’t worry, every article you write doesn’t have to be an instant hit. Content marketing is all about making educated guesses as to what will work. Find out the reason for its poor performance. Could it be your content or your title? It could even be your article design. A wall of text will discourage people from reading. Keep on trying. After all, there is no harm in publishing more articles.
Know when it is time to seek professional help
There is nothing wrong with doing all the content marketing yourself. But there will come a time when your time and effort is better spent on your product or when your content marketing strategy just isn’t working no matter how hard you try. That is time you should seek help from a professional. How to find the right one? Easy. Look at the projects they have done. That is a true testament to their skills and abilities. Likewise at Craft, we take great pride in our wide array of works and successes.
Singapore Home Cooks
Take a look at Singapore Home Cooks Facebook page. We plan, write and post different creative works, helping them grow to become Singapore’s largest home cook community with close to 75,000 followers!
Home-a-Genius
We were responsible for all forms of marketing for Home-a-Genius. Have a look at their social media pages, and there is no doubt how popular they have grown.
Going through all of our successes and the hundreds of campaigns we have run will take forever. If you are interested to know more, drop us an inquiry and we will get back to you.
Ultimately, the choice is yours. We have provided all you need to give you the edge in content marketing, but that will not guarantee that your brand will blow up overnight. Success in content marketing takes time, effort and experience. But with a little bit of our magic, we can give you a better chance to Craft your brand up for success.
There’s more. So if you are reading till here and you are motivated to introduce or reintroduce your business to the digital world (properly), drop us an inquiry via this contact form.
- This article content is contributed by Jason Tan, Digital Marketing Director at Craft.
- Article is copyrighted Craft Creative Pte Ltd.
