What is "content marketing"? The 4-step analysis will make you the king of marketing knowledge!

I believe that those who are concerned about marketing knowledge must have heard the term Content Marketing. However, there are thousands of marketing channels and types. What exactly is content marketing? Today, I will tell you in detail what content marketing and common types of content marketing are, and bring you a comprehensive analysis!

 Content marketing can be broken down into two parts, "content" + "marketing". The so-called "content" is the way to create content to carry out marketing activities, and "marketing" is the process of persuading the audience (Target Audience, TA) to identify with its own brand and products, and the goal is to convert the audience into customers.

But what is creating content? Don't worry, just listen to me.

The content here means "providing valuable information to the audience, the content starting from solving their problems. 』

However, you might ask, why do such a gratuitous thing? Isn't our purpose to sell the product? Yes, this is our ultimate goal, but traditional explosive advertising methods, such as TV commercials, videos, social networking sites, etc., often cause disgust because they affect the audience's experience. Content marketing takes a different route. Traditional marketing is to "push" products to customers' eyes, while content marketing is to attract audiences to "pull" them by providing valuable information (1) . However, our ultimate goal must not be to pull the audience over, we want to sell products, right? Next, proceed to the next stage and continue to optimize the content (2) . Because we provide valuable information and solve customers' problems, customers will gradually become interested and pay attention to us. If we can continue to optimize the content to provide more information while the iron is hot, and continue to solve more intractable problems of the audience, the audience will develop brand recognition for us over time. For example, "This IG account has taught me a lot of financial knowledge, I will continue to follow and share it with my family and friends" or "This blog provides many hidden tourist attractions and high-value restaurants, I should check it often to get the latest Travel Information", I believe everyone has the experience of being helped by valuable information! This stage is exactly the charm of content marketing, using the audience's dependence on us to subtly influence the audience and introduce our products (3) . When the audience recognizes our brand, we will send the relevant products to the audience. At this time, the audience will be easier to pay, because they know that this product (which can be courses, paid content, member-specific information and physical products) can solve their problems. problem or provide value . This is the power of brand identity, which converts audiences into customers through the smooth and imperceptible process of providing value through product marketing (4) .

Content marketing pros and cons

advantage:

1. low cost
2. High customer loyalty (high conversion rate)
3. Long-term adherence, the effect is amazing

shortcoming

1. time consuming
2. Continuous engagement with audiences to build trust
3. Continue to master the information and update the content continuously

Having said so much, is content marketing so powerful and foolproof? No, all marketing methods have their pros and cons, and content marketing is no exception. Content marketing is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, requires a lot of effort to generate valuable information, and operates for a long time. Because the audience doesn't care how hard we work, only whether the information or products we estimate can solve their problems or bring value to them. Therefore, the long-term operation of content marketing is also a big challenge! However, the advantage is that the cost of content marketing is relatively low, and it only requires continuous investment of effort and time to operate. In addition, if the audience can identify with our brand, the audience will be more loyal to us! To sum up, content marketing is a marathon game. Unlike traditional marketing, you can't quickly get to know our products or turn your audience into customers right away. However, in the long run, you can enjoy the effect of compound interest!

Here’s a quick summary of the four steps of content marketing:

1. Provide valuable information and attract audiences to "pull" them over
2. Continuously update & optimize content
3. Imperceptibly and showcase the product
4. Turn audiences into customers

Of course, the above is just the process of turning audiences into customers. More importantly, it is necessary to continuously track customer preferences and behaviors, and based on this, we can continuously optimize the products and information provided, so that we can truly use the word of mouth between customers to convey the effect of expansion! The more common tools for analyzing background data include platforms such as Google Analytics (GA4) and Adobe Analytics , which are practical tools that can observe and track audience behavior!

And what are the common ways of content marketing?

 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or search engine optimization that everyone often hears is a type of content marketing! Here is a brief introduction to SEO. SEO is about optimizing content so that if the audience has relevant questions, they can visit our website. Other common content marketing mediums include:

Film:

• Content: Youtube Free Videos
• Products: Channel memberships, online courses, brick-and-mortar websites or storefronts

Blog:

• Content: Articles, photos, videos, links, etc.
• Products: Paid subscription content, online courses, merchandise, etc.

social media:

• Content: teaching, knowledge sharing, life experience, self-development, etc.
• Products: Podcasts, Youtube Channels, Online Stores, Personal Websites, Industry Links

These are the common channels and some practical cases of content marketing! Do you know more about content marketing? If the above sharing is helpful to you, please follow us @studentsoundus

We will update regularly to share more knowledge and practical information with you!