How You Can Grow Your Business Through Content Marketing

Content is the backbone of digital marketing, with more brands becoming publishers in their own right. Content marketing, when done well, involves compelling material that allows clients to connect with your brand in varying and powerful ways.

The case for investing resources into a good content marketing strategy has been built. Content marketing costs 62% less, yet produces three times as many leads as outbound marketing.
It is no longer a question of whether you should engage in content marketing activities or not. Rather, it is now a question of how.

As you use the five steps to plan business growth, here are some ideas to consider for growing your business through content marketing.

Embrace Your Visuals

​The importance of visuals to any piece of content cannot be overstated. From simple blog posts to full-blown integrated marketing campaigns, visuals play a crucial role in drawing audiences in and enriching the written word.

According to the Social Media Examiner’s 2017 Social Media Marketing Report, ​85% of all marketers use visuals in their material and 73% plan on using more next year. 
Videos, in particular, have enjoyed a huge boost in terms of popularity, bolstered by new ways videos can now be shared and interacted with. This year, the use of live videos has doubled from 2016, with 75% of marketers planning on increasing their use further in 2018.

​The most successful visuals and videos are centered on stories. People are drawn to stories more than they are to sales pitches, and it’s important to identify first what your audience wants in order to be able to create visuals that will appeal to them. Keep videos short, but valuable, especially within the first ten seconds of the reel. Make sure to hook your audience’s attention right away, and monitor analytics to see what works and what doesn’t.

Collaborate With Influencers

An article by content marketing specialists Ayima on where content marketing is going explains that quick win campaigns, as well as a heavy reliance on celebrity status and follower count, no longer makes the cut when it comes to influencer marketing. The key to successful content marketing with influencers is finding the right one(s) to collaborate with for content that feels fresh, authentic, and new. Partner with influencers who are not only aligned with your brand values, but are also already connecting with your target market. This way, they have higher chances of making them listen to your brand’s messages and take action from there.

The concept of influencer marketing is still evolving, which means that there is plenty of room to grow and exciting opportunities for leadership. Focus on creating content that is relevant to your brand, your influencer, and your audience, and watch as your data reveal the effects on your ROI.

Be There Every Step Of The Way

A good content marketing strategy knows its audience inside and out, using this knowledge to create compelling content for different stages of the purchase funnel. Whether an individual member of your target audience is only beginning to be aware of your brand or is already building fierce loyalty to it, there must always be content ready to give them a nudge towards the next step. 

Forbes relays that's why most successful entrepreneurs make use of as many as 13 different content marketing tactics at the very least. Content marketing is at its most powerful when it is distributed through a wide array of channels and created in different formats designed to target specific segments of your audience. Doing so maximizes the potentials of content marketing and lets you avoid, as the proverbial phrase goes, putting all your eggs in one basket.

That being said, it is important to monitor results to be able to tweak strategies as needed.

Content marketing is a powerful tool to make your business grow through powerful storytelling and meticulous research. As traditional internet advertising continues to have one foot out the door, the future of digital marketing is most definitely in the content.