Most people I talk to today are frustrated with content marketing.
And I can’t say I blame them. There are a lot of opinions about how to do it flying around from experts (real or not). And SEO best practices seem to change every day thanks to big brother Google trying to be the best it can be. It’s a lot to digest.
Here’s how one of the best content marketers out there defines the term (I agree): 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.
Let’s talk about the three main concepts you should remember here:
- Long-term strategy
- Target audience
- High-quality and consistent
These are the earmarks of content marketing that will win you the love of Google search results and an ensuing rush of eyeballs. P.S. There’s one more I’ll add to the list at the end as a bonus, so make sure you read all the way through.
If you center your content marketing around these concepts, the frustration will disappear and be replaced by confidence. I wouldn’t make that promise if I hadn’t already experienced it.
In It For the Long Run
It’s not a surprise to most people that content marketing is a long game. But that’s exactly why they’re so afraid to get started. Even if they know nothing else about this type of marketing, they know they’ll have to make a commitment. Ah yes, commitment phobia rears its ugly head again.
If you thought I was going to offer a comforting reassurance about how not true that is, you’re dead wrong.
Fact is, it’s 100% true that you have to pony up time, resources and energy to create great content marketing. I’ve had to do it myself. Heck, that concept is what my whole business is based on. That’s because when content marketing is done right, it proves to be worth every proverbial penny you’ve invested.
What I will reassure you about is that it isn’t as hard as you think it is. You’re only creating content about topics you’re so passionate about, you talk about them 24/7 anyway. And if the scariest part is the actual writing, design, or content creation process, for a few extra dollars you can just hire someone (like us) to do it for you.
Find Your People
Before you can get started writing or even planning what you’re going to write about, you have to have a clearly defined picture in your head of who the person is you’re writing to. Because essentially that’s what you’re doing - writing to one specific reader who needs the knowledge you’re about to drop.
If you’re all like, Really? Do I have to? I just want to write and worry about this nonsense later, you’re not alone. I tend to fall into the same trap. If you’re like impatient me and just want to get on to the juicy parts, you’re going to have to pump the breaks.
Understanding the people you’re writing to - aka your audience - is a must. There are no go-arounds or exceptions. Your content marketing must speak to specific pain points or there’s just no point in doing it at all. So you have to figure out who the people are that need your product or service. And then you have to figure out what their pain points are.
Each pain point can represent a host of content marketing opportunities that expand on how to solve the problems they’re facing. But how do you know what those problems are?
The best way to gather this information is to look at your customer success surveys, email and chat conversations, and phone calls. Customers and prospects tend to call in with similar questions over and over again. Mostly, the questions revolve around time and money: How much will this cost me? How much time will I have to spend on this?
Once you’ve identified the pain points, you take super specific steps to make the most of that information. Here’s what it boils down to:
- Push on the person’s pain point.
- Agitate that pain.
- Solve their problem.
Honest to goodness, it’s that simple. For a better explanation of this storytelling process, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of Donald Miller’s quick read called Storybrand. Effective content marketing follows the template laid out in the storytelling philosophy. You show a person dealing with a specific problem just how irritating and difficult and inconvenient that problem is.
You agitate that even more by giving specific statistics and examples about how problematic it can make their lives. And then you offer a way out, an open door, a helping hand. Your service or product can take away their pain. And it’s worth every penny.
High Quality and Consistency
The question I get asked most often about producing content is about frequency. People want to know what the exact science is to make content work for them - “and fast!”
Technically, the more long-form (1,000-2,500 words) content you produce that follows the storytelling format, the better for your content marketing game. And while that’s true, that’s almost 100% impossible for anyone to do, I don’t care if you’re a solopreneur or giant B2B conglomerate.
So what I recommend is following this format, and simply keeping to a consistent schedule. If it isn’t obvious, this approach takes a lot of self awareness. What can you do, what can your team do, and what can your company do? Create a content calendar with topics and keywords you need to write about to cover your audience pain points. And then commit to a frequency everyone can handle.
One of my clients publishes three blog posts a week. Most of my clients only publish once a month. Both sets are winning at content marketing because they’re posting consistently. They’re also maintaining excellent Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices, which is an absolute essential for content marketing. If Google can’t find you online, then you might as well give up writing now.
SEO best practices are straightforward and easy to learn. There are hundreds of articles, podcasts, videos, blog posts and eBooks available for any individual to teach himself or herself. Even if you don’t have the bandwidth to learn it yourself, it should be mandatory for anyone on your content marketing team to learn it.
All of this leads to the most important part of any content you create: It has to be high-quality to be any good. The time invested researching, writing, and editing will show. It should be helpful, valuable, and different from any other piece of content out there. And according to the guru of content marketing, it should be so good, readers would pay for it.
Bonus: Content Upgrades
People often produce a blog post without content upgrades and then come to me tearing their hair out. My content marketing isn’t doing anything!
Of course it isn’t. You’re not upselling any of your products or services. You’re giving people helpful, valuable, unique information. And then when they’re convinced you should help them with this particular thing because you’re (obviously) an authority in this space, you disappear.
Brian Dean, the literal keeper of all truth about SEO, coined the term content upgrade. The concept is pretty simple. You include graphic calls to action strategically placed throughout your content marketing. These calls-to-action redirect readers to relevant pieces of bigger, downloadable content. In return for an email address (translation: lead) you gift readers with a resource that will help them get to their specific goals faster.
When done right, content upgrades really are a win-win. My personal preference is to place content upgrades throughout a blog post and then end with a hard ask: a big, fat schedule-a-consultation-with-yours-truly ask.
The point is, if you’re producing content marketing without content upgrades - especially blog posts - then you might as well not create it at all. People are psychologically wired to want to know what’s next, especially from people who are already providing knowledge. When you don’t do this with your content marketing via content upgrades, you’re actually accomplishing the opposite of what you set out to do: losing audience trust.
Fall in Love with Content Marketing (Again)
Relationships are hard. They take work. They take time. Your relationship with content marketing is no different. As corny as it may sound, in order for it to work, you’ve got to commit.
And if you don’t commit, well, you’re missing out on a ton of website visitors, prospects, and future customers. More than that, you’re missing out on the chance to build your brand, create community over shared problems and solutions, and grow your business in a meaningful way for your employees.
Listen, if you’ve been burned by content marketing in the past, it’s time to give it a chance again. If you’re just getting acquainted with it now, it’s time to take a deeper dive. When you approach content marketing with the right strategies and tactics, you’ll fall in love with it.
Maybe you’re scared to take that first step. Maybe you’re a content marketing believe but you’ve got a big ole business to run. Hey, I get it. That’s what you’ve got me and my team for. I’m just a click of the send button away and can be that extra set of arms you need to get started no matter where you are in your content marketing journey.
Happy planning!