What is Content Marketing?
Before we can talk about how to do content marketing, let me explain what content marketing is. Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content or information for a targeted audience online.This means we are using this information to educate your audience for them to make and informed decision. So the idea is to create the right content for your target audience to make the right decision for themselves and purchase your solution for their problems.
You need to understand why you want to create this content and have those goals in mind. This will determine the kind of content you will need to make and the Call to action for your audience to take.
You need to have the research and understand what pain points they have, what goals they want to achieve and the roadblocks they may experience in reaching those goals.
The final thing you need to understand is where your target likes to hang out online or the media they consume to create and distribute it in the right places.
Repurposing content is an efficient way to keep it fresh and do minimal work. If you create regular videos, repurposing can look like this:
Goals
Next thing we need to determine is the goal of content marketing. Is it to sell more products? Create brand awareness? Drive traffic to a lead magnet? You can see the 9 goals for marketing here.You need to understand why you want to create this content and have those goals in mind. This will determine the kind of content you will need to make and the Call to action for your audience to take.
Target Market
Once we determine WHY we need to make the content we will need to determine WHO to make for. Knowing your target is not just about the demographics like age, gender, income and location but psychology.You need to have the research and understand what pain points they have, what goals they want to achieve and the roadblocks they may experience in reaching those goals.
The final thing you need to understand is where your target likes to hang out online or the media they consume to create and distribute it in the right places.
Content Types
Once you have determined your target audience and goals for your business let’s talk about what kind of content to create. There are 3 basics types of content you can create and in any form you are comfortable with like blogs, videos, or podcasts:
What we are creating will depend on what your audience knows at the point they engage your business and what level of knowledge they need to have to make an informed decision. Again at the SBDC, have basic videos on starting a business, forms of ownership (business entities) licenses guide to give clients a primer to start that conversation before we start on their own specific business.
What you don’t want to do is compare your business to someone else, at this point it will be too salesy and it might actually talk someone out of going with you if your comparison isn’t done right.
On the service side it could be a tool your client can use, such as showing a video on canva or bookkeeping software to inform clients if it's right for them to use. Another way to say it is if a real estate business is to do a review of a city you serve, if multiple, or a local point of interest like a store to entice your target to move to the area.
This can employee highlights so the public can get to know the staff they may interact with and set your office apart in terms of service. This can also be motivational content, what you do in your off time or morning routine.
Make sure you are comfortable with this kind of content after hours and not giving personally identifiable info like addresses you don't want to share.
The overall structure of a testimonial is the Before-After-Bridge copywriting concept. With structure you take your what challenges the client had, what results they saw and how your solution helped them.
A variation is the case study where you dig in what the solution is from a more technical standpoint and how it helps them in depth.You can use this content in your normal content you produce or as part of a targeted drip campaign.
How-to
How to videos are the most basic video to create. The idea behind how-tos is to demonstrate your authority by showing your audience how to do something. For example we show SBDC how to file licenses, find a professional or how to perform a practical skill like setting up a social media account or email.What we are creating will depend on what your audience knows at the point they engage your business and what level of knowledge they need to have to make an informed decision. Again at the SBDC, have basic videos on starting a business, forms of ownership (business entities) licenses guide to give clients a primer to start that conversation before we start on their own specific business.
Decision Guides (vs.)
Our next basic video is what is called a decision guide or a versus / comparison video. We are comparing two paths a client might take, such as LLC vs a sole proprietorship. The idea is again to become an impartial guide to give the client a choice to make and see you as an authority. In another industry like real estate you can compare different kinds of homes or different areas to move to.What you don’t want to do is compare your business to someone else, at this point it will be too salesy and it might actually talk someone out of going with you if your comparison isn’t done right.
Product Reviews
Our final basic video you should create is product review. This may seem odd for a service based business but is actually ingenious. The basics could be a review of your own product and just explaining how it works and it more for bottom funnel targets who are interested in a product to purchase.On the service side it could be a tool your client can use, such as showing a video on canva or bookkeeping software to inform clients if it's right for them to use. Another way to say it is if a real estate business is to do a review of a city you serve, if multiple, or a local point of interest like a store to entice your target to move to the area.
Personal Content
A bonus type of content you can create if you deal a lot with the public or even just to humanize your business is personal content. Personal content can be behind the scenes content for the audience on how you do business.This can employee highlights so the public can get to know the staff they may interact with and set your office apart in terms of service. This can also be motivational content, what you do in your off time or morning routine.
Make sure you are comfortable with this kind of content after hours and not giving personally identifiable info like addresses you don't want to share.
Testimonials
Our last bonus type of content you can share but not necessarily required for a content strategy. Testimonials are content that you can use to push a lead over the edge of considering your product and purchasing.The overall structure of a testimonial is the Before-After-Bridge copywriting concept. With structure you take your what challenges the client had, what results they saw and how your solution helped them.
A variation is the case study where you dig in what the solution is from a more technical standpoint and how it helps them in depth.You can use this content in your normal content you produce or as part of a targeted drip campaign.
Strategy
Now we can get into the actual strategy of how to organize these content types and work them into a calendar or plan to create content.Pillar Content
The first concept when creating a content strategy is pillar content. A Content pillar is a major subject bucket we can use to pull from when we need to create something and alway having fresh ideas. For example our SBDC deals with starting and growing small businesses. We can have a few content pillars like starting a business, funding, licensing, marketing and government contracting.Keywords
Then we can start keyword research and creating ideas and start creating ideas from pillars and using content types. For example we can create a how-to videos about using video marketing to grow a business or a decision guide about Facebook video vs. Youtube that mixes and matches a pillar and type.Macro & Micro
Once we have an idea we need to think about our channels and media for content. Meaning where will it live? Different platforms will have different content requirements. I'm not going to be able to post an hour long video on tiktok or instagram and if my the audience is older and I might opt for youtube or something else entirely. Think about your audience and what kind of content they will watch on their preferred platform and make content for that.Distribution & Repurpose
Now let’s talk about distribution. Once we created a Pillar post on the preferred platform like a blog or video that is your main piece. You will need to create a calendar or posting schedule of how often you can maintain creating content especially on platforms like youtube so your audience can expect and be excited when it gets released. You also want to get as much mileage out of that content as humanly possible, so get into repurposing.Repurposing content is an efficient way to keep it fresh and do minimal work. If you create regular videos, repurposing can look like this:
- Use a transcript to create blog post
- Use clips to create shorter videos for shorts, reels, or stories
- Strip the audio and create a podcast
- Create a checklist from a blog post for a lead magnet
- Use shortened sound bytes to create picture quotes for social media.
Conclusion
Content Marketing is an effective way to educate customers and bring them into a funnel from lead to buyer on budget. Depending on your content of choice you can make it for little to no investment but it will take time and effort.
You Just need to understand the fundamentals like creating business goals and understanding your customer before creating your content. You can develop your own strategy and calendar to create content sustainably to grow your business.
You Just need to understand the fundamentals like creating business goals and understanding your customer before creating your content. You can develop your own strategy and calendar to create content sustainably to grow your business.
Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
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