You'll probably agree with us. In any area of life, the hardest part is... getting started.
You've got a plan mapped out in your head; you already know you'll start "Monday." You'll get up in the morning, make yourself a cup of coffee, and launch into action with the energy of a rocket taking off. Will it work? Absolutely! You've thought this through carefully. A month later, the concept has changed slightly, and you're actually consoling yourself that nothing has been started yet. And so another six months pass.
Content marketing is very similar. Many companies think about it intensely, planning to implement initial initiatives, regularly deliver content to their audiences, and operate across various channels, but often no one knows where to begin.
We're here to help! Content Marketing Guide
If you're looking to develop your company's content marketing strategy from the ground up, starting with a blog, publishing SEO-driven content, or setting up a company profile on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube, we've got you covered! A Step-by-Step Content Marketing Guide
(The rest of the article can be found below the form)
Be warned! This powerful dose of knowledge is a whopping 71 pages long! Based on it, you can create your own content marketing strategy. We assure you, it's worth it!
Why is it worth having a content marketing strategy?
Content specialists will surely give you plenty of reasons. However, if no one has ever tried to convince you to create a content marketing strategy for your company – here we are! 🙂
Having a clear content marketing strategy makes it much easier to present and explain the marketing team's activities to other teams within the company, who often don't understand or see the benefits of strictly content-based activities. A clear strategy gives them the opportunity to engage in various initiatives and facilitates communication between departments, such as sales and marketing. If you still think that not everyone in the company might be interested in what's published on the company blog or Facebook page, here's an example:
- Your company occasionally publishes something on its blog, usually when the copywriter has a free moment. The person tasked with managing the fan page posts a maximum of two posts a week on Facebook – but these don't garner many likes (and no one even dreams of comments anymore). Your company has a maximum of five reviews on both Google and Facebook – three written by friends of employees and two negative ones (of course, no one responded to them). Does this remind you of anything? This is a very common example of a company that doesn't manage its content activities and doesn't have a centrally defined content marketing strategy. This can be easily changed. 🙂 How can a few guidelines improve communication that will positively impact the content delivered to your company's audience? – see Example 2.
- With the help of guide Content Marketing step by step or using other sources and your own experience, you create a content marketing strategy - you define the target group, you audit the current activities and check what should be improved and what was going quite well, you dedicate specific people who will publish on social media and on the blog, you establish a publication schedule and distribution method (all this is explained in guide). Finally, this strategy is also presented to other departments, who will likely add some of their own comments and inspiration.
Effect?
Publishers have content ideas in store (in various formats). Furthermore, the sales department eagerly utilizes published content, using the more interesting fragments, for example, to share them with potential clients who might be interested in the topics. The analytics department provides some interesting data, which can then be used to create an engaging infographic or blog post. Both the website and Facebook pages are seeing increased traffic, and customers, encouraged by the sales department, are leaving several positive reviews. And of course, it doesn't stop there.
Of course, the scenario presented only looks simple. Creating a content marketing strategy, then executing it and improving the published content over time, requires some work. However, you can start with small steps –
for example with the help of the Content Marketing step-by-step guide
Benefits of having a Content Marketing strategy in your company
As marketers, we're acutely aware of the benefits of our work. We know that our publications drive increased website traffic, which translates into increased enquiries and increased purchases. We also see that original website content and targeted social media communication are attracting a growing readership and attracting more and more active fans who eagerly browse company profiles. This makes sense to us! However, for those who don't engage with marketing on a daily basis, our work often seems incomprehensible, and its benefits are just as often questioned and undermined. That's why we decided to convince the doubters, including with this post.
Here are the benefits of having a content marketing strategy:
- building the company's image and recognition (in a relatively cheap way),
- strengthening the website's position in Google – by providing more content, well optimized for SEO (we write about how to do it in guide)
- complementing other marketing and sales activities,
- positive impact on relationships with recipients: brand fans, brand followers and potential customers,
- strengthening the company's position as a leader among competitors (perhaps your competition is still conducting its activities as in example a),
- as a result of these activities: increased sales.
And much more! You can only find out if you finally take action!
Content Marketing Guide – Discussed Forms of Publication
Let's start with the fact that content can take many forms. So we're not limited to simple blog posts, although those never go out of style. Definitely, in 2020, we need to embrace diversity and provide information to our audiences in a variety of formats, such as:
- blog entries (it's worth starting somewhere :),
- interviews,
- checklists,
- short entries, e.g. on social media,
- guides,
- ebooks,
- presentations,
- graphics,
- infographics,
- photos,
- collages,
- memes,
- short video formats,
- longer video formats,
- live video,
- webinars,
- podcasts,
- case studies,
- reports,
- sheets,
- reviews,
- charts,
- games and quizzes,
- competitions,
- UGC – all forms related to your product or service that your recipient/customer creates.
- and others, as creativity allows :)
Wow wow, that intro made my head spin!
With so many options available, how do you decide which channels and formats are best for your business and target audience? Don't worry, we've got the answers! The first part of our Content Marketing Step-by-Step Guide is dedicated to strategy, where we walk you through how to build your content empire step by step!
What will you find in the Content Marketing Step-by-Step Guide?
- First, tips on how to choose the right channels and content formats for your business,
- Then we go through the customer journey, content distribution methods, and tips on how to create and manage a publishing schedule.
- Finally, we get down to the nitty-gritty! We discuss exactly how to build Content Marketing on the blog (based on SEO – on the example of Verseo), how to create thematic clusters and search for topics,
- Let's take a closer look at content marketing on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok! We discuss the possibilities and available publishing formats.
- Moreover, in the Guide you will also find tips on UX and a few notes on what not to do in Content Marketing.
- Finally, we present examples of how brands use various forms of content.
- 71 pages dedicated to Content Marketing – it couldn't be better! 🙂
Content Marketing Activities as exemplified by Verseo
Let's be honest, this guide is also a content marketing exercise. We want to share knowledge and build a community of marketers around us. They might not need our support today, but maybe in six months they'll find a new company, be faced with new challenges, and then remember us. 🙂
At Verseo, we have focused on several communication axes, the keystone of which is the provision of industry knowledge.
• we create guides, blogs and educational posts,
• we share infographics,
• we are transparent as a company.
Of course, each form also has preferred channels. For example, information about transparency, salaries, and performance is best shared on LinkedIn, where the engaged business community is particularly interested in such data. Infographics sell well on social media (including Facebook), and a blog, for example, brings us traffic directly from search engines.
You can benefit from our knowledge and experience :) The accumulated dose of them was transferred onto paper (or rather, into Google Docs :D), and then into a PDF – easy to download here: Content Marketing Guide Step by Step
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- A Practical Guide to Content Marketing
- From blog to video: What forms of publishing do we cover in our guide?
- Your Complete Action Plan: What will you find in our Content Marketing Guide?
