Introduction

Today, the strategy of businesses to achieve their goal is completely different from a few decades ago. Content marketing and subsequently content production has become one of the most effective advertising, sales and marketing techniques in the digital age due to all the advantages and features it has.

Content marketing is not only the best way to attract people to your brand’s offerings, but also the best way to communicate your business’s identity and values. At the same time, it gives you an opportunity to use various content distribution media such as social networks, podcasts , blogs, etc.

Content marketing is a new, efficient, cheap, fast and effective method that increases your interaction with users and audiences. By using content marketing, you can create a popular brand and expose yourself to the choice of your users.

What is content marketing?

To define content marketing, let’s review the story that led to the emergence of this concept: most people who use the products and services of today’s companies and brands are first attracted to advertisements and the way they are presented. But on the other hand, users are tired of ads that are made just to make products look great. In fact, in the modern age, we should not seek to deceive the customer and we should use all our efforts to create a healthy and honest relationship with our users. The definition of content marketing starts right from the point when “content” assumed the role of its author in correctly describing the realities of businesses.

Where do consumers go to get more information about the products and services they need and from whom do they get help? The online space (websites and applications) has become an important choice in collecting information for users. They complete their understanding of products, services, and brands by reading relevant articles, watching videos on sites like YouTube, and listening to podcasts created by other consumers. In other words, today’s buyers are more alert than ever before by using different media and content, they try to take the least risk in their purchase and make a “conscious” choice.

It is good to know that you who are reading this article as a marketer, seller or business owner are considered consumers. So maybe with this example it is better to understand the impact of content in marketing.

But what is the clear definition of content marketing? Content marketing is a strategic approach in marketing that aims to create and distribute valuable, relevant and consistent content with a product or service. This is done to attract and retain the audience and ultimately move towards profitability from the customer.

Like many modern sales methods, content marketing is a digital strategy that revolves around the creation and performance of content. “Content” can be presented in various forms, including textual content, graphic content, video, and any readable format. The goal of content marketing is to drive traffic to your business website. Then, in the next step, he builds trust, converts audiences into followers, and acquires new customers. This strategy will eventually lead to the audience buying and using your services.

Why is content marketing important?

Content marketing is important not just because it can build trust, lead, and grow customer trust. Rather, it is because it can become a daily habit on the part of the consumer. This point has a great impact on capital growth and the development of that brand or business.

Therefore, it does not matter if your work is in the field of tourism or food and clothing. Today, no business can make much progress without content activities in the Internet world. In fact, the benefits of content marketing reach their maximum in this case.

Most of the old advertising and marketing strategies are based on short-term profits. For example, sending group emails may attract a few people, but be aware of how many of them may be deleted as unread, or that an advertising billboard may work well for a few months, but eventually, the format becomes boring. You should think of another billboard with newer costs.

This is not to say that the old ways are inherently problematic. There is nothing wrong with this approach. But to have long-lasting success, you need a stronger strategy. Other marketing strategies can be beneficial, but in the end no method can generate more income for you as quickly as content marketing.

Brands that have neglected the importance of content marketing today will have to play catch up tomorrow. In the business of the 21st century, there is no room for lethargy. On the other hand, people who have a content marketing strategy are one step ahead of the rest.

Content has the ability to influence any other online strategy. However, it is important to understand that content can serve as a complementary strategy to almost any other online marketing strategy.

What are the benefits of content marketing?

It doesn’t matter if you are the manager of a small local store or the head of a multinational company, there is no doubt that content marketing can play an important role in your digital marketing strategy.

Today, brands spend more time creating content than ever before, and more than two million blog posts are published on the Internet every day. This is mostly done because of the advantages of content marketing.

For example, if you write evergreen content (an evergreen piece of content that doesn’t go away quickly or can be updated over time), you can expect it to drive traffic to your website for years. In fact, we know today that older content ranks higher in search engines than newer content. Because it has had more time to gather the audience and attract them. So it makes sense to start this strategy now.

That’s why marketers are spending more than ever to produce quality content. Quality content is the kind of content that requires hours of research, editing, and even rewriting and changing to produce. If your business creates and publishes content that surpasses anything else on the Internet in terms of literary, informative, educational, and nutritional value, then content marketing can be very profitable for you. This is while the cost of content marketing is very economical.

