What is Content Marketing?
Have you ever got an email from a brand that appears to have read your mind? It may seem uncanny, but in fact it’s an example of excellent content marketing. The data you supply to the market leaders like Amazon, Netflix or Spotify allows them to deliver up personalised playlists, purchase suggestions and binge ideas that recognise who you are and what you care about.
Content marketing is all about relationship building. It’s about creating customers who feel known, understood, and valued by a brand. Once it’s established customers tend to stick, rather than switch, because maybe they won’t get such good treatment elsewhere. In this article the Imagefix team takes a look at current trends in content. And we look at 5 ways you can use it to use it to create brand relationships whatever size your business is.
Current Trends in Content Marketing
Answers to the question – what is content marketing? – tend to shift with the times. The post-pandemic, environmentally conscious world we live in tends towards content trends that:
- Focus on empathy, rather than selling.
- Provide meaningful content, rather than sales talk.
- Offer information that is helpful.
- Recognise your need to escape once in a while.
- Curate buying experiences for you.
How to do Content Marketing
Content marketing starts with 4 questions that you probably know the answer to already:
- What is the problem we solve, and how do we solve it?
- Are we currently helping our customers, or selling to our customers?
- What questions are important to our customers?
- How many different ways do we try to communicate with customers?
Answering these questions in detail gives you the information you need for your content marketing strategy. The next step is to decide how you’ll use it to speak directly to your customers.
5 Ideas to Get You Creating Content
1. Introduce Yourselves
There are lots of soulless business online that might just as well be run by robots. Let your customers know that you’re different by creating a series of ‘to camera’ shorts in which everyone introduces themselves, says what they do, and why they like working with the business. Don’t go for perfection, go for authentic communication.
2. Tell Stories
Stories are about beginnings, middle and ends. They’re popular because they create problems that that cause distress but get solved after much effort and ingenuity. And isn’t that what your business is all about?
Your customers have a specific problem, which you have taken time to understand, and – thanks to your ingenuity and effort – to which you can provide a happy ending. Ask a customer to share their story or share the satisfaction employees feel at being able to solve a problem.
3. Be Useful
What can you offer to your customers that would be interesting and helpful to them? Perhaps you can offer them new ways to save money on your products, or maybe you could produce some useful tips for getting the most value out of your product once they’ve bought it. Another popular offer is a video, worksheet or calculator which helps customers to decide which of your products is right for them.
4. Offer Subscription
Invite your customers to subscribe, so they can be the first to know about promotional offers or new products. Then deliver just that, via an email newsletter. Thinking that nobody will bother to read it? Ask them. Find out how they’d like to stay in touch. Whether it’s Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, make a connection.
5. Let Your Customers Know About Your Values
Do you care passionately about world wildlife, ensuring everyone in the world is fed, or creating a sustainable environment? Show your customers you care by making your workplace Net Zero (a great, unfolding story), donating a percentage of your profits to a charity, or posting videos of the animals you’re helping to save.
Have We Answered – What is Content Marketing?
If you like the sound of content marketing but you need some help with generating a different kind of content, give Imagefix a ring. We have content creators who’ll be happy to talk to you about the kind content you want to create. We can also write copy for you or manage your content marketing in collaboration with your team.
If you’d like to know more about content marketing, or you want some help with creating content, give us a call today on 01525 715608.
