What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing…it’s a big word, that can mean a lot of different things. But that doesn’t mean it should scare you off. Content marketing could be one of the main reasons your business takes off if done correctly. Do you want to begin bringing in quality leads, sales, and loyal customers all right from your computer? Let us guide you through – keep reading to get a full breakdown of the different types of content marketing, how to execute it, and why it’s necessary for a successful business.

There are numerous different types of content marketing you can dip your toes into. It’s best to try as many avenues as you can and see which one sticks. Be sure to pick what you’re best at – if you like writing, maybe stick to blogging or if you’re more of a speaker, try video content. The possibilities are endless when it comes to content marketing, and this is only a shortlist of what is out there:

• Blogs
• Videos
• Infographics
• Case Studies
• eBooks
• User-generated content
• Checklists
• Memes
• Testimonials/Reviews
• Whitepapers
• How-to Guides/Academies
• Influencers/Paid Ad Content

Now it’s time to begin the content marketing process, don’t get overwhelmed. This is the fun part! You are now able to express yourself and your business through your work. All of this will be worth it in the end!

The first step is to develop your content strategy:

Who is your target audience?

This is the particular group of individuals you will be aiming your marketing efforts towards. You want to outline your buyer personas – which are fictional characters that represent the type of individual who would typically use your product or service. Need help creating your persona? Head on over to our Buyer Person Story Example for all the details!

Define your goal

What is the purpose of the content you are putting out? Is it to generate leads, influence someone to purchase your product, bring more individuals into your store, etc? Each piece of content needs to have a call to action that fulfills your end goal.

What channels will you focus on?

This is typically defined when you are creating the buyer persona mentioned above. Decide which platforms your potential buyer uses the most and focus on those channels. However, it is never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket – you truly never know where a good fit client may find you!

Develop a calendar/management plan

Outlining the best times, days, and how often you plan to post socials/send emails/post blogs/etc. Is always a good idea. Having this all laid out assures that you will stick to your set plan and won’t veer off course.

Next, we are going to begin creating the content:

Writing content

This is where you get to express your company’s brand identity. Your posts could include educational, sales-related, brand awareness, or just extra fun supplemental content that you think your followers would enjoy. This is completely up to you and the possibilities are endless!

Graphic Design

You’re going to want to add imagery to most or if not all of your content. If you have a graphic designer this is where they come into play, if not, no worries! There’s this handy little tool called Canva. Canva allows you to be your graphic designer right from your computer – with templates, colors, fonts, layering tools, and more – this is a great way to create simple designs on your own!

Macro to micro-content

Personally, this is our favorite here at Hey Now! We love being able to create one long-form piece of macro content and chop it into a million little pieces of micro-content. Whether it be a webinar, podcast, blog, email, etc. All of these longer pieces can be cut up, saving your time and energy and creating tons of useful content.

Approvals from different individuals

When creating this type of marketing, you want to have different sets of eyes looking over your work. You never know what slip-ups others can catch or impactful ideas they may come up with!

Evergreen content/Repurposing content

Evergreen content is content that can constantly be reused and never goes out of style. You can take your old work and repurpose it to save time and make sure it’s being seen by new people. Want to learn more about repurposing content? Check out our blog Repurposing Marketing Content.

Lastly, it’s time to deploy the content you’ve created:

There are a few different platforms you can use to achieve the goal of scheduling emails, social posts, paid ads, and more – in advance! Some of our favorites include Hubspot and Hootsuite.

Now you’re probably wondering “why content marketing”?

Content marketing is useful and necessary for businesses of all types in many different ways. It helps build brand awareness, increases SEO, creates sales material and educational tools for potential and current customers, assists in lead nurturing, helps attract perfect fit prospects, and MORE. However, we couldn’t sum up “why content marketing?” into one sentence. Which is why we asked some of our Hey Now! Employees who assist in the content marketing process daily their “why” why it comes to content marketing:

Anne Brower, Partner and Creative Director:

“Content Marketing is important because it is an extension of excellent customer service. Content marketing when done right seeks to answer potential customer questions. The focus on helping people see you as a resource and doing the work to identify issues they might be having and truly helping them is a win-win. It ups SEO generates leads and sales, but it’s also bringing together consumers with a brand that will be a good fit for them almost like matchmaking!”

Matt Brower, Partner and Internal Operations:

“You can actually generate leads and create growth by helping people solve their business challenges and bringing them value at no cost!”

Tyler Cendroski, Paid Media Manager:

“Content Marketing is important because it helps businesses achieve long term goals. If done right, over time we will see the value in the content that has been created and distributed.”