Although content marketing use among B2C marketers has risen from 86 percent last year to 90 percent this year and B2B small business marketers see content marketing as a way to level the playing field with larger businesses, less than half of those marketers have a content marketing strategy.
Creating quality content is incredibly important; content marketing can generate about three times as many leads as traditional market and cost 62 percent less than traditional marketing. It makes sense to absorb as much knowledge on the topic as possible.
Ultimately, content is about providing value to the customer. Besides being rich in keywords and optimizing for search engines, content creates value by keeping the readers in mind. The humans reading each post are best supported by post that are:
1. Timely
Content, like a good news article, needs to be current. You can write the best piece EVER on the 2014 Google algorithm changes, but chances are that not many people will care.
For your content to provide value to your customers, it needs to be current. Tying content to something recently in the news is a perfect way to make your content timely.
2. Relevant
If it’s current, then it’s relevant–at least for most of your audience. But if your audience DESPISES baseball, would you write a 3,000 word piece on the development of the curve ball?
Of course not.
Develop content relevant to your customers. Remember, customers only attribute value to content that speaks to topics that speak to their interests.
3. Educational
We’re really hammering this “value” thing, but it’s true. Buyers typically complete 57% of their buying journey before contacting a company salesman, and they do so by educating themselves on products and processes online.
What are your customers learning from your content? What can they take away from your content and share with others? How-To’s and infographics tend to have the best engagement and sharing, because content consumers want to learn to do something, or learn interesting information.
4. Engaging
Emotional appeal can also impart value to a piece. Feel-good videos go viral. Funny videos go viral. Even uncomfortably strange videos go viral (we’re looking at you, Burger King), and it’s all because these pieces play with the consumer’s emotions.
Decide what emotion (anger, joy, excitement) you want to evoke from your customers and write your content to engage your customers with the appropriate emotion.
5. Accurate
Don’t mislead or overpromise. As with most things, you can’t commit to what you can’t complete. Don’t offer manufacturing industry secrets if you write for a boutique coffee shop. Don’t promise to lead people into the Promised Land if you can’t draw water from a rock (for the extreme example).
This goes for more than just the content itself, but your meta descriptions, the title of the content, etc. The more accurate the information displayed in these components of your content, the more likely potential leads will be to click on the content and stay on the content, whether their coming from a social media post or an organic or paid search engine result.
We hope this helps you in your writing endeavors! If you would like more writing advice on How to Write Like the Pros, click here!