Another advantage of content marketing is that it can lead to a higher conversion rate for the brand. Therefore, to earn money online and compete with other businesses, you need this method and it is necessary to use it.

But in content marketing, it is very important to be consistent and maintain balance. If you want to get off to a great start but only do it once a year, it’s better not to waste your time on it at all.

But content marketing in general includes several benefits and advantages that we have explained to you in the following list:

• More content on the site

Obviously, the more time you spend on the site, the more content you produce. This means that customers have more reasons to connect with your business and get to know your brand, which results in better and stronger trust, which ultimately leads to increased sales and more profit. When your content is better, users will spend more time on the site, which is always a positive thing.

• More visible in the search engine

Every new blog post you make is actually a new page that is created in Google. Having more pages does not necessarily mean more traffic, but having a higher quality and categorised page can provide better opportunities for Google rankings. If you’re targeting keywords and topics that customers frequently search for, you should also file them in a separate directory on the site.

• Visitor traffic increases

This depends on your continuity of work and content publishing strategy. For example, if you use information from other sites, it is very important to link to them somewhere in the text or by reporting on sites with high traffic, you can get thousands of new visitors to the site, which is definitely worth the money.

• Increase in followers

It is better to share production content on social networks to increase visitors and find new customers. If you do this, more users will see your content. In addition, users will have the opportunity to share your content with their friends and followers. This will increase your followers dramatically. Also, over time, you will get better results in social networks, which will lead to an increase in the traffic of blog visitors.

• Higher probability of converting the audience into a customer

Your main goal by creating content is to convince your viewers to become customers. So you should do this with caution and precision. There is always a small gap between product presentation and sales, which should be filled by providing useful and attractive content to the audience. Therefore, by filling it correctly, you can easily increase the number of conversions obtained.

• Improve brand reputation

When people read your content, an image of your brand is created in their mind. If they find useful or informative content they were looking for in your brand, then your brand will stay in their mind. In addition, if they see your content published on other sites or on social networks, they will recognize you as a credible and knowledgeable thought leader in this business.

• Saving costs

One of the most important advantages of content marketing is its cost-effectiveness, paying attention to this point can be of great help to your business.

Of course, no marketing method is completely free, and content marketing is no different. But don’t get it wrong. For example, the costs of setting up the site may be high at the beginning. But it is something that must be done anyway. Maybe it is difficult to invest in it at the beginning of your work when you have not yet made a special profit from marketing or the cost of content production is high, but never consider it unimportant.

No need to be discouraged. The relationships you build between yourself and your audience with good content can last for years. Also, this work can create a steady base of customers who not only refer to you for any issue in this field, but also do free marketing for you by referring their friends.

Content marketing is based on the concept of providing information to the customer to convince them that all their consumer rights will be preserved by purchasing from you. This will increase the value of public relations, which will result in higher sales and revenue. By doing content marketing correctly, you will achieve progress that is faster than SEO and other digital marketing strategies.

Be sure to focus your content strategies on your target audience. This can be useful even when you are not exactly sure which customers your product is suitable for. It actually kind of leads you to real customers with some trial and error.

The variety of content strategies ensures that you can find a suitable management method in any case. Also, simply telling the truth in a knowledgeable and reliable way is very effective in bringing customers to you.

In general, content marketing methods are such that they manage the costs themselves. That means you can achieve a good profit with very low costs but in a longer period of time. Some initial costs may be related to the cost of content production, but these costs are much lower compared to traditional advertising. Apart from this, the variety of low-cost ways to produce and present your content to real consumers are quite large and varied, such as websites, social networks, blogs and podcasts.

Also, perhaps the most cost-effective option, social networks allow you to reach the right markets. They also have the great advantage of having a direct conversation with the audience. In fact, the nature of social networks is that they increase communication. Consumers in these networks are always sharing their feelings and suggestions with you and with each other. So it’s okay to use Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and other options. It is important to have an active and attractive presence.

