Content marketing is nothing new. By definition it is a strategic marketing approach (online and offline) aimed to create and distribute valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
The visual below represents the process in how a consumer/buyer would make his/her decision based on the content he/she absorbs. There are various stages that he/she will go through that will ultimately head towards a call to action. So as a business it is your job to shape what it is you want your consumer to do before you decide to create compelling content. You could choose to combine various call to actions into one format but bare in mind that it is clear and concise so that the buyer recognises that it is relevant for them.
For example, let’s imagine you as the team at Apple were considering to get a buyer to be aware of the latest iPhone. You could create a stylish video ad on Youtube that shows the latest iPhone being used by some cool celebrity and combine it with create a press release showcasing your CEO introducing its new features. That may spark Awareness of Need to some but will it lead to Purchase and Loyalty? Perhaps not for a Samsung user. Sure, you could already send out Email Newsletters and Social Media posts to your Loyal fans but what if we wanted to start getting a Samsung user to do an Analysis and Comparison on the iPhone to entice them into buying the product? Could we release a comparison table of both products side by side to show the differences of features? Or perhaps allow a physical demo on the phone to give them a feel since they already own a Samsung? The ideas are endless. And these examples given are ultimately content marketing formats that every business could use and add into their marketing mix.
But to nail that marketing mix we need to understand what kind of buyers exist out there. Are they analytical? are they status conscious? are they artistic? These questions may sound general but the more details we have on our buyer the easier it gets for us to decide the best medium to use to distribute the content you created as well as how to shape your content to your target market and what will be the most creative way to present it to them. With that in mind your content marketing strategy will definitely be a lot clearer too!
Are you having trouble defining your market? Our upcoming Overview course will give you a better idea on how to define your buyer to create the best content for them. Sign up for our June series now!
