When it comes to marketing, CONTENT is King, Queen and Stable Boy!

The strength of your content marketing and its ability to connect your ideal customers with your business is fast becoming the key indicator of business success.

But why is content marketing so powerful and can it really make THAT big of a difference to your bottom line?
In this article, we’ll dive into how you can use content marketing to double your business and look at why content marketing should be on the top of every to-do list.
Every damn day.
We’ll also be sharing our top six tips on how to get started with content marketing so you can see dramatic changes in your business. 

By the end of our wrap on content marketing you’ll have an overview on:

•  What Is Content Marketing And Why Does It Matter? 
• How is content marketing different to advertising? 
• Your Content Needs To Be Online
• Can Content Marketing Really Double My Business? 
• How Do I Start Using Content Marketing? 
• Tips And Reminders About Content Marketing. 
• How Can Bohemia Help Me With Content Marketing? 

Brew a cuppa tea and let’s get comfy! 

What Is Content Marketing And Why Does It Matter?

“Content Marketing” is the use of content to communicate a message to your ideal customer, with a specific goal. 

Online Marketing Guru, Neil Patel says Content Marketing is “a long-term strategy that focuses on building a strong relationship with your target audience by giving them high-quality content that is very relevant to them on a consistent basis.”

Marketing maestro, Seth Godin says: “Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.” 

Ian Lurie, CEO, Portent, Inc sums it up nicely: “Content isn’t ‘stuff we write to rank higher’ or ‘infographics’ or ‘long-form articles.’ Content is anything that communicates a message to the audience. Anything.”

For a breakdown of content marketing from past to present, check out this video:

And just why should you care so much about content marketing?

Well, it’s the way the world (and all its consumers) are now connecting with and interacting with brands and businesses. 

The stats don’t lie… 

1. As many as 96 percent of all marketing decision-makers today say content marketing has been effective for their brand. (Zazzle Media, 2019)
2. According to a recent survey, in 2019, 86 percent of marketers said they were able to successfully reach their brand awareness-related goals with content marketing (Content Marketing Institute, 2019)
3. Only 29% of people want to talk to a salesperson to learn more about a product, while 62% will consult a search engine. 
4. Marketers who prioritise blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see positive ROI. (HubSpot, 2019)
5. Inbound marketing generates three times more leads per dollar than traditional methods.

The success of your business, brand awareness, sales and retention starts and ends with content marketing. 

Why Is Content Marketing So Effective? 

1. Content helps build brand awareness.
   So when someone thinks of your “market”, they think of your business.
2. Content helps you be seen as an expert in your field.
   The more you prove your knowledge and authority in your field, the more you can build your credibility with your customers.
3. Content lets you enter into a conversation with your ideal customer. Ie. it creates leads.
   Think of your content marketing strategy as your best ever *star* salesperson, who’s always working for you!
4. Your content can either educate, inspire, entertain or convince!
   Different content pieces are relevant for different customers at certain stages of their relationship with you.
5. Your content leads customers towards a desired outcome.
   Every piece of content in your content marketing strategy has a place and a reason behind it. Think about this when creating a content piece: Is it there to inform, to educate, to inspire, to convince? Where on the ladder of your customer’s experience should this content piece sit, and what is the desired outcome for the customer, after consuming this content?
6. Your content marketing efforts can help create a loved up community of customers and soon to be customers.
   Imagine creating a vibrant, thriving group of people (aka community aka tribe) who are so tuned into your brand, message and products that “launching” new courses or services is always successful? 

How Is Content Marketing Different From Advertising?

With Advertising, you are publishing a designed ad for one specific purpose: a sale. 

It’s usually instant, has a short life span and is ‘telling’ a customer something via a ‘push’ or disruption.

Here’s an analogy to this: You’re happily watching the latest episode of The Bachelorette, an ad telling you all about the latest hair removal cream blasts onto the screen in all it’s pastel and pop music glory! It’s “disrupted” your experience to “push” a product in your face.

Traditionally, advertising can be placed in areas like: 

• Television
• Radio 
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Brochures
• Billboards
• Fyers

Nowadays, advertising is also on social media, google and online directories.

On the flip side… 

Content marketing is based on storytelling. With strategically crafted content (designed with your ideal customer in mind) you have the chance to impress a customer and allow them to get to know how you can solve a specific problem.

To continue our hair removal analogy…imagine you’ve searched for a new razor to buy online. You find an article on Google about the differences between shaving and using a hair removal cream. You click and have a quick read. The article makes some good points and gives some surprising facts. It directs you to a website with video interviews of women just like you, who have made the switch from shaving to hair removal creams and you decide to buy it and try it. Congratulations, you’ve just quickly and successfully been marketed to, via content.

By pre-planning and laying out an information-rich path for them to follow, you are giving your customer the best opportunity to know, like and trust you.

Content is not a ‘push’ or disruption, rather a ‘pull’. It’s a conversation that you engage with your customer over time.

You create a relationship with a customer via your content and ‘win’ their business once authority, trust and likeability is established.

Your content can be published in areas like: 

• Your website (blog)
• Another website (blog) 
• Social media channels (facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest)

Content marketing can also occur offline. Things like: company-branded magazines, physical booklets, even live events can all make up part of your offline content marketing strategy. 