Components of content marketing

Content marketing can be considered a dynamic process formed by connecting different parts and components to create value. In determining the different components of content marketing, maintaining order is of great importance. For example, you can’t start creating content first and then move on to formulating a content strategy. What you read below are the components of content marketing that you must have a plan to formulate and determine each of them:

• Content strategy

Content marketing includes planning, production, management and maintenance of content. While the content marketing strategy focuses on the narrow line of content marketed.

But these explanations are a bit confusing and too misleading. Therefore, if strategy means “a plan, method or series of manoeuvres and activity steps to achieve a specific goal or result”, then the specific goal or result for content marketing is “turning audiences into profitable customers”.

So let’s define a content marketing strategy again like this:

A content marketing strategy is a plan to build an audience by publishing, maintaining, and broadcasting content frequently and consistently that educates, entertains, or inspires new audiences into fans and then into customers.

You need to know that content marketers feel more confident in their work with a complete content strategy. Because when you have a content marketing strategy, the challenges of content marketing no longer seem overwhelming. Also, having a content strategy can make you profitable in a faster time. So, by doing this, you are actually paving the way to success for yourself.

• Content calendar

A content calendar is typically used to schedule blog posts . It is also your best friend as a business manager or marketer. We all know how the blog writing cycle goes. Besides that, you have a thousand other things on your mind: you create your strategy, you get excited when it’s ready, but then what? Then everything is lined up. After that, the customer comes and you do his work. This is the stage where there is not much excitement left for work.

A few weeks later, you realise that you haven’t posted anything on the blog for the whole month, and it’s like you’ve taken a step back. But with a content calendar, you avoid creating frustration in this cycle.

A content calendar is a schedule for content distribution that specifies the type of content, nature, time of publication, and promotion schedule. A content calendar helps you to have a detailed plan to guide your content marketing process.

Content calendars are essential for keeping your blog and other media schedules organised. Even if you only post once a month, a content calendar will help you plan your strategy and stay on schedule. If you use guest writers or contributors or like to optimise content regularly, you can enter all the information in the content calendar and relax. This work is even part of the road map for your business and you can do more detailed planning by doing it.

• Content production

Content production itself includes several steps. The process of identifying a new topic you want to write about, deciding on the format you want to produce the content, working out your strategy (using keywords or otherwise) and then finally producing it.

In addition, most of the content creation processes include editing tasks and publishing steps. Since content can take many forms (e.g. blog post, video, e-book, tweet, infographic, advertisement, etc.) the content creation process is very diverse and not always as simple as we think. 

Content ideas can come from many different places, whether it’s from within the content team, customers, other company teams, new data, or other things that are interesting to your audience, and of course, depending on your goal of creating content, deciding what you’re going to be about.

There are many ways to create content, but research is always a very important step. So through keyword research you can find many opportunities to increase traffic.

In fact, keyword research is a fantastic way to discover how your audience is talking about a topic. In addition, conducting a review can also have a positive effect on finding new opportunities for the content you want to produce.

• Publishing content

You should also pay attention to the risk of impact that this has on the visiting process of the audience; Publishing your content should be organised and integrated. This may seem difficult at first glance, but it is not. Because a distribution strategy usually involves coordination between functional teams. Therefore, coordination between production and publishing is done easily. It doesn’t matter if you want to coordinate with the site development team or social networks or both. Just have a regular schedule and follow it.

To make the process easier, you can think of the day when the final content is published and reaches the right audience. But don’t forget that in content production, the journey continues from idea generation to publication. A good content strategy should include a thorough process. Also, a proper promotional plan for pre-release and post-release is also necessary. Your job as a content marketer is to see each part of the content creation process in a bigger picture. So don’t let the production process detract from the (very important) post-release promotion and distribution strategy.

However, keep in mind that as always, learn from your own successes and mistakes. Every piece of content you create is an experiment. It is with proper monitoring and performance measurement that you will be able to tell what is working for you and your business. So in this case, you have more and better experiences for the next attempts that can help you progress.

• Content promotion

Obviously, content creation is an important part of any content marketing program. But your work doesn’t end as soon as you hit the publish button. This content should have benefits for you, the most important benefit being that people will actually read it. Therefore, your content promotion strategy is as important as the research and content creation stages.

