The Importance of Content Marketing in your Digital Marketing Plan

Content Marketing is one of your most powerful tools as a marketer. Yes you heard me right, The Most Powerful Tool!

While content marketing is used to set yourself apart from your competitors, for any modern brand, it has now become an essential part of their digital marketing plan.

Millions of brands and influencers worldwide are using content marketing to gain reach, influence, and above all trust!

In this detailed article, you will discover effective ways to use content marketing.

Content marketing is the foundation of the most effective digital marketing strategies. Behind every great brand that is building trust via – a web-page, blog, video, or social media post – it all begins with content.

We start with an idea. That idea is communicated to an audience may it be a visitor, prospect, new customer, or a return customer – with the help of content.

So if you are anything like me – let me take you on a journey that I discovered recently and has me psyched about Content Marketing. In our journey, we discover how content marketing brings significant value to brands as well as customers.

Role of Content Marketing in your Digital Marketing Plan

If you’re still wondering: “Is content marketing important for my digital marketing plan?”

The clear answer is YES!

To start with, keep one important thing in mind – Content shouldn’t be an after-thought! Make it a priority, create high-value content so as to generate the right engagement, and thereby establish trust.

A digital marketing plan minus the right mix of effective content is a plan built for failure.

But merely content creating might not help you achieve your goals! Create content that complements your marketing goals.

Create content to provide solutions by knowing what individuals need. One widely used marketing technique for content is to conduct Q&A sessions online. Another manner in which content helps is by webinars designed to find answers to customer issues.

Content shows consumers how your products and services will help improve the quality of their lives. This is how content marketing helps increase the amount of quality traffic to your website, create visibility, quality leads, and sales.

This is how beautiful content marketing is!

Reasons Why We Need Content Marketing In Digital Marketing

Now let us get into more details about why and how to use content marketing to increase brand visibility and establish relationships with your potential and existing customers.

• Informs Your Audience Who You Are

The right content gives a voice to your brand; tells a story of your company and emphasizes what you do and why your audience should engage with your brand.

So you do not only tell your audience the important facts when you build content, you help them make the right purchasing decision.

You should know your end goal before developing some form of content marketing strategy. Do you plan to boost the brand’s general awareness? Are you approaching customers who are potentially interested in your service or product? Or do you want to form a relationship with those who are on the verge of being your customer?

The answers to these questions will help you define the role you want your content to target in the sales cycle.

Let’s look at how different pieces of content can help your consumers remember the brand throughout the buying cycle.

For the awareness stage, video is an easy-to-consume medium that can provide loads of data.

Let’s say if you are into the weight loss supplement business, then you might create an entire weight-loss-oriented video series that explains various fitness strategies for weight loss for individuals to try to get them started on their path to a happier, healthier lifestyle.

If the content of your awareness stage is appropriate to get people interested in what you have, you can invite them to sign up for your webinar or live demo about your weight loss supplement in the consideration stage to show people how your product matches up against leading competitors in the industry.

In the decision stage, they’ll be much more interested in learning how you’ve helped others overcome their issues or satisfy their needs by the time customers hit the decision point. That’s where case studies, case usage, reports, and white papers can help you.

It’s up to you to choose the best types of content for your brand and your ideal buyer.

• Great Content Helps Win Over Your Competitors

Your content has presented your identity to your ideal audience. Now it’s extremely important that your brand differentiates itself from competitors in the cluttered digital marketplace.

Here comes the second crucial role of content marketing.

If you’re a small business, content marketing is an efficient way to set yourself apart from others in the market and demonstrate what makes your business special.

Do u use Spotify or Apple music?

Both are similar services however, we experience each of them very differently. This is only and only possible due to branding and content marketing. Content is what creates the brand for such a brand-heavy platform.

Content represents brands and adds to the aspects that separate them from each other. The better your content, the greater your competitive advantage.

Whole Foods, the American supermarket chain goes beyond food.  The organization is one of the great content creators and opinion leaders in the industry. You don’t always find them from a source of consumer packaged goods (CPGs).

