Top 10 Tips for Content Marketing Success

Top 10 Tips for Content Marketing Success

Let's start with the most critical question – what is content marketing? In its simplest form, it’s creating and sharing valuable information that attracts and maintains an audience. Instead of bothering individuals with sales pitches as regular ads do, this advertising provides continual solutions through valuable facts.

So why does everyone care about content marketing so much? Today’s society has grown tired of being bombarded by irritating advertisements. We block them out like white noise. But offer something genuinely interesting or helpful? Now, that commands our complete attention.

Content marketing isn’t just a trendy buzzword; it is quickly becoming one of the most successful strategies for businesses to:

• Establish brand recognition and authority
• Draw in high-quality leads
• Connect with their target market
• Increase sales and revenue generation

Want some mind-blowing tips for content creation? Let’s go!

Know Your Audience Inside-Out

This is the most critical suggestion – focus on your target audience. Who are your readers? What challenges do they face? What motivates and excites them?

You can’t just release content into the void and hope it sticks. That’s how you get lost in the sea of marketing noise. Instead, learn everything about your ideal customer through research, interviews, and surveys.

Create detailed buyer personas that include their demographics, behaviours, goals and pain points. Understanding who you’re talking to lays the foundation for creating resonating content.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

Let’s say you own a hot sauce company for home cooks and foodies. You could put out generic content about peppers and recipes. Or you could dig deeper if you know your peeps:

• They’re adventurous and love trying new flavours they’ve never heard of.
• They geek out over behind-the-scenes stories about how small-batch speciality foods are made.
• They’re always looking for ways to improve their cooking skills or techniques.

Do you see how much more exciting and audience-focused those topics might be? Taste-test videos or profiles on makers; advanced tutorials or flavour pairing guides.

The more deeply you understand what makes your audience tick, the better you can structure your content to provoke curiosity that will keep them returning.

Develop a Cohesive Content Strategy

Many businesses create random content. It means they are throwing darts at a board with blindfolds, hoping one of them will eventually hit. And it's a complete waste of time.

If you want your content marketing to be successful, you need a strategy. But not just any strategy –a documented and overarching one. This will act as your north star, keeping you focused on what matters most.

Define SMART Goals

What do you hope to achieve with your content? Drive more traffic? Generate new leads? Increase sales? Start by setting SMART goals:

1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Attainable
4. Relevant
5. Time-bound

Saying “I want to grow my audience” isn’t a goal — it’s a vague wish. A SMART goal would be: “Increase email subscription rates by 25% over the next six months through targeted content creation.”

Map Content to the Buyer's Journey

Another crucial part of an effective strategy involves mapping different pieces of content to each stage of the buyer's journey:

1. Awareness Stage – Educational blog posts, guides, and videos introducing problems
2. Consideration Stage – More in-depth videos, webinars, and expert interviews exploring solutions
3. Decision Stage – Demos, case studies, free trial offers to help them choose

This way, you’re constantly nurturing leads with the right content at the right time based on where they’re at in their decision-making process.

Choose Content Themes and Types

Decide within your defined content pillars or themes what mix of content types and formats you'll use to achieve your goals:

• Written: Blog posts, ebooks, guides, case studies etc.
• Visual: Videos, graphics/presentations from SlideShare/infographics/handouts/templates/checklists etc.
• Audio: Podcasts/audio guides/interviews/roundtables/etc.
• Other: Webinars/courses/assessments/tools

The sky's the limit! But don’t try to boil the ocean — pick a manageable mix for your audience, resources, and expertise.

Optimise Content for Searches

Are you looking to get your brilliant content in front of more people? You need to optimise it for search engines like Google. There’s no point creating great content if nobody can find it, after all!

Keyphrase Research is Everything

Using the correct keywords is vital for search engine rankings. But you can’t just choose any old phrases – it involves careful consideration of the following:

• What keyphrases/topics your audience is searching for
• How competitive are those terms to rank for
• Related keywords to target with supporting content

Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush and Ahrefs are great tools for finding high-volume, low-competition keyphrase opportunities. Build out keyword maps and think creatively about how you can naturally include these terms.

On-Page Optimisation 101

There are a few essential technical elements that go into creating search-optimised content:

1. Use your target keyphrase in the page title and URL
2. Sprinkle the critical phrase 2-3 times throughout the intro and body copy (but never keyword stuff!)
3. Wrap subheadings in H2 or H3 tags – including related keywords where possible/appropriate
4. Optimise images with keyword-rich alt text
5. Include internal links to other relevant site content

It’s about balancing optimisation and providing a fantastic reader experience. Get both right and watch as you climb up those SERPs.

Leverage Influencers & Build Links

Want another way to send your SEO & content into the stratosphere? Connect with influencers in your niche and get them to share/link back to your stuff. Having high-authority sites link back to yours is like rocket fuel for rankings.

