Content marketing: What it is and why marketers should care

 

 

Content is king, it has been said. Customer experience is king, that's a more accurate statement these days. Good content is what drives good experiences in a hyper-connected world.

Content marketing strategies can be used to generate brand awareness, educate prospects and customers and establish credibility. A good customer experience means delivering relevant, personalized content in a way that works for customers. It leads to better outcomes for marketers when they provide the content customers need when they are ready.

Content is always fresh, relevant and personalized when interacting with businesses.

What is the importance of personalization in content marketing? According to McKinsey data, about 71% of consumers expect businesses to deliver personalized interactions. When this expectation isn't met, nearly three-quarters of people will look for another item or service.

 

What's the difference between content marketing and advertising?

Content marketing is a marketing approach or discipline that relies on developing various content types and assets focused on getting people to act (e.g., sign up for a newsletter, place an order, ask for more information).

Content marketing mostly uses organic approaches to attract and engage customers. In this context, the content includes written and visual assets. Content marketing can be influenced by paid content promotion, for example, sponsored content on publications that requires a fee to access.

Content marketing is related to inbound marketing and other customer experience approaches. It is often used to attract prospects and turn them into customers. It can also be used to nurture relationships and convert leads into customers.

 

There are three different types of content marketing models.

·        Paid model

Content is paid if it sits behind a paywall or requires a purchase to access.

·        Owned model

Content produced by a business is published on its own channels.

·        Earned model

Content published by someone other than the company is Earned.

 

Quality and relevancy are two unifying features that define a good content marketing strategy.

 Content marketing should be of interest to marketers.

The consumer buying cycle is a self-service process. To adapt to consumer expectations and keep up with competitors, marketers have to create a large volume of high-quality content that can be effectively shared across many different channels.

Producing personalized content at scale is what it takes to stand out in this cluttered content world. Content automation platforms allow companies to produce, manage, share and amplify content. Content is needed to compete in today's customer experience-driven landscape and technology is needed to produce content at the volumes required to make an impact.

 

Content marketing is effective.

According to Semrush's State of Content Marketing Report, about 91% of companies achieved some level of success with content marketing in 2011. The majority of respondents said they would increase content budgets and hire more content talent.

Content marketers look at traffic, search rankings and leads to measure their success. This is evolving. Engagement, conversion rates and return on investment are some of the measures that content marketers are focused on. There are tech tools that can help with this.

Customer journey analysis tools, such as Qualtrics, monitor every customer interaction with a company and analyze how each piece of the journey contributes to action, like a sale, conversion or request for information.

Every piece of content a customer interacts with across the entire buying cycle is evaluated by Journey analytics to determine how it impacts a measurable outcome.

Who uses or works with marketing tools?

The teams that deal with driving website traffic, engagement, leads and sales are the most common team that works with content marketing tools. This includes.

·        Content can be used to attract prospects and turn them into leads.

·        Content can be used to speed up the sales process by giving prospects the information they need.

·        Content helps reduce customer churn and drive upsells/cross-sells by keeping customers engaged after a purchase.

·        Content helps reduce inbound support requests by addressing common customer questions and issues.

 

There are job roles that work with content marketing tools.

• ·        The CMO works with other executives to establish content goals.
• ·        The content manager is in charge of the creation and distribution of content.
• ·        Content planners plan and execute content strategy and calendar.
• ·        Content writer writes.
• ·        Content is reviewed and approved.
• ·        The designer creates visual aids to accompany the content.

• ·        Content marketing performance metrics are tracked by the marketing analyst.
• ·        Content used to support the sales process is used by the sales manager.
• ·        Customer success managers use content to keep their customers engaged.

 

What are the types of tools or software that are used for content marketing?

 Businesses can use a wide range of tools and platforms to create, distribute and measure their content. They include that:

 

Content management systems allow companies to create, store and manage their website content.

Digital experience platforms, like Adobe Experience Manager and Sitecore, have features that include digital asset management, customer data management and personalization.

Tools for research, link building, and ranking are provided by Semrush and Moz Pro.

Features like social publishing, campaign optimization and social engagement are included in social media suites like Sprout Social.

Content intelligence platforms like Ceralytics and Parse.ly can help companies track their content performance.

Content teams can use Asana and Trello to collaborate on projects, share files, create editorial calendars and assign tasks/to-do lists.

 

Content marketing can help marketers succeed by:

Customer experience is usually prioritized by companies with success with growth, margin and profitability. Companies that focus on the entire customer journey, including what happens after a prospect becomes a customer, are nearly 30% more likely to have higher budgets.

Content plays a role in every stage of the customer journey from attracting prospects to building relationships with customers The payoff for businesses that deliver personalized interactions is high.

According to a recent McKinsey report, fast-growing companies drive 40% more revenue from personalization.

People respond to this approach. They want content from businesses that is relevant. According to McKinsey, 80% of consumers said personalization was a key factor in their decision to purchase or re- purchase a brand.

Creating content at scale is what getting it right means. Content powered by artificial intelligence will be the key driver of personalization. Artificial intelligence is being used to create more personalized content experiences for customers for brands that have fully invested in content marketing.

 

What is the next step in content marketing?

The content marketing industry is expected to reach 9.6 billion by the end of the year. Content marketing includes many types of software and services, including marketing agencies, and technology vendors.

Content marketing and the tech needed to facilitate it will become increasingly important for companies of all sizes as the demand for high-quality, personalized content continues. A key factor in the growth of content marketing is the proliferation of touchpoints.

Artificial intelligence and content technology will help marketers keep up with the demand for personalized content. Human ingenuity and creativity are still an essential component of effective content creation and strategy. Content marketing will continue to take center stage as companies improve their customer experience.