What is content marketing excellence?

In my blog last month I explained why we need content marketing. Today I'm going to show you what great content marketing means.

Content marketing needs to empower our buyers to make informed decisions. This means you need to demonstrate the full extent of your product or service and your expertise in a way that is convenient and easy to consume.

Because content marketing is all about education and trust-building, it supports our most risk-averse buyers who need to deeply understand and trust something before they're happy buying. Selling to fast-paced risk-takers might be much easier, but if you can convince the slow-paced risk-avoiders then your sales will skyrocket. 

How to start content marketing

Most people start by writing blog articles, which I thoroughly recommend especially if your expertise is an important reason why people choose to buy from you. If you’re more comfortable speaking than writing, start by making short videos instead. If you transcribe them into a blog as well you'll have two pieces of content in one hit!

When you’re in a good content creation habit, branch out into other types of content. Ideally, you want to have a wide range of different types of content, but go one step at a time to avoid overwhelm.

Here are some types of content you can create to help people get to know you before they buy:

• Blogs and short articles
• Short videos demonstrating your product or giving a ‘behind the scenes’
• Podcasts
• Infographics
• Presentations (record yourself on video or provide a pdf deck if your slides are self-explanatory)
• FAQs
• Buyers guides and checklists
• Case studies
• Video testimonials
• Relevant research and statistics

What should I talk about in my content?

I get asked this a LOT! And it's an important question. No one wants to wasted time creating content that no one will read. Plan your topics to make sure they're interesting and valuable to your ideal customer, so keep this person in your mind.

​Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Tips
• FAQs
• Insights and trends
• Opinion pieces/commentary
• Success stories/key learnings from projects
• Best practice advice
• Common misconceptions
• Topical issues

Remember the call to action!

A piece of content is not a marketing tool unless it has a call to action. So what do you want people to do as a result? Do you want them to…

• Find out more about your product or service?
• Call you?
• Fill in a form?
• Something else?

Make sure your call to action is a logical next step for the reader. Put yourself in your buyer’s shoes and think about whether it makes sense and is comfortable to move forwards with their buying decision.

Read my blog on how to craft a compelling call to action for more tips.

Always bear in mind that some people won’t be ready to follow your call to action yet. So always give them an alternative. Amazon pioneered this technique with their “If you like this you might also like…” feature. Include suggestions for other relevant content that might be interesting to the reader so they can get to know you better first, before they follow your call to action.

Need more help?

If you need a structured process to decide what content marketing you need, take a look at my One Day Marketing Machine online workshop.
 
If you'd like some one-to-one help, do get in touch. I'd love to hear from you and see how I can help. Contact me
 
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