5.6 billion Google searches are conducted everyday and most of these searches are queries. People turn to the internet to find information and to look for solutions. If you can offer them the right information at the time that they are most likely to need it, your company can win big.
Why Is Content Marketing King?
Studies have shown that companies that do content marketing convert at rates that are 6 times higher than those that rely just on ads.
Think about which company’s blender you’re likely to buy:
A company whose ads follow you around the internet like a stalker? Or a company that sends you a delicious almond-milk recipe for summer weekends?
A study by the Conductor team on the influence of content, revealed staggering information. 63% of viewers were more likely to buy from a brand that educated them and after one week, that number shot up to 74%.
Yes, you read it right! Brand affinity grows with time.
What does that mean to you as a marketer?
Value-driven content is similar to a good investment. The returns keep coming long after you’ve created it.
Content marketing is a great way to earn more traffic and build a brand reputation without burning a hole in your pocket. But it only works when you’ve got a plan. Random “tricks” and “hacks” are unlikely to work consistently.
Below is a list of “must-haves” for a winning content marketing strategy
Market research
Who are you talking to?
If you’re trying to customize your content to all 8 billion of us, you’ve already lost.
“If you’re trying to sell to everyone, you’re selling to no one”- Gary Halbert.
So, know your target audience. Get information about their age, gender, employment, education, income bracket and if possible, the way they think.
Try to understand:
- What keeps them up at night? (Their pain points)
- Where does it hurt? (Get specific)
- Solutions they’ve sought? (Things they tried but didn’t work)
- Burning desire? (Their dream scenario)
Research in places that most marketers don’t turn to much like Subreddits, FB groups, forums, Quora. Read all the comments.That’s where the gold is.
Plan your offer
Once you have a good grip on who your audience is, you need to curate your offer based on these markers:
- Where do they hangout?(Bars, cafes, clubs, websites, platforms, channels)
- What’s their lingo?(Industry terms they use)
- What medium they like the best?(Podcasts, videos, blogs, e-mail)
You can find some valuable information at https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/ on your competitors’ websites.
Stalk your competitors
Don’t pretend you haven’t stalked your peers on social media, we know you have. It’s time to put those world class stalking skills to use. Don’t worry, we’ll call it competitor research.
Keep these points in mind:
-What kind of ads have they put on fb?
-Subscribe to their email list. See what their welcome e-mails are like, check if they have auto-responders, what information do they give in their mailers?
-Follow their sales funnel, click on the ad, see where it leads you, follow them all the way to their landing page. Note how it makes you feel. Did it evoke that acquisitive feeling in you?
Notice the copy, cadence, thought behind the text… everything.
Keeping tabs on your competitors, gives you a great peek into the enemy camp.
Once you learn enough about their strategy, aim to be different.
You’re stalking them to see how you can stand out from them, not be like them.
Ask yourself these questions:
– Can I take a different angle?
– Can I sell a different feature?
– Can I offer a different benefit?
– Can my brand have a different message?
See the pattern?
“Cross off” any message they are using. Don’t be just a vendor, add value and be unique.
If competitors are serving a wide base, think about getting more niche.
Don’t be a bore!
What kind of content attracts you?
A plain wall of text and images or animations and videos that make content come to life?
People love devouring content online no doubt, but it has to be engaging. Content creation means nothing if it can’t catch your audience’s attention. A study says that a marketer has 2.7 seconds to catch a prospect’s attention. No pressure.
Don’t worry, you have 3 strong allies in this battle for eyeballs:
Images
Some facts:
FB posts with pictures get 2.5x more engagement that plain text posts.
Tweets with images get you 150% more retweets than plain text tweets.
The bottom line is humans think in pictures. 65% of us are visual learners. We are incredible at recalling imagery. It’s a good idea to have graphs and pictures that correspond with your content. A safe rule to follow is one image for every 75 to 80 words.
Videos
Landing pages with a video increases the conversion rate by 80%. In fact, a mere mention of the word “video” in an email subject line increases open rates by 19%. Crazy, isn’t it?
Vision triumphs all senses. Exploit this evolutionary blip to your advantage.
80% of viewers say that a video about a product influences their purchasing decision.
Video is too powerful a medium to be underused in your marketing strategy. But a video has to be well thought through. It has to be inviting, punchy, value-driven and short.
“But I’m not a videographer or an editor, how do I create a good video?”
Don’t sweat, there are many explainer video companies that can do the job for you.
A few quick pointers on choosing the best explainer company that is also affordable.
Quality and expertise– Check the explainer video company’s track record – who are their clients, what are their reviews like, what are their videos like?
Customization– Choose between a template video and a customized video.
Price– Custom videos will always cost more than templates that you can tweak. Choose as per your budget. If you place to outsource your video, you can look for a cheap explainer video company, an affordable one or one that’s expensive but has an impressive track record.
Animation
Animation is emerging as one of the favourite video formats for business needs because it’s both cost-effective and highly customizable.
An experienced video explainer company can create animated videos that help you meet your content marketing objectives. The best explainer video company in India is Ripple Animation. Reach out to see how we can help you create content marketing videos that wow your audience.
Also Read –
Why 2021 Will Be the Year of Animated Video Marketing
Why You Must Include Video Content In Your Ongoing Marketing Strategies
9 Tips On How You Can Use Video In Your Marketing Strategy