Written by Anastasia Kurmakaeva
Índice
For some years now, content creation has been a very important part of the online marketing strategies of many companies, both large and small, looking for a way to create content:
- On the one hand, to gain more relevance in the eyes of search engines and to be more visible on the web.
- On the other hand, and even more importantly, to offer your customers an improved and higher quality user experience, with the aim of increasing their trust and loyalty.
CMI defines content marketing as follows:
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content in order to attract and retain a well-defined audience, and ultimately to drive profitable customer action.
The demand for quality content is growing at an unstoppable rate, and anticipating user needs is not easy. However, with this article we intend to review some of the techniques that will help us create a closer bond with our customers, amplifying the connection with our target audience through the content of our website.
As is often the case in the ever-changing digital environment, you always have to go one step further if you want to stand out from the competition. It is necessary to grow, evolve and innovate, as the number of Internet users and their active participation in the network increases disproportionately year after year. We have to reckon with entire generations that have already been born into a new society transmuted by the Digital Revolution that do not know what it is like to live without the Internet, where the future is now and everyone has the information they need at the click of a button.
Developing your strategy
There is no need to rush into anything. Before we start generating content without further ado, it is extremely important to organize ourselves and define a content marketing strategy that takes into account the multiple aspects involved in this process. We should ask ourselves:
- How we are going to approach this task and who is going to take charge.
- What resources do we have to make it a reality?
- What objectives we want to achieve and by what factors we are going to measure their attainment.
- What are the topics we want to deal with in our website, and the order of priority in which we are going to expose them.
Once we have this basis, we will also have to establish a planning and schedule that we will rigorously follow.
Adapt or stagnate: mobile-first is a reality
In addition to living in a digital age, today we also live in a mobile age. You have probably already heard and read numerous articles and news announcing the end of the desktop era as we know it.
What challenges does this present us with? Now we also have to take care that, in addition to offering valuable information, it is presented in a format adapted to mobile screens that are much smaller than those of a desktop or laptop computer, and therefore, we have to take care that the information is presented in a format adapted to mobile screens that are much smaller than those of a desktop or laptop computer, our website must have a one hundred percent responsive, usable and clear design. We must quickly learn not only to condense content effectively, but to write and structure it so that our users are able to scan it without much difficulty and get the information they were looking for.
Emotional targeting as a basic technique to promote empathy
Many studies show that websites that are able to move the user and leave an emotional mark with their content marketing strategy generate better results in multiple aspects: purchase intent, profits, sales, conversions, etc. Emotional targeting allows us to connect with our target audience in a much deeper way than if we use any other method, since with this technique we are using the language of our users and a much more human way of approaching them.
Learn to connect your business with the feelings of your users, as they will never lose their relevance. We all want to feel that we belong or that we are part of something; it alludes to our memories, experiences, relationships, tastes and preferences… Not only will you attract their attention and appeal to their sensibility, but you will also better understand your customers, creating an irreplaceable affinity between your brand and them.
Media, channels and format
There are an infinite number of media and channels through which you can offer your content, because it does not always have to be through well-crafted articles in a blog. You can also transmit messages through:
- Videos.
- Infographics.
- Images.
- Animations.
- Guides and tutorials.
- Presentations.
- Podcasts.
- Interviews.
- Studies and research.
- And a very long etcetera.
Depending on your business sector and the profile(s) of your target audience, one format or channel will be more effective than another. For example, if you have an online and/or physical store that sells pet products, an interesting option to explore would be the possibility of making guides and tutorials on proper pet care, through videos, infographics or even podcasts.
For this reason it is important, on the one hand, to study the behavior of users and potential customers, and on the other, to maintain an open dialogue that will allow you to know and always be aware of what moves them, their concerns, their tastes… generating engagement and feedback from them. Obviously, it’s impossible to figure out what kind of content will work in each particular case until you get hands-on and try it yourself. And don’t forget to measure the results to see which publications have had the greatest impact, through your social networks, web analytics tools or other means.
Content creation
At this point, you are probably wondering: how and what do I write about? Finding good, original ideas on which to develop content can be a puzzle, but don’t despair. For example, you can start by defining – broadly speaking – the thematic areas related to your business and brand that you would like to address. Think of topics that could interest your audience and that, at the same time, could help you achieve your objectives.
Even if you later discard some of them, this exercise will help the ideas start to flow more easily. You may also find it helpful:
- Look at what your direct competitors are doing. You can go directly to visit their websites, social profiles or blogs, or use tools such as Buzzsumo that will direct you directly to the content published by them that is most shared on social networks by users.
- Make a study of informational searches and typical queries that may arise to your potential customers in relation to your product, service, or business sector. You can do it with Google Keyword Planner and see its search potential, or with the Keywordtool.io tool, which also has a “Questions” tab, which suggests interesting questions that your users might ask.
- Consult with the customer service department. If you have specialized personnel in charge of this aspect of your company, it would not hurt to ask them what are the most frequent questions that users ask them, since being in constant contact with the customer, they will know this information first hand and it is very possible that they will suggest very interesting ideas that you can develop in your content.
- Communicate with your audience, for example through a newsletter or social media. Ask them to participate in a survey on what topics they would be interested in learning more about.
Obviously, for a content marketing strategy to be successful and work, it is important that the person who is going to generate the content is creative and has good writing skills, as well as other skills, depending on the format through which we have chosen to present ourselves to our audience. target. It would also help if you have a minimum of SEO knowledge, since visibility in search engines will allow us to expand our borders.
A few last tips
- Content creation consumes a lot of time and effort, so it is essential that you plan your strategy well and dedicate the necessary resources to it.
- It is also very rewarding, as it is the best way to gain visibility, attract traffic and be known, so the investment in this aspect will be more than worth it.
- Measuring results is crucial to know what kind of content or topics are working, and what is not bringing us anything.
- Don’t be afraid to innovate and experiment, because great ideas can be born from trial and error. If you don’t try, you’ll never know!
In short, nowadays it is important to know how to provide value without expecting anything in return, and to do so in the language that our audience understands. Undoubtedly, it is the most effective way to attract the attention of users and ensure that they count on us, if not today, then in the very near future.