Don’t just call people asking for links out of nowhere, though. Collaborate on some content together. Co-host a webinar; contribute a quote to their article; invite them to guest post on your site, etc. Then you’ve earned that sweet, sweet link juice.

Tell Gripping, Human Stories

Content marketing can only be achieved through facts and figures up to a certain point. You must tell stories with your content to keep your audience’s attention and interest.

Every Brand Has a Story

Even the most boring companies have lots of great stories that are just waiting to be discovered and told:

• How the business was started and its origin story
• Behind the scenes of product creation
• Interviews with passionate employees, makers, customers, etc.
• Customer success stories that warm the heart
• Exploring company values, culture, and mission

Stories have a kind of magic when building emotional connections with people on behalf of brands; they make us more memorable and authentic – not just another faceless corporate entity among many similar options out there.

Show, Don't Just Tell

The best storytelling happens visually – brought alive by immersive techniques such as:

• First-person narratives or anecdotes
• Describing scenes in vivid detail so readers can see them play out in their mind’s eye
• Using photos/illustrations/motion graphics effectively within your narrative structure
• Including quotes/dialogue/humour where appropriate throughout various parts of the story being told
• Highlighting struggles/challenges/obstacles overcome along the way towards achieving some kind of resolution or goalpost for characters involved (and thus also ourselves)

By doing this, we draw people into our narratives like nothing else besides pure emotionality can ever hope for; once someone feels something deeply about what happened next, all bets are off concerning whether or not they will develop brand loyalty towards whatever caused those feelings.

Create “Big Rock” Content Pillars

While publishing a steady cadence of blog content is excellent, creating meaty, substantial “pillar” content is also essential.

Think ebooks, reports, guides, digital toolkits, and other premium-value resources stuffed with actionable insights, research data, expert views, templates, and more.

Why Pillar Content Packs a Punch

Comprehensive, high-quality pillar content checks so many boxes:

• Establishes your authority and credibility on a subject
• Attracts quality leads into your marketing funnel
• Fuels social media and paid promotion
• Generates tons of other content opportunities (videos, infographics, articles)
• Provides immense value, building goodwill and trust with your audience

These pillars become the foundation of your entire content strategy. For months, you can continually repurpose sections, stats, and advice into blog posts, social content, and more.

Hire Writers and Designers (If Needed)

Unless you have a talented team of in-house writers and designers, you'll likely need to hire freelance pros to help create pillar content. Don't just opt for the cheapest help – invest in quality.

Experienced writers who profoundly understand your industry can craft content that wows with substance and structure. And professional designers ensure your content looks as visually stunning as the words behind it.

Even if the upfront costs seem high, paying for top-notch talent is well worth it. This pillar material is the backbone of your content marketing – don't scrimp! The long-term payoff in leads and sales makes it an intelligent investment.

Prioritise Content Repurposing

Speaking of intelligent investments, don't just create killer content, but let it collect digital dust. Maximise those efforts by strategically repurposing and republishing it in new forms.

The Beauty of Content Repurposing

You created an excellent 30-page ebook guide on graphic design trends. With a bit of creativity, you could repurpose that one asset into:

• Ten blog posts highlighting essential tips or chapters
• Social media posts with bite-sized advice and visuals
• Narrated video versions of each chapter
• An email lead nurturing campaign to share the content
• Webinar or conference presentation decks
• Guest article contributions for industry publications

See how one core piece of content can blossom into many other pieces? That's efficient, audience-friendly content marketing in action.

Don't Be Afraid to Refresh and Reuse

Even older, outdated content can breathe new life into it. Why start from scratch when you can dust off and update that semi-obsolete blog post or whitepaper with:

• Refreshed stats and up-to-date information
• New quotes or interviews from experts
• Additional tips, advice, and examples
• Revised headlines and titles optimised for SEO

You'd be shocked how well-refreshed, evergreen content can re-engage your existing audience and attract new eyeballs. Make it a priority to audit your content archive and identify reusable candidates.

Get Visual with Content

In our media-saturated world, visually-driven content is a must. Not only does it grab attention better, but it's also easier for our brains to process and recall visual information than text alone.

Videos Build Connections

Few content types are as consequential for making human connections and building trust as video. Through spoken word, facial expressions, vocal inflexions, and visual storytelling, you can:

• Give audiences a window into your brand's personality
• Educate in an engaging, easy-to-consume way
• Take people behind the scenes to see how things work
• Let customers, employees, and influencers tell authentic stories

And with today's tools and tech, producing quality videos is easier and more affordable than ever. So find ways to incorporate video content like:

• Animations and motion graphics to visualise concepts
• Talking head videos delivering advice or product tutorials
• Customer interviews and case study video testimonials
• Live-streaming Q&A sessions or virtual events

Visuals that Inspire and Delight

Even your written and audio content can get a serious boost from compelling visuals like:

• Custom illustrations, graphics, and iconography
• Photographs that connect to your brand's personality
• Data visualisation through charts, graphs, and infographics
• GIFs and short video clips to explain tricky concepts

When you incorporate arresting visuals in intelligent ways, it makes your content infinitely more vibrant and memorable. People devour content that blends useful info with delightful visual aesthetics.

