What is content marketing Content marketing is the promotion of a, What is content marketing and how does it work Company. Its products and services through content. You write articles, Posts, blog, send out newsletters – first you get readers or viewers. And then they become buyers.
The main difference between content marketing What is content marketing and how does it work and other promotion tools is the Depth. Of audience immersion. This is not just advertising with a fairly unambiguous commercial message (“Buy!”); in content marketing. We first solve a person’s problem, give them a benefit or satisfy their interest — and only then sell.
As a rule, content marketing is used when working with a. Cold” audience – that is, people who do not yet have a formed demand for your product. For example I have a dog. A long time ago I subscribed to a dog trainer’s account on social networks. |Without any special intentions, but it was simply interesting to
observe how professionals raise dogs.
And so, over the course of many weeks, I periodically whatsapp data watched how the dog trainer worked with other dogs – and What is content marketing and how does it work all his advice worked, and I gradually gained confidence in the specialist. Later, he launched a course where he teaches dog owners not only basic commands, but also tricks. I saw the announcement – and my head was foggy, because I also want to teach the dog to jump over my shoulders – and I buy the course.
This is how, with the help of content What is content marketing and how does it work marketing, I was taken from a “cold” state, when I didn’t even think about such a course, to purchasing it.
Sometimes content marketing can warm up for years. Sometimes one article is enough — and a person is ready to buy. It all depends on the What is content marketing and how does it work product: as a rule, the more complex and expensive it is. |The longer the warm-up — and vice versa.
What formats do content marketing in?
Content marketing comes in different formats. Some companies choose one format and work only on it, while others combine several within the framework of one content strategy.
In general, the more types of content What is content marketing and how does it work marketing are implemented, the greater the potential audience reach. But, at the same time, if there are not many resources, then they will not be enough to fully engage in several formats – and then it will not be possible to implement any of them normally.
Here are some of the most common content marketing formats ↓
SEO articles
You write articles for your blog, and people click on search queries and go to your site. They learn something useful and are then ready for the next step: receive email newsletters from you, subscribe to a channel, or leave a request for a consultation.
For example, you wanted to learn how to write posts → read the article → at the end you were offered a free course → the next step will probably be to buy the full training
Posts for followers on social networks
Users subscribe to a company’s account What is content marketing and how does it work for something useful or interesting – and end up in its information field. In it, the audience warms up, becomes imbued with trust in the brand, learns about the company’s product – and, if there is a real need for it, can buy it.
For example, you read posts from a psychological help service because you are interested in the topic of self-knowledge. Then a post comes out, and you just remember that you haven’t decided on a gift for your friend’s birthday. And then you decide to take advantage of the offer — it’s very timely. Or it’s simpler: you feel the need for a psychologist and turn to the very service that you’ve been reading for a long time
Social Media Outreach
Many social networks have algorithms that twitter, 8 recommendations you should follow determine what users will find more interesting to read or What is content marketing and how does it work watch. You create content — it reaches the audience. Someone simply begins to recognize the company, someone will subscribe, and someone will click through and understand that they need the company’s services.
For example, the Look.online brand makes entertaining videos to reach its target audience. They do not advertise clothes directly, but simply gain popularity and recognition. The brand currently has 1 million subscribers on Negotogram
Video on YouTube
Long videos are essentially like blog posts. Viewers What is content marketing and how does it work find your video based on their search queries (or it comes up in recommendations), and while watching, they learn something useful for themselves. Then they can subscribe or contact the company for paid services.
Webinars
These are free live broadcasts where a “marketing exchange” takes place: viewers receive a concentrate of useful content on a topic of interest to them, and the company gets the opportunity to present its product, close to this topic.
Webinars usually work well at the final stages of the funnel. The audience comes to them with a more or less formed problem or desire, and due to the long, rich broadcast, they become imbued with trust in the speaker.
This webinar by Yandex Praktikum is aimed at those who are about to decide to become a programmer and go to training. If the goal was to form such a desire, it would be possible to hold a webinar on the topic of “How to master a new profession in a year and reach an income of 100,000 ₽ per month”
Email and chatbot newsletters
You send letters/messages to readers to remind them of certain events, promotions, activities, to direct the reader to social networks or the company blog to tell more about the products and ultimately convert the reader into a buyer.
Lead magnets
Here we have a mutual exchange: you offer the ba leads client valuable information in exchange for contact details – email, phone, social networks. This could be a free book, a consultation on a topic important to the client, a useful guide, a video lesson, a checklist.
Here, an SEO promotion agency collects company names and emails to then write and offer their services or “warm up” the reader
Podcasts
You host podcasts where you express your opinion on a topic. Like webinars, they cover topics that concern your target audience. This is a chance for you to mention your services and show that the solution to the listener’s problem is to buy your product.
