Content is king – Bill Gates published this article in 1996 on the internet. A few years before this article, Sumner Redstone coined this phrase over an interview.

What most of the people remember is Bill Gates article but only a few people know that the new age mantra for marketers was given by Sumner. You know why? Because Mr. Gates chose the right platform at the apt time to put an evergreen content forward. Nonetheless both are still multi-billionaires, Gates being world’s richest.

The point is what these successful people got in 90s, some present day marketers are yet to understand it: Content is the foundation for all marketing.

Internet is now the biggest single place for marketing. Everybody is marketing over there. What makes you stand out of the rat race is your content, which some marketers tend to ignore.

So here is the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the content marketing for all those marketers who are yet to realize the importance of content in marketing, digital or not.

Why content marketing?

What marketers are forgetting is that as your marketing moves are getting smarter, so are your clients and consumers. They are more aware now and want good content that appeals to them. But by appealing and good content, it doesn’t mean posting cute puppy photos. That is when content marketing comes in place.

It helps differentiate between valuable content and the other informational “stuff” companies try to sell to their customers. Every company is sending content to the customers, all the day via emails, messages, and sponsored ads etc. but is that content fruitful? Is it appealing to them?

A good content marketing strategy makes your information more intriguing to the customer. So rather than posting a photo of some cute dog, why not try posting this ‘Kwel’ skating dog, Tillman?

What is the importance of content marketing in digital marketing?

“Content marketing is the only marketing left.” Seth Godin.

Content is the chosen king of consumers

The internet has revolutionized the world of buying. Long gone are the days when a client would call your office to know about your offerings. Everybody and everything is now on the internet. The client would rather Google your website and checks if he can find the content that is valuable to him.

Content is Google’s best friend

Content is an important index Google considers during its SERP and SEO ranking. Google prefers freshness. Fresh content has been an important ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm for years.

When Google first announced their Hummingbird update back in 2011, they said that the update had impacted 35% of all search queries. Google will rank fresh content more, as it only wants to serve the most relevant of web pages to their users.

Content makes you social

48% of consumers check a brand’s social media accounts before making a buy if they had not shopped on that site before, and if all they see is a tirade of sales tweets and no great content, they may think twice about using the website. So it is better to not bombard your social media with just “yourself”, what content will keep the customers interested is important.

Content increases your ROI

Producing more socially shareable and engaging content on your blog will not only increase your PPC, but also helps in boosting sales. Thus increasing your ROI.

Content generates traffic

Meaningful content will generate meaningful traffic. Loads of people can visit your social media and blogs every day. All they want is the particular content that makes sense to them.

Thus having meaningful content will generate meaningful traffic, which will have the leads. It’s your content that will convert those potential leads into future buyers.

Content is the new PR

Content marketing used in the form of PR is the best way to get people engage and discuss your products and services.

Circulating a press release in the form of a blog about a new range of lipsticks or nail paints will attract a number of hosts. Some of them will be the fashion bloggers and some will be the curious cosmetic users who are interested in knowing about that range. This will lead to a chain of comments about discussion of the new products.

Thus content marketing affects all the aspects of the digital marketing whether it is pay per click (PPC), email, press releases, SEO, social media, article or blogging marketing.

How to create good content marketing strategies

Segmentation

Segmentation of your target audience is very important. You should know which customer is in need of your resources. Your content will only appeal to a lead, if he needs it.

Producing informative and valuable content that will be useful for your audience will give your brand a trust worthy face, online.

Now that you know your audience and their needs, maintaining their interest is also important. Content for your email marketing, social media, blogs, videos, advertisements all should be made, keeping your target in mind.

Be human

Content is like story. And most of the stories are based on humans. So add a human factor to your content.

Rather than pressurizing your customer to buy something; educate them, share valuable tips, tell them what to look for, interact with them, engage them answer their questions and show them that you know what it is to be in their shoes. This will make you look more human and not just a business.

Be your user’s #selfie

Tone down your company’s narcissism. Rather than using “me” use “you”. Personalize according to your target audience.

Google is the best example. Google’s personalized search makes it the most used search engine. Google knows what you want and will feed you only that by using your browser cookie record and browsing history.

Appealing visuals

Creating appealing visuals are also important. Prettifying the front page is no longer the only sufficiency to draw and sustain attention.

Provide your audience with meaningful and pleasing to eyes visuals like pictures, infographics, typographies, videos etc. They tend to draw more attention than just words or glittery front pages.

Add a breeze of freshness

Always keep in mind that quality, as well as, quantity both plays an important role in web content. Quantity and quality shouldn’t be compromised for each other.

Quality means to make sure that your customers get a well written, informative, interesting and free of obscene content. This will help you keep up your integrity online.

Quantity means you are regularly updating your audience with fresh, innovative and new stuff. Keep yourself dynamic. A lead may want to return to your blog after one article reading but if your blog is never updated, why will he return at all?

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