If you are looking for content marketing tips that work, then this article is for you! It was a challenge to come up with effective content marketing tricks because there are tons of them out there, but I think we've got some good ones for you.
Content! Content! Content!
It's become a critical ingredient to any successful marketing plan. In reality, most of us still struggle to come up with a content marketing strategy that helps us achieve our goals.
Many people say content is king, but we like how John Jantsch says content is air.
Don't believe me? Here are a few stats that will prove this point:
So back in 2017,
The State of Content Marketing: 2017 Survey
“Producing engaging content” and “Producing content consistently” were the biggest challenges in content marketing.
It was worrying news as it implied a failure to deliver compelling content strategies, and it affected the return on investment badly.
Let's jump to 2018,
The State of Content Marketing: 2018 Survey
Marketers became a little more mature in their content marketing knowledge, with 20% at an advanced level, and 52% at mid-level. However, there was still a long way to go.
Now, in 2019,
The State of Content Marketing: 2019 Survey
I am thrilled to report that confidence in content marketing has grown with 66% saying that it is extremely or very effective in their business.
Content marketing is worth the effort and will pay dividends over time!
Now, here’s the fun part! Let’s talk about some content marketing tricks to help you improve your content marketing right NOW!
21 Content Marketing Tips You Can Apply Now
To WIN in the content marketing world, you need to invest time, skills, effort, and money. It's not a game of luck!
This massive list of content marketing tips will help ensure you get the best results out of your investment!
Let's jump to it!
1. Identify Your Content Marketing Goals
In anything we want to accomplish in life, we need to have goals. The same principle applies to content marketing. Your content must have a purpose.
Ask yourself,
"What do I want to achieve by creating and promoting our content?"
Typically, marketers produce content for one or more of the following reasons:
- To increase credibility and authority.
- To rank higher on search engines.
- To educate and engage an audience.
- To increase lead generation.
Once you identify your goals, content will immediately become the voice of your marketing strategy.
2. Focus on Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is something that can catapult your business to the top. It takes time to create brand awareness, but by consistently creating content, you can accomplish strong brand awareness over time.
3. Learn How to Copywrite
When you learn and apply the basics of copywriting in your content strategy, you’ll be able to:
- Produce flawless content.
- Optimize your headlines.
- Create specific and relevant content.
- Speak in a language everyone understands.
Check out our article on Easy Copywriting Tips to improve your content marketing.
4. Produce Both Evergreen and Trending Content
What's the difference between evergreen and trending topics?
Evergreen content is content that is continually relevant and stays “fresh” for readers over a long time.
Trending content revolves around a subject that experiences a surge in popularity for a limited duration of time.
Both evergreen content and trending content are worthy of your audience’s attention, so create them both.
5. Publish Content Regularly
Content marketing success is impossible without consistency.
Inconsistency will kill your content marketing efforts.
Consistency is key!
You have to publish useful and fresh content CONSISTENTLY. Using a content calendar will help you plan and execute your content marketing plan.
6. Your Content Must Add Value
Creating content for the sake of creating content is pointless.
If you are going to take the time to produce content, make sure it's great and that it will add value to your audience.
7. Create Content for the Customer Journey
Remember the Marketing Hourglass, aka The Customer Journey from our previous articles?
The Marketing Hourglass (aka The Customer Journey)
Content can be leveraged to bring in more sales to your business. It's a great way to guide your customers in every phase of the Marketing Hourglass.
The content a prospect looks for is totally different than a current client, and you need to create content that addresses the needs of people at each phase of the customer journey.
For example, you might use testimonials, reviews, and whitepapers in the Trust phase. In the Know phase, you might produce how to type content that helps educate prospects. Make sense?
8. Understand Your Target Audience and Buyer Persona
Make sure you understand who you’re creating #content for before trying to sell anything.
Understanding your target audience and creating a buyer persona help you to:
- Direct your content marketing efforts to the right people.
- Create messaging and content that attracts and "speaks" to the right people.
-
Increase your conversions because you consistently create content that customers want.
9. Use Video
Video marketing is a great way to use and incorporate videos into your content marketing campaigns and strategy.
Did you know that 81% of businesses use video as a content marketing tool, and 76% of marketers say video has helped them increase sales and traffic?
Oh yes! Videos are great content. If you haven't been using them, then now is the best time to do so!