Cases
You show the result of your work in the format of a story and post it on a platform – a blog, media, social networks. “There was such a company with such a problem – and here’s how we helped them”
More often than not, cases are read by a slightly warmer audience, which decides whether to buy your product or not. A case helps convince that it is you who is worth contacting.
Articles in the media
You write articles for different platforms — VC, Habr, Lifehacker, T-journal, and so on . You reach your target audience, immediately get coverage, and then lead people further down the funnel. Also, materials from other platforms can get to the top in the search engine.
Why Companies Choose Content Marketing
To promote a company, you can use different methods – advertising, sales, PR, collaborations. But still, content marketing is chosen by 69% of companies as the main type of promotion – this is evidenced by a study conducted by Zen together with IAB Russia in 2022.
Content marketing works long-term. It is an additional source of traffic and leads that does not directly depend on investments at the moment. Let’s say you bought advertising for a channel – 30 people came. You removed the advertising – you will not get more subscribers. And in content marketing, you can, for example, stop writing articles for a blog – but you will continue to be found by requests on the Internet.
For example, this article on Neskuchnye Finansy was publishd in 2019 and has gaind 294K views in 5 years
The company’s recognition grows. When people come across your content, they gradually begin to remember the company and build associations. Readers already recognize the name and logo, distinguish you from competitors. And when something is on everyone’s lips and people talk about you, the number of potential clients and their trust in you increases. Try to remember any online English school – most likely, some example pops up in your head. This is how recognition works.
For example, you might remember “Skyeng”, which you most likely came across in the rivers of content. And looking at the screenshots, you will immdiately distinguish by colors what kind of company it is
Reaching a new audience. Content can reach people who would not respond to direct advertising, since the request has not yet been ford. For example, copywriters rarely specifically search for courses on texts, so selling “head-on” to a cold audience is almost useless (we trid). But copywriters can be offerd to subscribe to a Telegram channel about texts, which they are more likely to agree to – and then sell courses there.
Helps to convey the usefulness of the product and the company’s expertise. The company’s website usually does not have enough information about the product to make a decision right away. For example, client X wants to start buying ready-made daily rations. But he doubts: is it really worth spending money on this? Then he reads a couple of your articles, where you prove that ready-made rations are cheaper, that balancd meals are prepard by a nutritionist and that you no longer have to stand at the stove after a hard day at work. And now the client understands that he is ready to spend
Money on such a service.
In this article, for example, they say: the food is more varid in delivery, and you don’t even need to cook it – it’s convenient if you live alone
Increased customer loyalty. Who will you go to for dental treatment: a dentist recommendd by colleagues or a random doctor? Most likely, the former — a good review inspires trust in the specialist. Content marketing helps to earn the same trust. People read your posts, articles, watch videos, learn more and more about the product — and now you are no longer a random company.
Long-term relationships with customers are formed. Content is a way to maintain a dialogue with the buyer, not to lose him after the first purchase. For example, online schools often remind to continue studying in the summer, so as not to forget the material learned during the year. And clothing brands notify customers about new promotions and contests.
Here, Yandex sends a newsletter to the client: in the first case, to attract people to events, in the second, to get people to go to Yandex.Market
Content brings in “warmed up” clients. They have already worked out the main objections, and then it is much easier for them to take the next step.
What Companies Need Content Marketing
Many people like the idea of doing content marketing: you don’t just churn out endless advertising, but you get creative, do something useful, gather people around you, gain fame and get leads to boot. However, content marketing is really only needed if your business has one of the situations below ↓
The demand for the product is not formed. With the help of content, you will convey to people that they need the product. For example, you have come up with a bot that can edit texts. You need to form its value for customers: “the editor’s work is 80 thousand a month, and you can buy a bot once that replaces an entire employee. The bot cannot quit, it does not get tired and does not burn out.” You put these theses into the content → people learn about the product and why they need it.
Trust in the expert plays an important role when making a decision. There are areas where you can’t just show the client some technical characteristics or functions and convince them to buy the product. For example, medicine: all dental clinics promise to cure teeth. Or real estate services: they all promise to find that very apartment and that everything will be in order with the documents.
In this case, trust in the specialist or the company comes to the fore. And content can help with this: if one realtor simply posted his profile on Profi, and another runs a blog and talks in detail about the nuances and pitfalls, then there will be more trust in the second.
A long decision-making cycle before buying. A person needs to read, choose, look at the price, think – and only then may he come to buy your product. For example, you do not understand content marketing and subscribe to the agency’s channels and blogs, where you learn how to make a strategy, what content works, and so on. You follow this blog, come across its cases, take a mini-course. And only then decide to contact the agency for its services. In this case, the content helped make the necessary number of touches to make a decision.
