I’ve talked with several prospects and clients in the last year who wanted to undertake content marketing. However, they didn’t quite “get” what content marketing was and how to do it effectively.

After I educated them on the basics of what they need to know about content marketing, I thought it would be helpful to share these insights on my blog. Once you understand a broad overview of content marketing, you’ll be able to undertake the next step.

7 things you need to know about content marketing

Understand what content marketing is and isn’t. According to Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” Content, in this case, could be blogs, infographics, or videos. The key is to provide useful, relevant information to help solve your customers’ and prospects’ problems. Unlike more sales-focused marketing efforts (such as advertising), content marketing does not push products and services. Content can have calls-to-action (such as pointing readers to read another article on your website, to watch a video, to download a free report, etc.). And content can occasionally position your product or service as a solution to your readers’ problems. But most of your content should be helpful and customer-focused rather than “salesy” and product-focused. This distinction is the most important thing you need to know about content marketing.
Content marketing is a long-term marketing effort. If you’re looking for quick results, don’t expect to find it with content marketing. It can take months to build momentum and gain trust with your readers. How do you do this? By providing valuable, helpful reader-focused content on a consistent basis. Your content should speak to the pain points of your prospects and customers. It should let readers know you get them, their problems, and their needs. Content should educate, inspire, and empower them in a way that helps them live better lives. Do this consistently and you will build trust over time with your readers. Think of it as a slow burn.
Know why you’re doing content marketing and what you hope to achieve with it. Define what business goal you want to achieve through content marketing. For example, do you want to increase sales leads? Or are you trying to boost brand awareness in the marketplace? Or do have some other goal in mind? Once you know this, you can create a content strategy, which will govern all the content you create. A good strategy will define your key audience(s), what type of content you’ll deliver (both topic and format), and what the desired outcome will be for readers. In other words, what will your audience be able to do once they have consumed your content?

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Think about the variety of content formats you can provide. Any text or visual that provides free, valuable information to your target audience can be considered content marketing. Some ideas: infographics, blogs, case studies, SlideShares, ebooks, interviews, checklists, tip sheets, scripts, videos, social media posts, white papers, podcasts, webinars, data/research, etc. By the way, you can also use any of this content as lead magnets to help you collect prospect emails.
Content length can vary. Depending on what type of content you produce, your content length can range from a few words (like a GIF or meme) to several thousand words (like an ebook). Even with blog posts (a common content marketing format), experts disagree on the “right” length. Some advise a shorter word count (300-600 words), while others insist on a longer post (1200-1500) for SEO purposes. The bottom line: while you should follow best practices for producing specific types of content, the length can vary.
Content frequency matters. Don’t dabble in content marketing, doing it once in a while when you find the time. (As a small business, I struggle with this myself!) Your readers will come to expect content from you on a regular basis. The key? Be consistent, regardless of what type of content you produce. For example, if you’re writing a blog, you’d ideally want to create a new blog at least once a week. But if you don’t think you’ll be able to sustain that pace, then start with a bi-weekly or monthly blog. Once you’ve streamlined the process, you can always increase the frequency.
Coordinate content across channels. When done right, content marketing will help you develop a consistent message on the various channels and platforms you use. For example, say you’re talking about September being National Childhood Obesity Month on your blog. Use this theme with similar messaging on social, email, newsletter, etc., at the same time. And you don’t have to create everything from scratch. You can repurpose much of the content you’ve written and tweak it for each channel. That’s why having a strategy in place first makes all the difference in a coherent content marketing effort.

The Next Step

Now that you’ve got a broad overview of what you need to know about content marketing, what’s next? Mapping out a content strategy will help guide your content marketing program. But before jumping in with a plan, you’ll first need to dig deep. How? By setting goals, reviewing (or creating) your buyer personas, and doing some keyword research.

Ready to take that next step? Read “What Valuable Content Marketing Legwork Should You Do First?”