Which type of content marketing is best?
Simple! The content marketing that best suits you, your business and your ideal client.
Using digital and content marketing is a fantastic strategy for reaching a large audience and better than any form of traditional print marketing, allowing you to truly engage with your clients – targeting their wants and needs – as well as getting direct feedback, in terms of comments and likes, for example.
So, how do you evaluate which content marketing strategies and tools to concentrate on. As I mentioned above, there are three key areas for you to consider.
Content marketing that will work best for you
The first thing to consider is what you like doing. Do you love writing? Do you love making videos? Do you love taking photos?
As the saying goes, “do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”. So, treat content marketing in this way. Figure out what elements of marketing you really enjoy. I love writing and researching, so blogging works really well for me. Writing this is not a chore. It is part of my ongoing personal development, as well as creating something which I hope (and believe) is of value to my audience.
If you hate writing, then don’t commit to a blog! It’s far worse to do something that is a chore and will become inconsistent and sporadic. If you hate writing but love taking photos, go to town on creating an amazing Instagram and Pinterest account for your business, as well as updating your website with great imagery!
If you love being in front of the camera, then do regular Facebook lives, perhaps start a vlog and make the most of a You Tube channel, sending out videos to your mailing list, as well as adding them to your website.
All marketing is time consuming – but doing what you really enjoy will make it quicker, because you’ll have loads of ideas and you’ll make engaging content because your passion will shine through.
Content marketing that will work best for your business
Every business has different needs. Also different types of content will better ‘show off’ your services or products. For example, I don’t have a lot to photograph. There’s me, a laptop and some words usually (!), so there is no point (even if I was obsessed with Instagram) creating a content strategy around taking loads of beautiful photos to show off my services – on the flip side if you make jewellery, then learning to take great photos of what you make (or paying for someone else too), as well as figuring out where best to post these photos is worth every penny.
Personally, I quite like creating videos but I have to make sure they show off my expertise and offering, so I often do ‘face to camera’ tutorial style Facebook lives offering quick tips for my followers to implement when creating their own content. And I often think about videos that will apply to all of the different content marketing platforms. This suits my business and, hopefully, should boost my credibility.
Content marketing that will work best for your ideal client
This is an element that is often forgotten about. The best example of this is blogging.
Now, blogging is a great content marketing tool. It is fabulous for SEO and for driving people to your website. …and, the latest advice is the longer the better! However, if your ideal audience is children – how many are going to read a weekly 1000 word blog!
Another example, is if your ideal client is a CEO, as much as you may love it, you’ll probably find a limited number of them currently on TikTok! Give them time…but, right now, I hope you see what I mean.
Your blog type and style needs to fit with the reading habits of your ideal clients. Your choice of posts needs to resonate with your ideal client – as does the social media platform you put them on. The regularity and length of your emails also needs to suit the ‘ideal inbox arrival time and style’ for your clients.
Another important take away here is that you can’t be on every social media channel and do it well. If you are super stressed and too busy to do your work (let alone marketing) then pick one! If you have a little more time and feel your ideal clients also ‘hang out’ on more than one – then pick two. More than that – hire a marketing agency!
How to choose
There are 5 main types of content marketing:
- Website
- Blog
- Email marketing
- Video
- Social media
There is cross over between them (and I advocate plenty of repurposing) but, essentially, these should form the basic pillars of your strategy. You do not have to create content for all 5. You should also reuse as much as possibly. For example, your video is likely to be posted on your social media and within an email. Similarly, your blog is likely to sit on your website and also form part of your emails. So, they should all work together. Repurposing and making the most of ‘macro’ or cornerstone content’ is the most effective way to use content anyway.
So stop and think! What do you like best? What works well for your business from your experience? What content resonates and appeals most with your ideal client? And finally, how will these fit with the different channels available?
Then, guess what, those are the best content marketing tools and strategies for you.
Simple!
Get your content working hard for your business now
I am delighted to announce that I am now offering Power Hour sessions where we can create a content plan to help you really focus and make the most of what you have to offer. For £65 get loads of ideas sorted in to an easy-to-follow plan – email kate@thecontentconsultancy.com