Vile lies have become so synonymous with advertising such that no one expects an honest ad anymore. In the guise of window dressing their products, advertisers have misled their consumers just to make a quick buck.
Consequently, many forms of traditional advertising are on their deathbed. According to some advertising specialists, the world is preparing to do without advertising. There is sufficient labor, technology, and capital, but there is a shortfall in consumer attention.
People are using ad blockers because they do not like or need the “in your face” forms of advertising anymore. Andrew Essex, the man behind the Tribeca Film Festival and author of The End of Advertising, says that social media marketing that engages an authentic audience will survive the onslaught.
He cites brands such as Lego as having transcended obsolete ad models and integrated the new kid on the block, content marketing. Lego returned to profitability by making entertaining content via The Lego Movies rather than using ads to interrupt entertainment and annoy its dwindling market segment.
What is Content Marketing?
It is a fantastic time to be a consumer. You can access all the information you need on products and services from a variety of online sources. You can, for instance, ask Siri, Alexa, or Google. You can also crowdsource answers on Reddit or Quora.
Social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram have billions of personal opinions on any topic on earth. Should you require a tutorial, simply access YouTube. Consumers have all the information that was in the domain of salespeople, so they do not need ads.
Content marketing, however, is different. It helps businesses to not only attract, but also educate, please, and convert customers. The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) describes content marketing as the process of creating and disseminating “valuable, relevant, and consistent” ROI marketing information.
Types of content marketing ideas
- Infographics
- Video
- How to guides
- White papers
- Personal reports
- Workshops
- Webinars
- Newsletters
- Blogs
- eBooks
Data shows that digital content marketing is so effective that 72% of marketers say that it increases engagement. Unfortunately, while content is considered as one of the best ways to promote a brand, 63% of marketers do not have a content marketing strategy.
If you have a poor content marketing strategy or are in the process of creating one, below are twenty content marketing principles that can help create epic content.
20 Content Marketing Principles for Your Next Marketing Meeting
1. Value
CMI’s definition of content marketing would be incomplete without the keyword ‘valuable.’ If a customer derives little benefit from your content marketing idea, then you are merely advertising. Value is the cornerstone of content marketing.
Every decision or idea that comes up in your marketing meeting has to meet the value threshold. Marketers always fall short in this area and supply content whose value is pegged to their opinions and preferences.
The reader might, however, not find the content supplied exciting or valuable. The audience, consequently, defines value, and without it, there will be a disconnect and eventual failure of your strategy. The easiest way to assess if your readers find much value in your content is to pore through social media shares, comments, and online traffic growth as well as email correspondence.
2. Consistency
The content marketing ideas that you come up with have to encourage consistency. Data shows that businesses that publish at least 16 articles each month have almost four times more traffic than those that publish scantily.
If you cannot make enough videos consistently, incorporate ideas that are as effective but easier to generate. Consistency aids in better search engine ranking and lends you an aura of credibility in your niche.
Whether you’re doing something on search engines, social media, PPC advertising, or video marketing, consistency will keep bringing back your customers, enhancing their engagement with your brand.
3. Originality
Blendtec’s “Will It Blend” series is an award-winning content marketing campaign for the company’s line of blenders. The viral marketing campaign surpassed all expectations for a rather hard to advertise the product. It merely tests the blender’s ability to blend anything, without boring the audience.
Marketers find it difficult to come up with an original idea. Generic material, however, will not capture an already antsy audience. 100% originality could be a tad difficult to achieve, but ensure that the information that you provide is fresh.
4. Actionability
Tutorials, how-to guides, workshops, or webinars are some of the best ways to share information that leads to action. Clarity here is vital to ensure that the content is actionable. Break long processes down by designing easy to follow systematic procedures.
5. Readability
All your written content should be very easy to read. There are easy to follow guidelines that will help makes this principle easy to achieve. You should, for instance, use large font sizes, minimize distraction, add images, and format paragraphs thoroughly.
6. Visibility
There are over 1.74 billion registered websites online today. Your valuable content could, consequently, easily get lost online, if you do not optimize and promote it.
