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How To Use Content Marketing To Grow Your Brand

Creating and distributing fresh and relevant content is a vital step for business success. But getting it right and managing the content process is key.

Photo: Arash Asli, co-founder and CEO of Yocale.com; Source: Courtesy Photo

Creating and distributing fresh and relevant content is a vital step for business success. Content marketing can help you engage customers, boost search engine rankings and enhance your overall brand. But given the fierce competition, getting it right and managing the content process is key.

For example, we use vertical specific content marketing to attract the attention of our very own target market (i.e., appointment-based service providers in various verticals such as health, beauty and professional services). This technique allows us to attract ideal customers, grow our brand and improve rankings.

 

Build reputation and attract new customers

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as “a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” So, why is a good content marketing strategy important for your business?

Providing your content is well-written and valuable, customers are more likely to visit your site repeatedly, and even link to or share your content. Increased visibility will boost brand recall.

 

Photo: © mooshny, YFS Magazine

Quality content delivered on a regular basis conveys your brand a subject-matter authority, which in turn builds trust — the main factor that drives purchase decisions.

 

Increase customer loyalty

When a customer finds themselves on your site, well-written and high-quality content can help to secure confidence in your brand. In order to retain customers and keep them happy and interested, provide them with high value content with access to giveaways or special incentives. If you reward people for following you, they are more likely to check in with your brand on a regular basis.

 

Improve search engine optimization (SEO)

Although some people think content marketing eliminates the need for SEO, that’s incorrect. SEO and content marketing go together like PB&J. SEO is all about content marketing and vice versa. In other words, there is no such thing as SEO without content. Keywords, for example, are a fundamental component of SEO. Use your keywords strategically throughout your content.

 

Getting started: Content marketing editorial calendar

Once you’ve produced a range of high-quality content, decide on the best time to publish it. By mapping out your content schedule, you can plan ahead and look at the bigger picture. This approach keeps you organized and ensures customers get the content they want.

Meanwhile, an editorial calendar allows you to plan content in coordination with your marketing plan (e.g., email marketing, social media marketing, etc.). By including various types of content on your editorial calendar, you can create a cohesive presence that engages your ideal customers.

 

6 things to include on your editorial calendar

 

  1. Blog posts

    Blog posts are at the core of content strategy for many businesses. Maintaining a company blog is a great platform to publish content consistently. It’s a great way to boost on-trend branding efforts and capture customer attention.

  2. Social media posts

    Although you may be sharing your content on social media, you may not have a plan to use it strategically. With CoSchedule, you can create your social media messages while you blog, including scheduled posts once content goes live.

  3. Email marketing campaigns

    You can use your editorial calendar to plan a 12-month email marketing campaign. Coordinate all of the different elements of your email marketing, from product launch emails to webinar announcements and new news.

  4. E-book development

    You can use your editorial calendar to decide how many larger pieces of content you’ll produce each month or year, like e-books, which are usually created as comprehensive guides on a particular subject. A lot of businesses create an e-book landing page to gather new leads. This gives you the additional benefit of placing visitors into your email marketing stream.

  5. Webinars

    Although editorial generally refers to written content for publication it is equally fit for assets like webinars. “A web-based seminar, better know as a webinar, is a way for businesses to project a message to a large audience, without asking guests to spend time and money traveling to a physical location. Webinars can be used in a variety of different ways. From hosting online conferences, seminars and lectures to sales and marketing presentations, businesses in every industry can benefit from this dynamic way of communication. “

  6. Infographics

    As with webinars, your editorial calendar can include infographics, which are great for presenting data in a visual way. They tend to take a dry or complex topic and turn it into something colorful and engaging, while drawing on facts and statistics.

 

This article has been edited.

Arash Asli is a co-founder and CEO of Yocale.com, an online scheduling and marketing platform for small businesses. Connect with @arash31 on Twitter.

 

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