At its root, content marketing is all about telling a story. A story about a brand or business, about a happy customer, or about an individual impacted by the business in a positive way. All of these examples are key to having a strong online presence, regardless of the size or nature of the business.
Digital marketing is an ever-shifting landscape. Within this space, the strategy is always shifting to appeal to the latest in consumer behavior trends. But at the foundation of a strong digital marketing plan is an optimized content marketing strategy.
But how does content marketing break through the “blog” mold and really make a difference in attracting quality leads and traffic? This is an ongoing challenge that marketing professionals deal with daily.
In some cases, a business will put in a bare-bones effort when it comes to content marketing. A quick, no filler blog gets put up on the website in the hopes of attracting traffic via a search engine hit. But here is the key: quality is important. Simply addressing a topic in an unoriginal, uninspired way will not resonate with users, and it won’t register on search engines as a quality hit.
Studies show that, on average, the websites on the first page of results on Google contain nearly 2,000 words. What does this figure allude to? Quality is key.
Now, quality does not equate with wordiness. A piece of content can contain 2,000 words and not have a quality feel. Working with a skilled SEO writer who knows how to “write tight” while still allowing for plenty of detailed information will be an integral success of a content marketing strategy.
Another key part of content marketing is to look at what content is already being produced by businesses within the same space. For example, if a marketing agency is attempting to generate more traffic through content, what can they do that’s different from the other “how to improve marketing” articles floating around?
Why should the user click on your article? This should be a question asked each time a piece of content is created. What value is the piece adding to the space? How is it solving a problem that needs solving?
Be original, be creative, be detailed. Content marketing can be tricky. Not every customer wants to sit down and read a meaty 2,000-word article. Conversely, not every customer wants to see bare bones work on the website of a business they are thinking of patronizing. Bare bones often equate with low effort. Do you want customers to think this of your business?
Of course, content marketing, particularly articles and website content, can only go so far without search engine optimization, or SEO. The content is boosted and has a higher chance of ranking well on search engines with proper SEO utilization. Inserting a healthy ratio of quality keywords is one way to optimize a piece’s SEO score.
When in doubt, it’s beneficial to hire an expert with proven results to optimize a company’s digital marketing and content efforts. A concentrated effort on content marketing, with an attitude willing to shift with consumer behavior, is a key to success in any industry.