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Content marketing and lead generation are a lot like investing. Getting better outcomes from your content marketing requires you to make smart investments and execute a solid strategic plan.
It can be hard to develop any marketing strategy without a clear idea, especially for businesses where digital marketing strategies seem to change all the time without any real understanding of what works.
One of the proven ways to seek returns on your marketing efforts is through content. However, many don't know how to implement or develop a content marketing strategy.
We found that treating every aspect like you're an investor is a beneficial way to develop your content marketing strategy. Not sure what we mean? We'll elaborate.
Content marketing is, in short, the process of creating and sharing high-quality content. This will bring new customers to your site, increase traffic, and ultimately grow your sales.
Content marketing helps build relationships and is a subtle way to advertise your brand. It strays away from the traditional "hey, look at me" type of marketing and acts as more of a guide or a helping hand.
For this reason, content marketing nurtures your audience, creating meaningful and loyal relationships.
The most effective content marketing focuses on verifiable information. Google receives over 63,000 searches every single second on any day. This might seem daunting, but it's an opportunity for you and your business.
If you provide people with useful, quality content - these thousands of searches every second could work in your further.
What do we mean by thinking like an investor? Don't worry; this doesn't mean you have to be great with numbers. It's more of a mindset that you should adopt.
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For the most part, investors have a logical approach to new projects. They look at the bigger picture and consider everything through analytics, statistics, and case studies.
Investors look at the world around them and consider what changes will happen. This is a different mindset for most people looking at momentary change.
The thing is, content marketing doesn't require a significant investment. Compared to most marketing techniques, it is low-cost even if you outsource the content.
Thinking like an investor doesn't necessarily mean you're making a significant investment. It's about making smart, valuable gains - that will benefit you and your business in the future. Economics has always favored the people that do their homework rather than compulsive decision-makers.
The first step as an investor is realizing why you need something. A practical, well-executed content marketing strategy has multiple benefits:
As an investor, these reasons probably already have you interested. If you're not an investor, here's how you can build your content marketing with an investor’s mindset.
This is what investors are fantastic at. Sure, short-term benefits might not be the best, but it will be worth your while in the long term. Investors are experts at deciding what will become an excellent investment in months or years.
Content marketing should be treated the exact same. You should never consider the benefits in the short term. If you look at content marketing this way, you'll be disappointed and more than likely give up.
Content marketing can be slow - it doesn't necessarily have instant benefits. It takes thoughtful consideration, a long-term plan, and constant attention.
It's an ever-changing market, and you need to find new content to post. Investors can relate to this - in an ever-changing market, you must ensure that you're still traveling down the profitable road. You need to make thoughtful changes to ensure it will always benefit you.
With this in mind, you should always check your analytics. Find out which content works best for you, and work on that. Similarly, find out what content didn't work so well and ask yourself why.
Investors, unless they get lucky, will also consider the long-term plan. Mostly, if they're saving for retirement and investing in their futures, they don't choose a "get rich quick" plan.
Instead, they invest in a strategic plan; they look at ways to retire comfortably and send their children to college. Content marketing requires strategic and long-term planning, especially regarding lead generation.
For this, you need to understand your sales cycle, conversion rates and every part of your sales process. This, in itself, takes time to understand. Over time, you'll build up a long-term strategic plan.
In the same regard, you shouldn't be distracted by short-term emotions. Investors rarely do this. If they were to get ruled by their feelings when there is a sudden move in the market, there's a chance that they will regret it.
Content marketing can very often be driven by cycles of fear and greed. Very often, marketers can be distracted by short-term fads. If one thing's certain - what's popular today on the internet might not be popular tomorrow.
The good news is with content marketing; you can dabble in everything. You can test new trends, but you should always have a long-term plan. Everything should be strategic.
Don't try out all the trends and fads; it'll make your content marketing chaotic and wouldn't benefit you.
When building your content plan, always consider the benefits that it will have - especially in the long term. Investors will always consider the benefits, significantly when investing in something long-term.
The benefits of content marketing are extensive. However, you have to consider the benefits for you and your business regarding your specific content plan. Every plan is different, and the benefits vary from business to business.
What might work wonderfully for one business could waste time for another. For this reason, you have to list what you want your plan to achieve truly - what are your main goals?
Investors very often do this. They consider what they want to invest in and what matters to them. For some, it's a new car or house, and for others, it's for their children's future and retirement. There's no right answer, but knowing this will help you decide what your content plan needs.
Below are the main benefits and ways to build your content plan to achieve your goals.
In a world that's so technology-based, getting people to notice your brand is becoming increasingly difficult. Content marketing is a great way to bring awareness to your brand. More importantly, it brings valuable awareness to your brand.
