How to use content marketing to promote your business

What is content marketing?

Effective content marketing is not just about creating and distributing content, but also about finding new ways to engage with your customers. A strong emphasis on storytelling and putting the audience first ensures that articles, videos and podcasts created are relevant and valuable for existing, and potential, customers. This content must also be able to travel, which means content creators must ensure that it can be easily shared and distributed across platforms and dedicated channels.

Content marketing is more than a marketing strategy that uses content to attract an audience. Content marketing is a full-on skill set. It’s no longer enough to market with content. You must understand how to market the content itself.

The need for different types of content

Content marketing encompasses many different tactics, but the most common include blog articles like this one, emails, social media posts, webinars, infographics, video, whitepapers, ebooks, and other types of social media content. It could also include sales content designed to support your sales teams. It’s essential to create the most relevant content tactic to convey intended message, keeping in mind that great content can also be repurposed. A podcast can be turned into an article or infographic, for example.

How to use content marketing in your business

It's easy to think of content marketing as a marketing strategy that's designed to drive leads and promote your products and services. While that is a huge part of the process, that's not all content marketing is used for.

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing, in part, as a strategic marketing approach; in the years since that explanation debuted, content marketing has spawned new job titles, careers, departments, and even new types of businesses.

If you look at a few of the best examples of content marketing, you'll see that the strategy is used for much more than just selling. Here are some of the more innovative uses of content marketing that you need to know about.

1. Build your sales pipeline
   As with all your other marketing efforts, your content strategy needs to fill your sales pipeline with good quality qualified leads. A dedicated strategy matters here, and will allow you to measure ROI or track leads from specific pieces of content.
2. Build relationships
   Consumers or customers can't get to know your business unless they have an active relationship with your company. That means they have to learn more about your business and its offerings and then choose to either trust your company or avoid it.
3. Establishing thought leadership
   It’s likely that you, or your company, want to be known as leaders in your field or industry. The most effective way to establish you as a thought leader in a certain field is to write about trends, methods, new developments and success stories. Articles, videos or whitepapers ensure that your business stays top of mind when people are considering a new supplier or partner.

The importance of having a consistent and strategic content marketing approach cannot be ignored. In an age where we are presented with a barrage of information it is essential that your business has something to say that cuts through the clutter and enables relationships and sales to flourish.