How to use content marketing to your advantage

BY TOM REGAN, DIGITAL MARKETING

Content marketing is a must for brands that want to create awareness and attract new customers. But what does it take to create a successful content strategy?

For many years, marketing aimed to pitch a product or service. Regardless of the medium, your marketing approach was to tell the audience your product was the best. Laundry soap, toothpaste, soda, cars, etc., were all marketed the same way.

What Is Content Marketing?

The Content Marketing Institute defined content marketing as "a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action."

However, content marketing guru Neil Patel believes that definition requires clarification.

In a blog post, he said, “It means that 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."

All About Storytelling

Content marketing is all about storytelling; it's not about making the hard sell anymore. It's about educating your customers, helping them with problems and even offering entertainment.

You can use storytelling —offering relevant, valuable content — to guide potential customers through the buyer’s journey, all the way to a purchase.

A Better Experience

Customer experience is becoming increasingly important to business success.

According to Forbes, approximately 60% of customers would pay more for better customer service. And almost 89% of customers will do repeat business with a company that offers excellent customer service, even if that company has made a mistake. (Salesforce)

On the other side of customer service, a bad experience is enough to drive customers away. In fact, after more than one bad experience, 80% of customers said they’d switch to a competitor. (Zendesk)