If you're looking for more sales, you want to ensure the people entering your site are relevant to your business.
Importantly, fewer and fewer people are responding to traditional forms of advertising. People are bombarded with an overload of adverts on their devices, which isn't appealing. According to PageFair, more than 615 million devices now have ad-blocking software installed.
Content marketing saves the day by providing value to lives and increasing brand awareness less intrusively.
If your business wants to improve this aspect, guest posting could be your best option.
Guest posting is predominately posting blogs on somebody else's site. For example, if you are a lifestyle brand, you might consider posting a blog on a lifestyle website, which advertises your business and gains new customers.
You could also appear on podcasts and videos, and this acts in the same way. Videos and podcasts are becoming increasingly popular in the world of content.
By providing your audience with informative, truthful content, you're ultimately building a trustworthy relationship with them.
Your content must have credible sources and be honest. 61% of U.S. online consumers have purchased after reading recommendations on a blog. Content marketing does build trust in a way that no other method can match.
This is especially great for new or relatively unknown companies. Publishing credible, helpful, and valuable content will help establish trust.
With so many businesses and the internet making everything accessible, you have to stand out. Trust is key to this.
Informative blog posts, podcasts, and videos will be the best way to build your audience's trust.
If you're an e-commerce site, content marketing will benefit you greatly. Content marketing, in general, generates more leads than paid ads and outbound marketing.
Content marketing brings in conversion rates six times higher than other methods. This means the leads you gain from content marketing will more likely convert into sales.
As an e-commerce site, this is precisely what you want.
The best content, in our opinion, for these purposes is nothing to sales focused. We know this might seem counter-productive, but, as we mentioned before, people don't respond to pushy adverts anymore.
We'd say publish informative blogs, post newsletters, and use user-generated content to promote your products.
Post a blog that advertises your products every now and then but saturates it with purely informative posts.
Investors very rarely dive into anything. They research and check out the alternatives. Perhaps another investment is a better idea for them, and that's fine.
We believe that content marketing is the marketing choice for you. It costs about 62% less than outbound marketing and generates three times as many leads. It seems like the best choice.
However, your business might benefit more from other forms of marketing, especially in terms of investing. You should always look into different ways and compare.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with looking around and considering other options. This might also inspire your content strategy.
For example, if you find that guerrilla marketing is your option. This is promoting products or services on the street with little money. This will still provide you with content, but your focus may be elsewhere.
We'd say a content strategy is possible, even if you're investing in other types. Content comes in many forms, and you should always focus on it. How much time and money you invest in it depends on your personal research and needs.
For example, if you're serious about your content strategy, you will invest in all forms. Blog, video, podcasts, and graphics. You might outsource writers, creators, and SEO specialists too.
If you've compared and found that you'll use content marketing a little bit. You might focus on running a blog and sending out a newsletter once a week. There's no right way to do this, don't worry.
Investors always look at one thing - the financial returns. Bringing it back to the first point will be in the long run.
Content marketing can be slow, just like investing in stocks. Perhaps you won't see returns for a few months, so your content strategy should consider money and time.
Measuring the return on investments in content marketing can be different for every company. You can measure it on content consumption and content shares.
You can also measure the ROI on lead generation metrics and the impact on sales. It might be hard to decipher if your content created a specific sale, which is why analytics is essential.
For instance, if you find out that you gained seven new clients monthly through content marketing. Find out how much the average customer spends, and multiply this by seven. From this, minus the investment into content marketing and discover if it is worthwhile.
Again, remember that content marketing can be slow, and your ROI might not be everything you envisioned at first. That being said, the fact that content marketing is so cost-effective does make us confident that your ROI will impress you.
The fact we mention the ROI is essential, as it determines your strategy and how it evolves. Over time, you can determine which content and investments are worth it.
You can't have a content strategy without content. Obviously. So, how do you decide what you include in your plan, like an investor?
Here are the different types of content and the benefits of each:
These are just a few examples of content you can include in your strategy. Using an investor mindset, choose a few (or all), based on what will work the best for you in the long run.
We hope this provided you with useful information. Sometimes, jumping into an investor mindset can help you with your marketing efforts. Not only should content marketing be seen as an investment, but it should be treated the same way as other investments.
Content marketing takes time and work, and putting together a great strategy can be difficult. When the effort is put in, the results can be incredible.
Author: Emma Robertson
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This post was submitted by a TNS experts. Check out our Contributor page for details about how you can share your ideas on digital marketing, SEO, social media, growth hacking and content marketing with our audience.
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