Content Marketing is a type of marketing that is designed to get attention of current and new customers when promoting different content types. Content marketing requires conceptualizing and creating content with the intent of sharing it with the public, through any media, such as – audio/visual, print, or internet. The criterion for creating such content should be to provide information to the audience, educate them, and then convert them to paying customers. This process needs to be renewed constantly, providing content that sustains the interest of the audience long enough to create the desire to buy.
Based on the definition above, we can say that content marketing is:
An ongoing process. It is a sustained effort to invoke the interest of a customer and then retain the interest over a period of time.
Disseminating information that is of use and interest to the customers.
To teach and engage an audience with the intent that it will eventually alter their behavior in such a way as to benefit the content provider.
To develop and share a variety of content on various media to attract an audience and convert them to loyal customers.
The main premise behind content marketing is that if you consistently provide a person with information about a product, of which they were so far unaware, tell them of its uses, show the customer how it can benefit them, then it is possible to convert a reader or an audience to a potential customer, who will make enquiries, which can finally be converted into sales opportunities and adding new and loyal customers to the business.
The Key to Content Marketing
The key to content marketing is to:
Provide information
Create awareness
Demonstrate the use and necessity of a product or service
Motivate the audience to action which will benefit the content provider.
The main focus of content marketing is not on a sales pitch. The idea behind it is that if a content provider is constantly providing valuable information, then the consumer will form a positive association with it and reward it by becoming a customer. Though it is believed that a customer will be positively influenced, but there is no guarantee of how someone will react. If the reader finds the content valuable, there will be a positive association which may turn into a sale.
How Content Marketing is done
There are as many ways to use content marketing, as there are ways to present content. Here are some of the most commonly used ways to content market:
Print media – writing about the service or product inbooks, magazines, newspapers, etc.
Audio -Visual Media –creating movies, documentaries, TV serials, CD/DVD, radio programsand other such material containing information about the service or product.
Internet – this is perhaps the best way to content market as it allows a one to one interaction with the audience. This includes, social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, YouTube, blogging, forums, e-books, etc.
Talks, Presentations and Seminars – where an expert talks about the product or service to an audience informing them and educating them. This is for a limited audience, but can provide results faster than other forms of content marketing.
There are a host of other ways to content marketing and it is limited to only a marketing expert’s imagination.