10. Start a Podcast
If you're looking for content that's both effective and modern, then podcasting is for you.
Podcasts are on-demand radio shows that are cooler and effective. Users can subscribe to podcasts to receive digital files once they are available and consume them when and where ever they choose.
The benefits of podcasting are:
- An excellent alternative to video.
- Boosts brand awareness.
- Builds strong relationships with listeners.
- Easy to produce.
- Highly engaging.
11. Start Blogging
There are 2.5 million blogs published daily!
Crazy right?
People are always on the hunt for fresh and relevant content, and as a content marketer, you should be publishing blogs regularly too!
Publishing blog content is great for SEO, web traffic, and lead conversion. It's also useful in building relationships, consumer loyalty, and much more.
The benefits of blogging to your content marketing strategy are endless!
12. Create a Content Hub
A content hub is a section on a blog or a website that compiles content related to a central topic. It is a content marketing strategy that involves linking several pages of related content back to a central hub page.
Content hubs help:
- Boost search engine ranking.
- Establish website authority through internal links.
- Improve the overall user experience.
Check out our previous article titled Content Hubs: Everything You Need To Know to learn more about this excellent content marketing tip.
13. Activate Social Sharing on all Your Content
Social sharing makes it easy and encourages people to share your content, why wouldn't you want to take advantage of it?
Sample Social Sharing Buttons
Always make it easy for your readers or followers to share your content with a single click of a button.
It's also smart to couple your social sharing buttons with effective calls-to-action, which leads me to my next content marketing tip...
14. Use Effective Calls-to-Action
Here's a content marketing trick that may seem obvious, but sadly, not everyone uses - always use effective or strong calls-to-action (CTAs). CTAs are great for both online and offline marketing.
Use calls-to-action to entice, encourage, and nudge people to take the next desired step in doing business with you. Call to action examples can be: schedule an appointment, get a quote, get a free consultation, or download our eBook.
A call to action helps:
- Improve conversion rates.
- Increase revenue.
- Boost lead generation.
15. Nurture Your E-mail List Using Exclusive Content
Customers feel special whenever they see or read something that says "Exclusive!", "VIP access!", or "Members only!" in their email or a mailer.
Your email list could use exclusive content. It's a great way to nurture people in your list by making them feel important.
If you haven't already, build an email list and start creating content exclusively for them!
16. Guest Post to Gain Links
Guest posting is great for both content marketing and link building. Oh, it also helps build authority!
Find websites with high authority within your niche that share your target market and create useful and relevant content for them.
Guest posting is also great for search engine rankings, web traffic, and brand reputation.
17. Repurpose Your Content
Repurposing content is merely recycling your existing content into new forms of content.
The benefits are:
- Get extra distance out of the content you've already created.
- Help you reach new audiences.
- Diversify the types of content you have available.
- Leverage your time and effort.
18. Content Syndication is a Great Practice
Content syndication means distributing or publishing your content on other websites.
Sites like LinkedIn, Reddit, and Medium are great platforms to syndicate your content.
Check out our article about How to Promote Your Blog Posts for Absolutely Free to learn more about content syndication.
19. Work With Influencers
Okay, so influencer marketing is not a FREE strategy.
Working with an influencer requires something in return. It could be money, product, service, shoutout, etc.
Influencers have the audience, engagement, and reputation that are great for content promotion.
Always remember to do your research before working with an influencer to ensure that your investment doesn't go to waste.
20. Invest in Keyword Research
Keyword research is important. Actually, it's super important!
When you create content consistently, you can target a lot of keywords over time. Keyword research can get pretty in-depth...
Here are a few resources to help you nail it:
21. Take Advantage of Analytics and Metrics
Analytics and content marketing metrics are integral parts of content marketing.
Why?
Because as a content marketer, you need to optimize and scale your efforts 100% of the time.
Over time, consistent use of analytics will show you what's working and what's not.
That is a very long list! Take a moment to digest all the information.
We've applied many of these content marketing tricks in our own digital marketing company, and the results are FANTASTIC!
Content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Give it time and be consistent.
If you need more help in regards to content marketing, check out the related articles below for more tips and tricks or don't hesitate to TALK TO US! We are glad to help.
So what do you think about these content marketing tips and tricks?
Let's discuss in the comments section below!
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Creating a solid marketing strategy is a must for effective marketing? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategy to learn more.
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