The number of ways you can promote your content is almost limitless, and they’re always growing. But advertising is the step where most companies using content marketing fail. You should note that the Internet is a very crowded place and full of various contents. So, with the right advertisement, you can find a good place for content distribution.

Therefore, your task is to consider advertising and how to distribute the content from the day you come up with the content idea until you finally find your audience.

How to measure the success of content marketing? (key performance indicators of content marketing)

For content marketing to be successful, you must have a complete strategy. From audience research and content calendar creation to regular optimization of previous content. All these works are like the steps required to build a building. Therefore, if a problem occurs in any part, it can damage the whole building.

Since content marketing is not a way to turn into profits very quickly, measuring profitability is not the right way to evaluate the success of content marketing. In fact, content marketing evaluation indicators are things that you can reach a general result by checking them repeatedly. We will introduce these indicators below.

It should be noted that this data will not only lead to the identification of content that had a poor performance, but you can also identify those that have made your business progress. Sometimes the content that you think is of very good quality may not match the audience’s taste at all. Data analysis can help you find the right “recipe” for your content marketing. So you can go with a fresh look and a new experience to achieve content marketing success.

• Site visit traffic

Site visitor traffic is one of the main indicators of content marketing performance evaluation. As long as the amount of useless content on the site is not high, you can get good traffic.

• The time the audience spends on the site

It is very important to know how much time visitors spend on your site. The longer this time is, the better your content marketing has performed.

• SEO improvement

Another criterion for evaluating content marketing is to check the statistics obtained from optimization and SEO of web pages.

• Ease of customer journey mapping

The effectiveness of your content and content marketing is proven when mapping the customer journey is easy and fast.

• Returning visitors

Returning visitors and audiences are kind of the backbone of your website. According to their statistics, you can evaluate the usefulness of the content you put on the blog so that you can change it if there are any problems.

• Brand reputation

It is not bad to know that checking how much people know about your brand is also useful in evaluating content marketing. However, keep in mind that reputation can hurt your business if it is not done in the right way.

• Conversion percentage of audience to customer

It’s always good to get accurate statistics of customers who have recently purchased from you. It is better if you do it in a template. Because the results can be used later.

Ultimately, the impact of your content on your marketing strategies is the real determinant of how much your audience can count on the services you provide. Therefore, it is never too late to implement content evaluation techniques to know what is beneficial and harmful for your brand and your content marketing.

The criteria listed above will help you get these techniques up and running. This means you can measure and analyse almost everything in the content marketing subcategory.

What are some types of content?

A content creator can produce content in any of the following: blog, news, image, video, podcast, email, social media post, etc.

But here, like any other job and profession, it is always better to know what content is before starting content production . The truth is that creating content is not just about describing a product or brand and writing a few short posts.

Content creation is connected to other aspects of the Internet, search and data in the virtual world in general. In fact, as you know, the Internet is a vast storage of all kinds of content. Content is what we consume on social networks and similarly content is what we hashtag, save or consume or send to our friends. 

As broad as content marketing is, there are many different types of content. Therefore, here we have introduced some of the important types of content.

• Web pages

What is the difference between a regular web page and a content marketing web page? Consider The Beginner’s Guide to SEO from Moz, a provider of SEO-related tools and resources. Offered for free, this resource has been viewed millions of times, attracting countless customers who might otherwise never have come across Moz and the services it offers.

• podcast

Michael Hyatt, author of the bestselling book The Platform: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World , practises what he preaches. The “This Is Your Life” podcast is downloaded 25,000 times a month. As Hyatt explains in his blog post, 4 Reasons You Should Start Your Own Podcast : “Podcasting gives you visibility in a whole different world, primarily iTunes. “I’ve met so many new people who said they’d never heard of me until they came across my podcast on iTunes.” Hyatt offers valuable information and advice on his podcast, all for free. But the podcast led to more sales of his books, enrollment in his courses, and requests for him to speak.

