From being an innovative marketing concept to an indispensable part of the marketing process for any business- the journey of content marketing is interesting. Now, you cannot think of establishing your digital brand without content marketing. According to a study by eMarketer, nearly 60% of marketers create a minimum of one piece of content every day. It has become an effective digital branding strategy applied by many small, medium, and large-scale companies. A CMI stat powered by a Brightcove report says that 93% of B2B marketers implement content marketing strategies to establish their brand.
So, what is this content marketing? How is it so important for your digital branding? In brief, content marketing is about promoting your business profitably through engaging, value-added online content. The term “content marketing” includes two important things- content and marketing. The area of content marketing covers various content ideas and strategies. If you want to improve your brand online, you have to learn about content marketing strategies. Find below how content marketing is ruling the world of digital branding.
What is Content Marketing: All You Need to Know about it
For every modern-age marketer, content marketing is a common term. Content Marketing Institute defines it as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content. It helps to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” So, in other words, content marketing is a digital marketing strategy for brand awareness.
As we know, a brand grows only when it lingers around people’s minds frequently. It is possible when you create and publish high-quality content online consistently.
It is based on the ability of storytelling with high-quality, value-added content. Different forms of content are used in this process. The primary forms are:
- Written
- Visual graphic
- Video
- Podcast
Written contents include blogs, listicles, e-books, articles, case studies, whitepapers, etc. Visual graphics consist of different digital posters, banners, infographics, and so on. You can find social media live videos, YouTube videos, and many other ways of video marketing. A podcast is a series of audio sessions discussing a particular topic.
As we have discussed the definition and types of content marketing, let’s move toward how content marketing strategies help digital branding. We will also share effective tips and techniques that can help to boost your content marketing journey.
Content Marketing as a Powerful Digital Branding Strategy
If I ask what a brand is all about, what will you say? Well, a brand is a constant awareness about a business among the target audience. Content marketing is the best way to bring and sustain that awareness. Also, it helps the brand to generate convertible leads that eventually turn into sales.
When you publish content online, it can reach millions of people quickly with the right marketing strategies. And, thus, your brand can reach your target audience and trigger their interest to purchase your product in no time. Thus, your business sees a high return on investment. A DemandMetric study found that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about three times more leads than conventional marketing. That is the power of content marketing.
As a part of digital marketing, content marketing helps businesses to promote their services or products. The promotion takes place both directly and indirectly. A product review provides information and a direct call to action for a particular item. On the other hand, a guest blog promotes the business indirectly. Regardless of its type, content marketing is all about hooking the audience and acquiring their trust and interest in the specific brand. That is why value-added content is essential. It may be a piece of content solving a problem, a how-to guide, or an information-laden article.
Look at how established brands use content marketing effectively. We can take Zomato, one of the biggest food delivery apps in India, as an example. When it comes to innovative content marketing strategies, it never fails to amuse us. One of their recent tweets- “not accepting orders anymore” – India, 15th Aug 1947 has gone viral with 46.8k likes and 4,227 retweets. It is interesting to see how wittily they combine patriotism and their brand value.
Another tweet of Zomato shows how well it knows its target audience. The tweet was- “Kabhi Kabhi Ghar ka khana bhi kha lena chahiye”. (Sometimes, you should eat home-cooked food too.) Well, apparently, it contradicts their brand value which is serving restaurant food at home. But it was crafted to hook the audience using the famous catchphrase of every Indian household. When other prominent brands like YouTube joined the thread, and the tweet went viral, the purpose was met.
That’s how effective content marketing works. It is not always about a direct approach to sell products. Instead, it should be focused on having a sustainable impact on people’s minds.
Result-driven Content Marketing Strategies: Learn five Effective Tips to follow
The industry is evolving. And new strategies and ideas are coming up. Also, many ideas are gradually being considered outdated. They do not work anymore. So, if you want to embark upon your content marketing journey, you must stay updated with the latest technologies. For example, SEO is an important aspect of content marketing. It is now more about users’ search intent than simple keyword stuffing. You have to focus on relevant, value-added content aligning with your target audiences’ purpose.
However, the experts always take time to research different algorithms and social media analytics. A digital branding company in India points out a few consecutive steps for effective content marketing. The steps are:
- Find the pain point of your target audience
- Map the outline of the content to pain points
- Choose and use the right type of content to solve the specific problem
- Circulate the content among the audience with those problems
So, that is how content marketing works as an effective digital branding strategy. The main motto is to divert the audience’s attention from the marketer. Then it is shifted to their problems and the possible solutions. Now, let’s have some quick tips to improve your content marketing strategy and increase your brand awareness through it.
- Keep an eye on the analytics that shows the content performance.
- Run some tests to see how your content works.
- Plan and schedule your content in a calendar.
- Stay consistent with your content.
- Observe how people interact online about your brand.
Final Thoughts: Content Marketing for Impactful Digital Branding
We hope you got a clear insight into how essential content marketing is to build and retain a brand. A digital branding company can guide you more on your digital branding strategy. Consider visiting a professional one. And get the most suitable strategies for your business. If you want to learn about personal branding, click here.