More and more companies are appreciating the value that a content marketing strategy brings to their overall success. A study by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) states that 75% of the most effective enterprise content marketers have a documented strategy. By comparison, only 11% of the least effective have a documented strategy. The adage “Content is King” is still holding true; but I propose a new interpretation on the old phrase. A King has authority and influence over his people. Effective content marketing could make you a King (influencer) over your people (your target market). Here are 5 activities that you can implement today to help raise your royalty level.
Publish Ebooks and Case Studies
Long form content such as ebooks and case studies provide you with the opportunity to showcase your knowledge, experience, and expertise on a specific topic. Ebooks offer an opportunity for more in-depth analysis than a blog post and can be broken down into smaller chucks of content to be shared on social media or in emails—helping you to expand your reach. One of the most effective ways to tell your story is by showing your target audience what you can do. Case studies are a great format for showing how you have helped customers solve their problems in the past. All in all, you can consider long form content as a great opportunity to establish your thought leadership.
Use Webinars
The CMI study also reports that 84% of companies surveyed use webinars in their content marketing programs. Offering a variety of forms of content broadens your reach and will attract different audiences. Not everyone wants to read long form content. Auditory learners would much rather spend an hour listening to you present your expertise via a webinar. Webinars are interactive, cost-effective, and convenient. They offer instant feedback and behavior scoring gives marketers a wealth of information about attendees that they would have otherwise spent hours of research time collecting.
Create Content Partnerships
Gain recognition by offering to be a guest blogger or guest speaker for a reputable industry organization or association. These organizations and associations are packed with the niche audience that you’re working so hard to target. Offering to contribute to their content efforts is win / win. They get to fill their editorial calendar with original content generated from outside their organization and you get to expose yourself to a new audience that may not know about you. Be careful when pitching your ideas. Carefully look over their existing editorial and make sure your topic fits with their messaging and isn’t self-promotional. Forming content partnerships gives you opportunity to generate inbound links to your site, giving your site more online authority and boosting your search results.
Start The Conversation
A good rule of thumb for you to evaluate any content marketing post is to ask: “are we delivering value or just content?” If it’s the former, throw it away. It’s the latter that you want to focus on. Creating, posting, and commenting on other people’s content is great and very important, but don’t be afraid to start the conversation. If you’ve done a good job listening, you will know what to say. Better yet, you will know what to ask. Start the conversation with a question. Seek out the opinions of your target market; don’t preach to them. The most engaging content is created when you have a passion to share your knowledge or expertise, and not when you have the passion to drive leads.
Be Consistent
As human beings, we like routine and consistency. Don’t take that for granted. Be consistent with your content. Your target market will come to expect your social media post every Tuesday or your podcast every Thursday, so don’t let them down. Consistency builds familiarity and trust, which leads to authority. Not only must your timing need to be consistent, but so too does the quality of your work. It’s better to have no blog at all than have a blog that has varying messages, inconsistent tone, and random postings. Remember: the more your target market sees your brand, the more they will begin to view you as a reliable source of information.
Just To Be Clear
Implementing any or all of these authority-building strategies will mean nothing if your message isn’t clear. It might be tempting to show off by using big, industry-based jargon; however, give your readers some credit—they can smell arrogance from a mile away. Great content is written without unnecessary words, by using sensory language, and by focusing on user benefits. Building authority through content will not come overnight. It’s a long and steady race but one you can’t win if you’re not in the game.
If you want to get in the game, improve your online royalty status, and increase your return on marketing investment, but don’t know where to start, contact our partner, DirectiveGroup. They are an agency that specializes in helping you set up and optimize your content marketing program for maximum value.
