It’s true—inbound marketing is here to stay, and companies across the globe are realizing new ways to reach their target audiences in authentic ways.
But inbound marketing isn’t a one-stop shop in regards to your marketing efforts. There are many moving pieces in an effective inbound campaign, and marketing managers today are being tasked with establishing strategies that generate quality leads and positive ROI.
The problem is, with such a heavy focus on content generation, many marketing managers are finding it difficult to produce awesome content on a consistent basis. After all, if you aren’t providing engaging, educational content to your audience, you aren’t serving them to the best of your ability, nor are you promoting a healthy connection within your marketplace.
Ask yourself:
- How do you connect with your audience?
- Does your website make an impression or produce an emotion?
- Is your content providing value to your readership?
Without consistency in your content in form, function, and frequency, you aren’t able to connect with your audience in an honest way. But there are plenty of quick ways to turn your inbound marketing strategy around with the help of some quality content. Let’s look at five of them.
1.) Blogging:
According to Hubspot, marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy positive ROI. 13x. Not sure we need to continue here, but just to make the point a little more clear: blogging should be the primary focus of your new content strategy. It not only improves your brand’s visibility, but it improves the relationship between you and your audience—as long as the blog content is remarkable enough to catch their attention.
It’s important, because over 90% of Internet users don’t scroll past the first page of Google search results. And by establishing a keyword strategy and infusing your blog content with the keywords your audience is actively searching for, you’ll have an easier time being found online. 46% of people read blogs more than once a day, so the demand is out there. You just need to find the right topics that resonate the most with your customers.
2.) Offers:
Another way to connect with your audience on an educational level is through content offers. These offers target your customers in different areas of the buyer’s journey (awareness, consideration, decision), depending on how ready your visitor is to take action on one of your products or services. They benefit your visitors in a multitude of ways, and come in a variety of forms, including:
- White Papers
- Case Studies
- How-to Guides
- Webinars
- Slide shows
You want to provide your customers with content that educates them on a challenge or pain point they’re facing, showing them how to solve their challenge, and—ultimately—persuading them to use your service in the future. But the main goal is to educate them so they come to this decision on their own, making content offers different than your typical product or service advertisements.
It’s also important to gate your content, forcing users to fill out a simple form before downloading. This way, you’ll collect the visitor’s information, allowing you to send them further content down the road.
3.) Social Media:
It’s not just for kids anymore, you curmudgeon! Social media is a thriving community of content producers and consumers, making it the perfect environment to promote your blog content and offers. Though lately, businesses have used social media as a shouting platform—which customers just love. Who wouldn’t want to hear about your latest product launch for the 37th time in a row since yesterday?
Everyone. That’s who.
The trick to using social media to promote your content isn’t really a trick, so much as a way of thinking; it’s all about connecting with other humans. You know, those two-legged creatures that look just like you? Yeah, they’re real, and they don’t like to be treated like robots. When sharing your content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or other social platforms, ask questions, post pictures, tell stories, provide value… anything to get your visitors engaged. Don’t just expect them to do something, compel them to take action on your blog or offer.
4.) Email:
Email is a valuable tool for promoting your content as well, and knowing which kind of email generates the best response from your audience is paramount to engaging with them. But emails have to drive recipients to take action, and if your current emails are nothing more than newsletters or “best of” blogs, it’s time to revise your strategy.
Create compelling emails that persuade your readers to click a CTA (call-to-action) leading to a landing page with a relevant content offer. Entice them to fill out the form, and you’ll have a new lead on your hands, one that may be potentially converted into a customer—given the right offer, timing, or incentive. Once you have their email address, you can use it for future email campaigns and blog promotion activities.
You also have to track your email’s KPIs (open rate, click-through rate, etc.) and A/B test your design and copy in order to maximize the effectiveness of your content.
5.) Strategy & Schedule:
Implementing a solid content strategy is the best way to ensure you’re sticking to your schedule. If you’re able to, you should sit down with your team and iron out the entire content strategy for the next quarter. Ask questions like:
- What are problems our customers are experiencing?
- Who are our desired customers/buyer personas?
- What topics in the industry are creating the most buzz?
- What holidays, seasons, or other timely events are coming up?
That way, you’ll be able to build a list of all the blog topics, keywords, email topics, social posts, and other content you’ll need for the quarter—and it will be laid out so you always know what’s ahead, keeping you and your team on track.
For some extra ideas, take a look at your competitors blogs to see how their handling content for your particular audience. Of course, you’re goal is to do it better, so always be on the lookout for ways to enhance what you’ve already created.
What's Next?
Following these five tips will certainly get your content strategy moving in the right direction. Content is the lifeblood of inbound marketing success, but it can quickly grow overwhelming for any VP of marketing without the right strategy in place.
If you have any further questions on content marketing or how to create a winning strategy, we are always happy to help.