The company has developed in “direct” advertising and now wants to increase conversions at different stages of the funnel. That is, direct advertising continues to run, but now it is helped by social networks, lead magnets, newsletters, webinars – and as a result, there are more leads.
When It’s Better Not to Invest in Content Marketing
Content marketing is a great strategy for promoting your business, but like any other strategy, it doesn’t help you sell anything to anyone.
A potential client does not make an important decision when buying your product. For example, you have a car wash. It is unlikely that anyone will read about how you wash a car. Or study how to choose the right car wash. This is a fairly simple, routine event that does not require “warming up” the client.
The main criterion of competition is price. For example, you resell iPhones and you do not have a budget for content marketing development. In such cases, it is easier to reduce the price or hold a promotion than to try to build just any content marketing strategy.
You need a quick result. If you are launching content marketing to organize a flow of leads in a month, then it is better not to. Content is not direct sales, but preparing the client for a purchase. And clients need different amounts of time to make a decision.
There is no marketing system and no plans to build one. That is, simply hiring a writer and making posts and articles will not work – the text itself does not bring leads. Content needs lead magnets, sales department mechanics such as free consultations, traffic and landing pages. If all this is not there and is not expected, the effectiveness of such content marketing decreases.
How to understand what to make content about
It all depends on what goal you set in developing content marketing: increase recognition, create demand for the product, prove your expertise. For example, to be recognized, you can make provocative, viral content. To inspire trust in the audience, more useful material will do. Here’s where to start ↓
1. Create a content marketing strategy. This is a document that outlines your goal and how you will achieve it. It is important to document three things:
who your audience is and what topics you will be releasing content on;
in what formats will you do it and where will you publish it;
how you will lead people to perform a target action – buy/make an application/sign up for a consultation.
Example – content strategy Let’s do it . Here we have written down our target audience, their problems, how we will solve them and what neds to be done for this
2. Involve experts in content creation. Simply creating content basd on advice on the Internet will not work. For content to begin to inspire trust, you will ned the help of experts – for example, your employees who will help the eitor produce truly in-demand content.
3. Analyze competitors and other content marketing strategies. See what content resonates with your audience. But don’t try to duplicate it: it’s unlikely to get as many likes and comments as the original. Try to understand what exactly the post hookd you with, what problems it solvd for your audience, what made people comment.
What kind of team does it take to make Content Marketing work
Marketing teams in business vary Some managers Combine positions and some specialists are not seen as necessary. But for Content Marketing to Work It is important to cover the tasks of the following specialists.
Content marketer or ditor-in-chief. This is the person who will manage the process and build the strategy. He is the one who defines the audience. Eets goals and objectives, monitors their implementation and analyzes the results.
Eitors and authors. These employees are responsible for the texts. Their task is not just to write a post or an article – they do it in such a way that the text works for the marketing goal and useful action for the reader.
Traffic manager. Their job is to distribute content so that it reaches a new target audience: articles have readers, social networks have subscribers, lead magnets have downloads.
Designers, layout designers. They work with the visual design of the text. The designer creates layouts, and the layout designer makes changes to the site. Often this role is combine into one.
Experts: They help create useful and reliable content. Most often . These are members of your team who understand the topic.
How to Evaluate That Content Marketing Is Working
One of the main reasons why content marketing is stalling in a company is the complexity of its analytics. In direct advertising, we can quite easily see how many leads came from a specific ad. QW While content marketing works largely to warm up the audience. Which is difficult to assess without advancd analytics systems.
Plus. There is the reputation of content marketing: its key task is considerd to be. To provide benefits to increase engagement. To collect a subscriber base” — and supposely. Selling is not allowd here at all. Many content specialists think so, so they avoid even trying to sell.
But at least partial content marketing analytics can be done. It’s better to start with four simple tools ↓
1. Make offers Even if you have chosen a strategy of super-mega-useful content. Integrate offers to buy the product into your posts, newsletters, articles. Otherwise, readers will never know about your product.
Look at the posts by Pasha Molyanov, who talks about the agency’s work in the TG channel. In the first example, without any introduction, he talks about the last chance to buy courses. In the second, he gives out a promo code for buying a course
2. Put UTM tags. These are tags in links that allow you to track where the client came to the page from.
For example, you publish a post. Make an offer in it and lead to a page with the ability to leave a request. In the link to this page, we write the UTM tag: https://sdelaem.agency/ ?utm_source=telegram&utm_mdium=post&utm_campaign=smm&utm_content=0310
When the user leaves a request. Bou will see that it was from SMM, namely from Telegram, namely from a post publishd on October 3.
3. Use multichannel analytics. Multichannel analytics allows you to learn the entire user path from the first touch to the purchase. For content marketing, this tool is indispensable: we see not only where the person left the application from. But also all the pages they visitd earlier. And that’s where our content may be. And we will understand that the content to some extent influencd the user before the purchase.
