The relevance of Content Marketing cannot be emphasized enough. In order to survive in this industry, small businesses need an edge to make a name for their company, big brands need to expand their customer base and successfully retain their existing customers. Amidst this cut-throat competition, marketers need to come up with creative yet workable solutions to not just retain their market share but also to spread to new areas. If you are a Content Marketer, what you need is a strong Content Marketing strategy that can outdo your competitors and reposition your brand to the top level.
The online industry is fierce and unforgiving. Whichever industry you may belong to, at least one of your competitors is achieving great success in promoting their brands online. If you want to catch up to them or even beat them, you need a powerful Content Marketing strategy.
Here are four ways that can help you stay ahead and push past your competition (plus a more in-depth Infographic at the end).
#1 Research Thoroughly
Needless to say research is the first step to gain valuable insights which will come in handy when you create your Content Marketing strategy. In order to succeed, it is important to keep a tab on your competitors. How do you do that?
- Find out about influential companies and brands in your niche and observe them.
- Check out and follow your competitor’s social media feed to understand what kind of activities are they doing and how. Gauge the performance by checking out how many followers are liking or sharing the posts.
- Read what kind of content is your competition publishing on a regular basis.
Moreover, marketers can use various SEO research tools like Ahrefs to understand what kind of content works best for them. It is a great technique to extract information about your competitor’s website and closely identifying their top rated content. This is done with the help of analysing web and social metrics like:
- Content that has large number of links.
- Content that attracts most number of links.
- Content that has the most number of shares across social media.
#2 Build your Brand Personality
When building your own brand voice and personality, you must clearly understand how your brand is different from the rest and what does it really stand for? If you want your brand to stand out from the crowd you need to build a clear USP. The strength of your brand and its personality will determine how well your target audience connects to it.
Before you start with framing your Content Marketing strategy, brainstorm on the following:
- How would you like to create the content and what will it sound like?
- How do you want your brand voice to be – fun, casual or business like?
- What kind of reaction do you expect from your audience?
Always keep the intended target audience in mind when you are building your brand voice and personality. Be consistent in your tone and communication and content else your audience will get confused and will have a hard time in recognizing and remembering your brand identity.
#3 Interactive Content
Our target audience is constantly being bombarded with new content every minute over the web. The internet space has reached a saturation point where content is forgotten minutes after it is read. This clearly puts your brand identity into jeopardy.
So what’s the solution to this?
When you produce content and you want your customer’s undivided attention and response, there is a chance that they read it and be impressed with it. However, the important thing here is you should engage your audience at the first step itself.
Interactive content can help you achieve this. There have been studies which suggest that 70% of the marketers agree that interactive content holds the key to engage buyers. This type of content is highly dynamic in capturing and retaining customer attention. Quizzes, videos, polls, Q&A sessions are some formats for sharing interactive content.
You can use various online platforms to create great quizzes and surveys. Buzzfeed is a great resource in this regard that can help you with some light or serious material to create interactive content that your target audience will love.
Remember, Content Marketing is an ongoing process. An audience-centric approach with collaborated efforts can push you up on the success ladder.
#4 Engage your Target Audience on Social Networks
Today, the success of any brand or company is heavily reliant on social media. This mode of communication has become so popular that every big or small brand is leveraging it to connect with their desired audience. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are established authorities in building interactive relationships with consumers. Other mediums like Instagram, Snapchat etc. are fast catching up on the popularity indexes. These networks play a pivotal role in engaging new and existing consumers. User generated content on social media and related channels can give a huge boost to a brand’s online value, build customer loyalty and engage with target audiences in real time.
User Generated Content (UGC) is a brilliant medium to build the trust of your customers and gives your brand social endorsement. A simple photograph or a video message or even a positive review is immensely valuable in a Content Marketing strategy.
Conclusion
The power of Content Marketing can enable any brand rise up the pinnacle of success. Marketers should research and build their brand strategy to bring your target audience closer and give out a clear call-to-action through actionable Content Marketing tips. Think out of the box to build and promote an innovative brand experience.
Infographic