Source: pinterest.com

So, what does content marketing and thought leadership do for Whole Foods consumers?

Whole Foods integrates conventional CPG ads with content marketing, storytelling, and digital experience by showing shoppers why they buy the food they buy: a healthy, diverse, and wholesome selection.

• Act As A Backbone Of Every Digital Marketing Strategy

Content Marketing connects all the various parts of your marketing campaign. Think of it as a big foundation, upon which you will build the architecture to help you achieve your ultimate goal.

Content in the form of a narrative has to run throughout your campaign. An ad is used to attract visitors to your landing page where you give them an enticing offer. This in turn acts as a gateway to your brand.

Content helps you achieve your goals through various parts of the marketing campaign – be it attracting traffic, convincing people to buy, or creating a sense of emergency. That makes content the beating heart of any digital marketing plan.

• Content Plays An Important Role In Each Step Of Marketing Funnel

Let’s explore the role of content throughout the marketing funnel.

At the end of the day – we want to drive the visitor from one part of the funnel to another.  Isn’t it?

Thus, you have to produce outstanding content at all these levels.

Source: themarketingeye.com

Be specific to what the customer wants at each stage in their buyer’s journey to engage them.

1. At the top of the funnel, prospects need general knowledge that addresses the issue they need to solve, and that allows them to better understand problems and possible solutions.

   Here are some of the best types of content to create for the topmost section of funnel:

• Blog Posts
• Infographics
• Videos
• Podcasts

1. In the middle of the funnel, prospects become leads and need more detailed knowledge that allows them to consider their choices and analyze them.

Here are some of the best types of content to create for the middle section of funnel:

• Whitepapers
• Case Studies
• Worksheets
• eBooks

1. The bottom of the funnel calls for content that helps the customer buy or purchase. This is usually done through discounts, offers, or trials. You may induce FOMO (fear of missing out) or create time-based urgencies to ensure the buy.

Here are some of the best types of content to create for bottom of funnel:

• Webinars
• Testimonials
• Promo codes
• Demos

Content thus plays a multi-layered role at each stage of the funnel.

• Customers Share Great Content

Are you an expert in your field?  How do you establish thought leadership in a domain?

With content, you really can.

Genuine useful content that solves a problem of your niche target audience is the simplest way to achieve the same. Moreover, if the content is really helpful and solved a problem for someone – then it makes a solid testimony for your brilliance.

It establishes your credibility as a thought leader. You could invite your followers or website users to share your content across social media.

Great content helps you develop strong supporters of the brand.

• Great Content Helps Improve Conversions

Can you really improve your conversion rates through content marketing?

Yes, you can!

Your website’s aim is to serve as your company’s hub and it acts as the gateway between your sales and marketing activities.

A number of elements are needed to make your website as productive as possible.

Content marketing is the most vital component to derive the best outcomes! How?

Creating optimized content on a regular basis will improve your exposure and awareness online. This, in turn, will improve the value and conversion rate of your brand recall.

There is a better chance that your audience will remember you if you post content regularly.

Content is on your site to gain new customers, and it’s considered a conversion every time one of your visitors takes action to become a customer.

Here is a small tip: Be sure to provide a simple call-to-action to optimize the content for conversion.

Those conversions are what help grow your company.

Time To Engage Your Audience With Content Marketing!

To begin with, you need to thoroughly understand your customers in order to incorporate their needs and try to solve their problems. based on your target audience you may need to choose the best marketing strategies to clarify, educate, and convey your brand messages.

How would you like to share your message with your target market?

To ensure that your message is conveyed to them using the appropriate marketing tactics and their preferred communication method, understanding where your target group hangs out is important.

Once you decide your medium/channel, create content that goes well with it and build a plan for content marketing.

Without content, you will find it difficult to attract the attention you need to gather leads and turn them into final customers.

It’s time to get started if you really want to see the value of content marketing in action.

Work on creating a content marketing plan that has the heart of your target customers. You will then be on the way to creating useful content that helps increase conversions and user engagement.

Want to learn how to create amazing content? Read our blog – How To Create Content On The Fly!