Everyone is jumping onto the content marketing bandwagon and many businesses have made it their primary marketing strategy. This has led to a lot of competition online and most businesses are unable to reap the benefits of content marketing because their content is getting lost in the large volumes of content on the Internet even though their content is extremely valuable.
Content marketing is often the only affordable marketing channel for small businesses and so a failed content marketing strategy could spell bad times for a small business. So how do you make sure that your company's content marketing strategy is better than that of your competitors? How do you ensure that your content stands out and is seen by as many people as possible? Here are some tips that will help you put together a solid plan:
#1. Create content for all types of readers
The cardinal rule of content marketing says that you need to create content for your ideal reader in order to attract the right leads and customers. Most companies follow this to the T, no matter how niche their industry is. So even though their content is excellent, it does not get seen by too many people. Content marketing success takes time and I suggest that you create content for readers other than your ideal reader so that it attract more traffic to your website and social media pages. Instead of focusing on creating just one type of content for your target audience, create some popular content to service other readers.
#2. Transform into a thought leader
By becoming a thought leader, you can beat your competitors with your content marketing strategies even if they are market leaders. As a thought leader, people will flock to you on the Internet for industry knowledge and help. However, becoming a thought leader is not easy and you need to be sincere. Firstly, you need to keep abreast of industry news and trends and study the industry to know what you are talking about. You can use this knowledge to publish your opinions about the industry that others find interesting.
Your content should also be able to address and solve the problems of your readers. Thought leaders are industry experts who can clearly identify the problems faced by their audiences and they offer invaluable advice to solve these problems.
#3. Find out what your competitors are up to
If the content marketing strategies of your competitors are getting good results for them, it helps if you monitor their strategy to see what they are doing right. You can find out if they are using newsjacking or are able to find and create content around interesting topics. Of course, copying topics and content is a complete no no. Only use the techniques and tactics that are bringing success to your competitors.
#4. Conduct interviews
This is one of the best methods to get industry cred by association. Conducting interviews - especially video interviews is a great way to build relationships with industry leaders as well as to answer some burning questions that you and your readers may have. Video interviews are also more popular than text-based interviews as people do not have to make an effort to read a long interview - they can watch it. They are also more interesting and are more credible as your readers can see you interviewing the industry leader.
#5. Place good calls to action
Make sure to place relevant calls to actions with most of your content so that interested readers know what to do next and can easily connect with you. The calls to actions should be as non-promotional and as non-sales-y as possible. You can include calls to action that asks readers to share your content on social media platforms or to subscribe to newsletters.