How to use content marketing effectively and grow your business

Two years ago, we wrote a blog post explaining what content marketing was exactly and how to utilise it to best benefit your business. Since then, the principals have remained the same but the importance of these principals have only increased. In today’s digital media dependant world where businesses are all bidding for our attention, a well structured and engaging content marketing strategy can be extremely effective.

The purpose for content writing can be really ambitious. You want it to:

• Please an existing audience
• Engage a potential audience
• Entertain both of these audiences
• Encourage these audiences to purchase your product/service
• Have said audiences share this entertaining content with their friends/followers to engage a wider audience.

It’s a lot to ask of an article. And the likelihood of ticking all of those boxes with one blog post is pretty slim. All of these goals can only really be achieved through a well planned content marketing strategy. Although the goals you have may be ambitious, with a good structure and engaging content, there is no reason they can’t be achieved.

What do you want to achieve?

Getting to know your current audience or market is a good start. Having a clear goal of what you want to achieve from the content marketing strategy is another key element.

By understanding who your audience is and what they want to know, the content you create is going to be engaging and relative. Creating your own content is an opportunity to show people how knowledgeable you are and what skills you have to offer. It also builds a sense of trust. Particularly with services, customers are unable to ‘try on’ a service before deciding it’s the right fit for them. Content marketing is an honest and trustworthy way of showcasing your professionalism and capabilities in a way that customers will respect and believe.

Segment your audience

Before creating content, decide what it is you wish to get out of each post. There is no use trying to tick all of the boxes in a single post. Segmenting your audience and having articles targeted toward different segments will be a successful way to engagement. An example of segmenting your audience may be

• Engage potential customers: Showcase previous work/ case studies
• Educate potential customers: Help customers understand the industry and the service you have to offer 
• Educate existing customers: Industry updates or changes within the business

You want your content to be entertaining enough that your audience will return for more. You want to create brand awareness so that traffic is driven to your website and people see how awesome you are. Most importantly, you want to grow your customer base, so make sure a call to action is present so customers can enquire easily.

"There's no way I have time to write my own content, if only there was someone who could do it for me..."

Oh, hey! We are the answer to your problems and we're here to write your content for you too.