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There has been alot of buzz in the marketing world over the past few years about a concept called "content marketing." In fact, the Content Marketing Institute found that 55 percent of content marketers have no idea what content marketing success or effectiveness look like.
In order to understand where you are going, you have to first have to understand the basics. So, welcome to Content Marketing 101!
What is Content Marketing? It sounds complicated.
Content Marketing is a fancy term for Storytelling. In this fast-paced, highly technological world, figuring out how to create an emotional connection through storytelling is the BEST way to establish a relationship with customers. A lot of marketing departments are misguided in their thinking that all of their client communications have to include the hard sell, when in fact, providing something of value will be more engaging and create stronger connections with potential customers.
Okay, engagement is key…but how?
I am about to share a big secret with you: Content Marketing doesn’t have to be as difficult or time-consuming as you think. Why? Because when you have a good multi-platform marketing strategy you can recycle content for maximum results.
This means creating content once and using it in many places--on a blog, a newsletter, a Facebook page or a Twitter feed. Depending on the nature of your business, you can even get creative and put together a Pinterest board that can be utilized in different ways!
Being able to successfully implement this, however, also means making the effort to carefully plan out an editorial calendar for the year. Taking the time to get organized and plan ahead is the difference between winging it and having a strategy.
Recycling, though…Isn’t that cheating?
It’s not cheating, it’s just making the most of your hard work and ensuring that everyone who wants to stay in the know about your business, can. It also helps to keep your time properly managed and costs down. Besides, I can tell you from personal experience with my own clients that it works—you’ll start to notice results within the first six months of putting a new strategy in place!
So, now what?
The Content Marketing Institute found that a whopping 72 percent of B2B marketers "continue to be heavily focused on creating engaging content, citing it as the top priority for their internal content creators over the next year."
If you're ready to put more time, effort and money into your content marketing strategy, then you're probably ready for HYC. Whether you currently have an in-house marketing team or have been an overwhelmed one-(wo)man show, bringing in an expert to help you figure out where you're going by defining your goals will provide you with a map to success.