In my last post, I talked about the foundation on which marketing (in general) lay and how marketing in business cannot be overemphasized. Really, if marketing and advertising weren’t important, multinational brands wouldn’t spend millions every year advertising on TV, Billboards, Radio and on the internet and of cause, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram wouldn’t be making money every year from it.

You see, as the world becomes more and more technologically inclined and as more people begin to use the internet, marketing has shifted from its traditional form of Television, Radio, Flyers, Billboards etc to its digital form (to the internet). Well, it hasn’t exactly shifted, more like digital marketing has been introduced and is now gaining strong grounds.

Personally, I believe traditional marketing cannot and shouldn’t be eradicated, because traditional and digital marketing compliment each other. Okay! Chill, I’m not here to talk about marketing in that context. In this post, I want to try and emphasize the importance of CONTENT in marketing.

There are different forms of Digital Marketing; there is Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, PPC (Pay per Click e.g. AdWords), Search Engine Optimization, and Content/information Marketing. Each has its own unique selling point and advantage. The one you choose for your business depends on your marketing goals, your target audience et al. However, though it is advised to use at least two of these forms of DM together, each of them can work singly and produce great results or don’t you think?

I have realized overtime that no matter the form you choose to work with, you would always require content marketing.

Content Marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.
Content marketing can be achieved by creating valuable and relevant contents that relate to your brand and target audience in the form of Infographics, Podcasts, Videos, Books, and Webpages (Blogs).

The means by which you choose to market your content is not as important as the fact that to achieve your desired results, you need to ensure that your content is valuable and relevant.

The thrill in this is that no marketing strategy (traditional or digital; Email, Social Media or SEO) would strive and give sales, profit, build trust and keep your costumers if the content of your ads or posts is not relevant and valuable.

Thus, Content is the bedrock of any marketing campaign. To ensure your marketing campaigns produce great returns, the content you out up on your social media platforms, via your mailing list, blogs, videos, on your website and the keywords and images used on your paid ads on AdWords, Facebook, BBM, and Twitter must be valuable, and relevant to your target market and must be consistent with your brand.

Your success in the marketplace depends on the people’s perception of your brand, so ensure that all the content you put out reinforces your brand as the best, and enhances your customer loyalty to your brand. Your content must be meeting a need, it must be entertaining and or informative. When done right, your content would improve customer receptiveness, and establish you as an authority in your field. Put effort in your content creation, it is the bedrock of every marketing strategy.

Below are six steps to help you curate great content.

1) Your content must be valuable, relevant and original.

2) Your content should be concise and simple. It should be easy to understand and relate to.

3) Use catchy Titles/Captions and Headlines. Whether it’s an Instagram post or a tweet or a Blog post or an Ad, ensure that your caption or Post title or Ad headline is awesome and creative enough to catch people’s attention.

4) Use HD, Colorful, and Creative Images and videos.

5) Be creative. Whether it’s business writing or storytelling or everyday Instagram and Twitter posts to promote your brand, ensure that you are not just doing the regular… Think! Brainstorm! Strategist! Innovate!

6) Be Consistent. To become a trusted authority in your field, great content once in a while wouldn’t do the trick. You have to consistently put yourself out there… Make awesome podcasts often; Make awesome Videos or Ebooks or infographics often; Write Blog articles often; Post Content on your social media account often… Do not Spam but be Consistent!!!

Written By: Peace Itimi