• the video

Gary Vaynerchuk is a master of content marketing using online videos. Just take a look at his YouTube channel. He started his videos promoting his family’s wine store, and through those videos and other online marketing, he eventually turned it into a $45 million empire. Videos and podcasts are a form of content marketing that is practically unused because people think it’s expensive and hard. But with the cost of professional equipment dropping, it’s easier than ever to create high-quality video and audio content.

• Book

Like movies, people often think that books sell themselves. But smart marketers don’t sell books just to sell books. They sell books as a marketing tool. Although it is easier than ever to publish a book these days, there is still a perception that it is a difficult task and that only certified professionals can publish a business book. Publish your book, and even if people don’t read it, you can still use it as a form of content marketing every time you’re featured as the “author of so-and-so book.”

Content functions

Content marketing is constantly evolving in its size, scope, and consistency. Only internet advertising competes with it in growth momentum.Therefore, in this section, we have prepared a list of the most important functions of the content, which it is necessary to know before starting.

• sales increase

In its purest form, content marketing provides a controlled and portable storefront for companies to sell products to their customers at a time of their own choosing. Recent CMA research has shown that more than 50% of consumers say content marketing has a positive impact on purchasing decisions.

• Keeping customers

In a growing micro-culture where every retail and service business faces tougher competition every year, companies care more and more about retaining their existing customers. By providing both entertainment and information, content marketing rewards the customer by keeping the editorial in hand while updating them on new products or services. By communicating regularly with your customers in this way, you are more likely to keep your business.

• Build or reposition your brand

Any company that wants to build or rebrand itself needs a method of communication that sends its message quickly and in a carefully controlled manner. Since good content on websites, email, mobile and printed products requires special attention from the consumer, you can use this ideal opportunity to change their perception of your brand.

• The possibility of integration

The core skill of modern content marketing is the creation and distribution of content across all key marketing media – print, online, digital, mobile, video and social media. Not only can companies create the right content for each unique channel, all channels integrate with each other, doubling or tripling campaign effectiveness.

• Engage customers for the long term

While clients may look to content marketing for short-term gain, their real talent is long-term engagement. By regularly communicating with your customer, you can gradually build a bond with them, increase their trust in your brand, and make your product or service their first choice. That gives you constant feedback and you can keep your customers happy by improving your service.

Successful examples of content marketing in the world

Fortunately, these days finding successful examples of content marketing is not so difficult. In the following, we took a look at the successful examples of content marketing and try to find out a little about the way these companies use content.

• Hubspot Co

HubSpot has established itself as a giant in the content marketing world. Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah founded the company. They are considered real pioneers in the field of digital marketing.

One reason why HubSpot stands out is that it offers a lot of information and even has several free services. This free online tool shows you how quality content marketing can convert site visitors into paying customers. The secret to their success is creating content that converts transient users into customers.

It is estimated that 70% of the customer journey is complete when they look for a salesperson to help them make a purchase. HubSpot has been successful by helping to guide and influence customer decisions the first 70% of the time.

• TED brand

You are probably familiar with TED talks. TED holds conferences around the world where influencers and experts give short, timed talks about their areas of expertise. These often informative and engaging videos are shared across social media and blogs.

But did you know that TED is also a major player in the world of content marketing? The marketing services they provide are not the same as HubSpot. But they are certainly progressive enough to use in-person events to create high-quality educational content and make it available and accessible to anyone who wants it. 

TED’s main platform is YouTube, where it uploads a new video almost every day.

• Coca-Cola’s “Share A Coke” campaign

The Share A Coke campaign gives everyone the opportunity to personalise their favourite drink. The company has selected 150 of the most popular Australian names and added them to the side of

 the bottles. And people fell in love with it. Everyone was talking about Coca Cola. Since then, the campaign has spread around the world.

Why was such a thing so successful? Personalisation. Coke made everyone feel special.It was you and your bottle in front of the whole world & such personalization was through content marketing. Coke did not monitor the online behaviour of its customers, try to target them or look for their criteria. Instead, it targeted what customers value most: their name.

Conclusion

Creating content may seem simple and even unnecessary at first glance, but if you want your business to thrive in the modern world, you need it. Today, according to the ranking algorithms of web pages, where a large part of their scoring factors are related to the content, the necessity of having good content is felt more than before.