Search engine optimization is critical to online visibility. You can enhance it with content promotion to ensure that your target audience benefits from the information.
7. Depth
The length of blog posts has increased in wording from a maximum of 400 words a decade ago to 2,000+ per post today. Consumers have become more accustomed to online data, and are willing to spend more time going through in-depth content.
Keep it in mind that they are deriving value by making informed decisions via your content. You should, therefore, provide content that’s not only superbly written but highly researched as well. Your content should be backed by data and cite experts and researchers in the field.
8. Use multiple channels
Online users have channel preferences dictated by factors such as age, sex, personal preferences, or geographical location. According to Pew Research data, Facebook is popular across a wide demographic group range in the US, but Pinterest is more popular with women than men are.
If you want to create content for high-income households or college graduates, then LinkedIn is the place to be. You, consequently, need a multi-channel approach to engage every potential member of your audience.
9. Infuse your personality into your content
One fundamental purpose of content marketing is to forge ties with your audience. You cannot afford ambiguity if you want to express an opinion in your blog articles. There is a delicate balance between objectivity and bias, but your stance will move your readers.
Since you are writing for humans, you will be wrong at times, but your readers will connect more with a persona who is as flawed as they are. Your writing should, therefore, take on the same tone as you have when having a conversation, to allow your personality and opinion shine through it.
Keep it in mind that emotional connections are the building stones of relationships.
10. Authenticity
You might be worried that perhaps you might lose a part of your audience if your content reflects your personality. Nevertheless rare is that person, liked by everyone. You should take less time creating an utterly likable persona and create content that mirrors your attractive traits.
This will attract readers that identify with you and might put off those that do not. Authenticity will nevertheless help you to build rock-solid relationships that are crucial to a content marketing strategy.
11. Persuasion
Persuasion is not manipulation. Manipulative advertising turns off people because it is untrustworthy. You need to become an authority in your niche to ensure that all your opinions and claims are rock solid and backed by credible sources.
To prove your authoritativeness in your chosen niche, publish content that addresses the questions in your reader’s minds. Go out of your way and create eBooks, podcasts, or webinars that establish your credibility in the field.
12. Understanding your target market
Advertising to a mass market is now outdated, and customer personas are the in thing. If you understand your ideal customer, then you will know what their motivation is. This will guide your content making.
13. Choosing the right type of content
If you are going to post a blog article on Instagram, you will have wasted perfectly good material on an image-sharing platform. And if you have a video, then the best place to start is YouTube.
If you choose the right type of content for the right kind of customer, then post it on the right channel, your engagement data will improve.
14. Set conversion goals
Let your content marketing’s conversion goals be very clear from the onset of the strategy. The metrics that you will use to measure success are dependent on the targets assigned.
15. Avoid ‘salesy’ talk
The goal of content marketing is not a quick increase in sales, but a long-term creation of relationships that will help increase your sales. If you push for sales as ads do, you will drive away your audience. Beginning by helping others and with time, you will see their perception towards your brand improve.
16. Create trust
There are millions of businesses out there trying to catch the attention of your target audience. If you are trustworthy and make only legitimate promises and offers, you will earn their trust and attention.
17. Updating old content
If you have shareable content out there that is a bit out of date, rework it to increase its performance. Old content is the unsung hero of blogs, and its optimization could generate 240% more leads.
18. Understand your competition
The only way to be the best is to find out who your competition is by using Google or tools such as BuzzSumo. Understand their strengths and weaknesses and use that information to your advantage.
19. Design an evolving strategy
Do not get stuck on the one thing that works. The illusion that you have it all figured out will make you less innovative. Adopt or invent new tactics, overtime to stay ahead of the game.
20. Relevance
Your content should stay as relevant as possible to your niche and audience. Deviating from your niche will lead to confusion and low engagement numbers.
The death of traditional advertising is beneficial for businesses working on their digital marketing strategies. Apply these principles to your content marketing ideas, and you will stay ahead of your competitors.
That’s all!
Hope the blog is helpful for you. If you have still any confusion you can contact ethane’s content marketers. Ethane is a top-ranked white label digital marketing agency in the world. We have experienced marketers that are available 24/7 to solve your issues.