Harness Content's Viral Potential

Would it not be great if your content could generate the next viral marketing sensation? There are no hard and fast rules, but you can do a few things to improve your chances.

Newsjacking capitalises on trends.

One powerful strategy for viral content is called newsjacking. This means associating your brand with popular news stories, trends or hashtags already blowing up on social media channels.

For instance, let’s say there’s a quirky viral Halloween costume going around. A costume store could quickly jump on this trend by:

• Writing a funny blog post about wacky outfit ideas or memes
• Creating a video or “hack” showing how to make that costume
• Running a competition where people share their versions of the costume

When you hijack a viral event with clever content that people want to share, it catches the wave of social buzz. It puts your brand into those timely conversations that everyone is having right now – but in an organic way.

Get inspired by memes.

Internet memes represent the ultimate form of ultra-viral content, which brings laughter and shares in equal measure. Why not look at some current popular meme formats that have been widely shared online as inspiration for creating your own?

Here are some suggestions:

• Take any trending meme template, then add a witty brand-relevant twist to it
• Share team photos imitating famous poses from different viral memes
• Ask audience members to create their memes about specific products/services you offer
• Host competitions centred on creating funny captions beneath supplied images that form part of a broader memetic theme, such as “caption this.”

If done correctly, branded materials worthy enough to become memes will spread like wildfire across social platforms! Such actions initiate discussions while enhancing affection towards brands and bringing exposure.

Make Content Interactive

How else can I get more people sharing my stuff on Facebook and other sites? Easy – just create interactive pieces!

Here are some examples:

1. Quizzes that challenge or entertain users
2. “Game-ified” infographics in which people can click through different sections revealing more info on each topic covered until they either reach the end point where all facts have been exposed at once (or until they get bored)
3. Photo/video competitions where entrants upload their creations based on specific themes or ideas. Winners might receive prizes like free products/services from relevant companies sponsoring events.
4. Polls/surveys asking questions about current events – respondents may enter draws to win prizes.

Everybody loves sharing fun things with friends, so don't be afraid to let them play along, too!

Promote, Promote, Promote!

You may be able to produce the world’s most phenomenal content. However, if you merely hit publish and hope for people to stumble upon it, then you are mistaken.

Intelligent content promotion is vital to get eyes on your hard work. Here are some channels through which you should amplify your content:

1. Distribution through organic and paid social media
2. Guest posting and appearing on other websites
3. Collaborating with influencers and reaching out to them
4. Digital advertising campaigns that focus on search engines
5. Email marketing directed towards subscriber lists that you have gathered over time

Create a detailed promotion playbook for every significant piece of content you create. The more people see what you’ve made from different places, the higher the potential for leads and revenue.

Analyse and Iterate Constantly

Content marketing isn't a set-it-and-forget-it endeavor. You must rigorously analyse performance metrics and audience feedback to elevate and improve your outputs continually.

Use the Right Tools

Invest in tools that allow you to track critical metrics and KPIs for your content's performance like:

• Page views, unique visitors, and traffic sources
• Average engagement and time on page/video
• Social shares, likes, and comments
• Email clickthrough and conversion rates
• Lead generation and sales impact

Don't rely solely on generic stats – set up customised UTM tracking codes and dedicated conversion goals in Google Analytics. That way, you can pinpoint precisely what content resonates and drives business impact.

Always Be Testing

Numbers and data only tell part of the story, though. You need to gather qualitative user feedback through:

• Post-click or post-conversion surveys
• Heat maps and scroll tracking
• Social listening and online forums
• Focus groups and user interviews

This allows you to gain deeper insights into why some aspects of your content did (or didn't) resonate. Then, iterate and constantly test new approaches to optimise and enhance the experience.

Content marketing is an evolution – not a strict set of rules. The best teams stay agile and are always willing to pivot based on what's working (or not).

Conclusion

So that’s it, guys – a deluge of helpful hints for making your content marketing game better than ever before! But don’t just read this and then go back to normal. 

Come back to these ideas and think: How can we take our content creation, promotion, and analysis to the next level? It’ll be challenging and require dedication, but the rewards are worth it.

As a closing tip, let me say this: Content marketing is not a speech; it’s a conversation. You need to give people what they want to connect with them. Create something fun, educational or inspiring for your readers – get out there!

Tips for Content Marketing FAQs