There’s a bit of a misconception about content marketing that it’s more or less the same as blogging.
That might be because a lot of companies have a blog page. But really they’re totally different things.
It’s true that content marketing should include entertaining, educational articles that help your customers and solve problems for them.
But it should also be tactical and strategic.
Blogging doesn’t tend to be either of those things. People blog as a hobby, writing about something they’re passionate about.
And yes, you’re also passionate about your industry. But unlike a blogger, you should be creating content with the goal of slowly but surely moving your prospects closer to becoming customers.
It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that your end goal should be to use the content you create to find new customers and keep the ones you have.
Create content that fulfils a range of needs
Sometimes people forget that their prospects are at different points on the buyer journey.
Let’s look at a couple of examples.
Marta comes across one of your articles on LinkedIn. It really resonates with her, so she Googles your company and finds a couple of other articles that you’ve written that she also enjoys. She bookmarks your site and makes a mental note to read some more of your content in the next week or so.
Dan is a bit further down the line. He did what Marta did about a month ago. In the meantime he’s read about 10 of your articles. He’s also signed up to your email newsletter and has watched some of your YouTube videos. He’s at the stage now where he wants to know what differentiates you from a competitor he’s also been following. So he takes a look at your case studies to read about how your product has helped people like him.
Marta and Dan are just two examples of how potential customers find out about you and the kind of content you can use as stepping stones to get them across the stream and become customers.
This video by HubSpot does a great job at showing that your customers go on a journey with your content and products until they have what they need to achieve their objectives.
Maintaining a healthy content marketing funnel
The content you create for your brand should be solving problems for both Marta and Dan, who have different levels of maturity in terms of knowledge and interest.
As well as thinking of this as a journey that your prospects are on, it might be helpful to visualise the typical marketing funnel.
At the top of the funnel you write to build awareness of your brand. But this should be combined with content that fits a little further down the funnel.
In short, content marketing is much more than just articles.
Case studies, for example, are great for the middle of the funnel. At this stage, your prospect has already got a good sense of what you do as a business, but wants to see examples of your work in action. Then, even further down the funnel, you can create explainer videos that showcase your products being used. This gives your prospect a way of imagining life with your product.
A lot of brands forget that they should be creating content for those who’ve already passed through this funnel, too. Your existing customers can benefit from onboarding content, as well as follow up emails and special offers.
Create helpful content at each of these stages of the marketing funnel, and you’ll go a long way towards attracting new customers as well as satisfying the ones you already have.
I work with brands to create content that moves their prospects closer to becoming customers wherever they are on their journey.
Find out more about my services, here.
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