You can create different types of content to suit your customers: 

• Blog posts 
• Articles and white papers
• Emails
• Ebooks
• Online newsletters
• Videos series 
• Video interviews 
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• Q & A’s
• Live training sessions 
• Templates and downloadable guides 
• Slideshares 
• Case studies 
• Lists 
• Infographics 

Why Your Content Needs To Be Online

What do most of us *do* 10 times a day? “Google it!”

The Google Gods connect us, mere mortals with the answers we seek. And boy, do we seek!

Never before in human history has “the marketplace” been so accessible.

It’s remarkable to think I can google, find, enrol and start an online course on “How to speak conversational Spanish” in less than five minutes. 

And that’s just how long it could take a prospective customer of yours to google, find and enrol/buy/sign up to you or your business; LESS THAN 5 MINUTES.

However, you need some skin in the game. 

You need to have strategiesd, pre-prepared some dishy answers to your savvy customer’s key questions and publish them online for them to find you.

Think of your content as a ninja, waiting patiently for your ideal customer to search for it, either on google, social or on your website.
Then Bam! It’s go-time.

For your customer to find you (with speed and ease) you must appease the Google Gods and get your sweet ass content online, visible and searchable.

49% of users say they use Google to discover or find a new item or product. (Think with Google, 2019) 

[Note well: a solid SEO strategy to partner with your content plan should be part of your strategy]

Can Content Marketing (Really) Double My Business? 

The short answer is; YES it can.
Content Marketing statistics are IMPRESSIVE, to say the least.
Put simply, more quality content designed specifically for your ideal customer means you, your brand and message are more visible and your customers will find you, click through, view you and ultimately decide to ‘join’ you or not.

Traffic – leads – sales. All increase with a QUALITY content marketing strategy. 

Can Content Marketing Be Used For Existing Customers? 

Absolutely! In fact, content marketing should be a key element in your customer retention strategy. 

So, there are two ways to make money in business: either you’re selling to new customers or you’re reselling to existing customers. 

With content marketing, you can PLAN for both revenue streams and have a strategy in place to see your business grow by working to an intentional and well thought out content plan.

Let your content shine for you, speak to your customers at exactly the right stage and either sell to them or re-sell to them, while you’re off doing other (hopefully fun) things.

How Do I Start Using Content Marketing? 

1. Like all good things in marketing, start with a strategy!
   Get to know *intimately* your customer’s needs, wants and desires. Importantly, learn the problem that needs solving (right now). Understand how your business or self can fulfil your customer’s needs, wants and desires. Learn how you/your business can alleviate their pain and create a solution for them.
2. Create a presence on a platform that will be used to publish and share your content.
   That is a website blog, a social media channel (or two or three).
   
3. Create STORIES that connect the core elements of your content strategy.
   Your content should be based with three things in mind:
   Who am I creating this content for?
   What do they need now?
   How can you help them?
4. Decide what form your content will take.
   Each piece in the puzzle needs a vehicle. Are you going to share a story on a podcast? An interview on a video? A white paper via a media website?
5. Publish and share your content.
   Voila!
6. Tell your existing customers or followers about your content.

Share your content or “repurpose” your content across various channels. If you have an email database, send them an email letting them your latest article/interview/podcast has just dropped. 

What If My Content Marketing Plan Isn’t Working?

Say you start publishing articles and repurposing that content over a few channels…you might start checking your inbox every thirty minutes for the flood of enquiries that will surely be waiting for you, right?

Sometimes, it’s not so.
Content marketing is a long game. Brew a cuppa and get cosy! You’re building content (and customers) for the future.
Also, because your content will be perfectly curated for your ideal customer (right?!) it will not appeal to everyone, and that’s OK! Would you rather work with 10 clients who don’t light you up and end up being more of a headache than a heart connection, or 5 really dreamy, *perfect* clients?
Your content is there to attract, but it’s also there to keep the Karen’s clicking somewhere else. (By the way, if your name is Karen, I hope you have a sense of humor)!

So if you’re publishing and repurposing and using all the content marketing ‘tips’ to try and make some headway in your business, but less than impressed with your results, then look firstly at your strategy.

Are you putting your customer first, thinking about what they need to know at the right stage of their journey with you?

Are you speaking in their language about issues that are relevant and real for them? 

Are you using emotion, realness and empathy in your copy?

There you have it! Content marketing is both art and science, but it works. If it’s not working for you, continue to review your strategy OR make contact today with our team and we can do that for you! 

Tips And Reminders About Content Marketing. 

The masters of the interwebs hold all the keys! Make friends with Google.
> Content marketing is based on storytelling.
> With strategically crafted content (designed with your ideal customer in mind) you have the chance to impress a customer and allow them to get to know how you can solve a specific problem.
> Think of your content marketing strategy as your best ever *star* salesperson, who’s always working for you!
> Content marketing is a long game.

How Can Bohemia Help Me With Content Marketing?

We’re here to help brands and peeps looking to play a big content game! We would love to get our stretchy, strategy pants on and go to town with your copy and content. 

Here are a few ways we can help you now: 

1. Work with you to curate a stellar content calendar for your business in 2021.
2. Deep dive into a content strategy to clear the confusion and become super aligned to your marketing messages and goals so you can craft quality content for your customers.
3. Let us get our detective hats on and review your copy and content (ALL of it) plus provide bespoke recommendations for you on how to improve and restrategize your content efforts.

Contact us today for an obligation-free chat all about your copy and content!