Content marketing focuses on your customer’s needs. In order to deliver measurable results with for your business needs, it’s necessary to understand the basics of your marketing strategy.
1. Context gives you a framework for your message. It helps to draw prospective customers in and engage them with your product or service. Content allows you to tell your story. Stories are better than facts as they are more interesting and memorable. They bring your brand to life with your voice and allow others to respond to it. Structure is important in this sense as you need a beginning, middle and end that offers information that is of value. Once that information is taken in, your audience will be able to respond to it.
2. Channeling involves the communication and distribution of your content. Be sure to place such context on all different networks, online and offline, including social media, direct mail, email, live events, etc. By including a wide range of content distribution formats, your brand reach increases exponentially. In relation to context, include text, audio, graphics, video, etc to create a variety for your channels. Also, don’t hesitate to cross-promote on platforms. Initiate other markets by cross-promoting as well to give a mix of content to attract and maintain your audience. The more ways others connect with you, the more ways you can reach out and promote to them.
3. Community involves the relationship you, your audience and their audience. Reward those who get involved by sending special offers to those following you on social media. Participation is the best kind of relationship because you are not forcing anything, but rather they are coming to you. In turn, they can get involved and bring others along as well. Context draws prospective customers and fans, but it doesn’t stop there. Your audience is also an influencer that is valuable to your marketing needs. They expand your reach and build more relationships on top of the ones you already achieved so engage with your customers as well as your prospective ones.
4. Commerce doesn’t only involve the actual purchasing of a product, but everything that comes before it as well. Make sure you offer useful information and answer all your customer’s questions to ensure that they will get to that purchasing step. This will build customer trust and deem your reliability. This also includes the physical process of purchasing. Make sure your product or service is available for purchase on several platforms including mobile, online and in-store so customers are at ease. After the purchase, you can go even farther by offering how-to’s to expand your product and services. Be available after the purchase as well to ensure quality customer service.
These four cornerstones of marketing allow you to attract prospects, build relationships with them and give customers ease when finally purchasing what you have to offer. Encouragement and trust is the basis of every relationship and if you provide the stepping stones for your customers and are deemed reliable, your sales will increase.