Basics Of Content Marketing

Without marketing, it’s like someone is winking at a girl in the night. If content is fire, marketing is gasoline. And, Content Marketing is one of those tools that are in demand in the current scenario. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the basics of content marketing.
Content marketing is all about creating / sharing/publishing media and content. It is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing quality and consistent content to acquire and retain audience – with an aim of driving profitable customer action.

Types Of Content Marketing

There are many types of content marketing as types of content. Some of them are:

• InfoGraphics: Combines information, data, graphs & charts that are represented in a graphical visual form to present information in a precise manner.
• Webpage: It is a document, well-written in hypertext markup language and accessible through the internet using an internet browser. Ex: the page you are reading now is a web page.
• Podcast : Any digital audio or video file available on the internet in the form of episodic series. All new instalments are automatically downloaded via web syndication to the user’s computer or portable media player.
• Video: A perfect combination of moving visual images that can be recorded, copied, playback, broadcast and display. The video is the future of content marketing and accounts 69 % of all consumers’ internet traffic, according to Cisco.
• Books: savvy marketers don’t sell books just to sell books, they sell books as marketing tools.

Tools Required For Content Marketing

As content marketing has grown to a powerful tool for doing business and connecting with a targeted audience, many B2B and B2C marketers are planning to increase their content marketing spend this year. Businesses from various industry niches rely on different kinds of content thus, approaches to different content marketing tools. Few of them are mentioned here:

• BuzzSumo: This tool helps in finding what works in your niche and whom to promote your content for optimal exposure.
• CovertPlug : It can help you get subscribers for your newsletter, whitepapers or other content.
• MailChimp : A Famous tool for e-mail marketing, it can help you automate your emails and send them to different audiences.    
• CoSchedule : With its help, you can keep your content fresh, consistent and engaging. Besides, it features management of Google Docs content, Evernote content, converts Google Docs & Evernote content to Wordpres, etc. It is used by organizations.
• Buffer : Sets up your own social media updating schedule for managing multiple Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

            Furthermore, Google Analytics is widely used for tracking traffic, Content Marketer is used for increasing footfall to your site, Facebook Ads empowers you to put your content in front of those who are most likely to respond.

It is advisable to find your or organizational needs and acquire the suitable package of content marketing tools.

Benefits Of Content Marketing:

Content marketing provides several benefits that one could not simply ignore. Following are few benefits that business can gain with content marketing:

• Content establishes you as a thought leader
• It is cheaper them traditional form of marketing
• Increases visibility of your brand & sales
• Improves brand awareness and recognition
• Creates loyalty and trust, with both your current customers and prospects
• Helps you to build authority and credibility
• Positions your business as an expert in your industry
• Generates traffic to your site to improve lead generation
• Opens a channel of communication through social shares and comments
• Helps your customer move through the purchase decision more quickly
• Provides value with no strings attached

When you have a magnetic content for marketing, the audience will come automatically and there will be no need to engage in any high-pressure sales tactics to retain them. Businesses who would like to get ahead should use this powerful tool to strategize and execute carefully planned content marketing campaigns and reap the benefits. 

Sources:

1. http://www.business2community.com/infographics/8-hard-ignore-content-marketing-benefits-infographic-01038290#JvjyxOAtWwHMmiDj.97
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_marketing
3. http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/06/content-marketing-tools-success/
4. http://www.jeffbullas.com/2016/05/28/7-content-marketing-tools-need-successful/