5 Ways to Build Your Brand with Content Marketing
In the modern age, how can entrepreneurs, growing brands, and mid-sized businesses create and use content to connect with their audience online?
We believe the answer lies in authenticity; in allowing yourself to be challenged, to grow, to strive for excellence, and to find an audience who is seeking answers from an expert just like you.
In this week’s post, we discuss the link between building an audience and content marketing—and how a focus on authenticity can help you be better at both.
- Introduction
- What is content marketing?
- How businesses can benefit from content marketing
- Using content marketing to build your audience
Introduction
So, you have a great product. You’ve designed a perfect service. You’ve built a website. You’ve launched your online store. Build it and they will come, right?
Maybe not.
When you look at it from a business perspective, it’s easy to see that products and services do not sell themselves. First, you need a product or a service that provides a solution — a solid offer. The second thing you need is marketing. In this case, namely digital content marketing.
Many businesses have mastered—or at least depended on—traditional marketing, including networking, cold outreach, tradeshows, conferences, and experienced sales teams.
But what happens when all those endeavors come to a fast halt?
As the past year has shown for many businesses, the only direction is to move online.
Online marketing may already be a key component of your business plan, and if not, there’s never been a better time to get started.
Where should you start?
You may not have a big budget where you can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads, or all of the resources needed to create a stockpile of high-quality content for your platform.
There is a predictable, measurable, and repeatable marketing strategy that can help you move online with ease—content marketing.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a strategy that can be used by entrepreneurs and mid-sized businesses alike to attract their target audience with valuable, relevant content. Often, this content is created strategically to inspire audiences to take a specific action, such as contacting you or booking a consultation.
Content creation is the cornerstone of modern content marketing, which appears in a wide range of digital mediums, not limited to:
- Blog posts
- eBooks
- Video content
- Sales pages
- Email funnels
With the prevalence of social media and the essential nature of a well-rounded online presence, content marketing has moved to the forefront of marketing strategies within the last few years.
How businesses can benefit from content marketing
Content marketing is no longer a potential marketing effort. It’s an imperative for every single brand.
With strategic content marketing, you can build your audience, business, and brand online.
However, this content should be intentional and clearly solve a problem your target audience is experiencing rather than a stream of consciousness uploaded online.
In his piece for Marketing Insider, Michael Brenner puts it best by stating, “[Our buyers] see right through these self-serving tactics. They are looking for brands that put buyers first.”
Today, people are looking for authentic businesses and brands that truly put them first—in the way they are spoken to, and in the way they are served.
Content marketing is a great way to:
- Answer your customer’s questions
- Create better social media content
- Establish trust
- Generate leads
- Improve conversions
- Enhance SEO
- Support sales
- Build authority
So, how can you—as a business owner, an entrepreneur, a brand—do that?
We believe that they key to generating real results for your business is in creating consistent, authentic, aesthetic, and high-quality content.
Now, you might be wondering, saying, “But the internet is already saturated with content. How can my content actually help me build my audience?”
Using content marketing to build your audience
Content marketing is tied to your ability to build thought leadership in your company, your community, or your industry.
Creating content to teach your customers, connect with them, and give them the information they need to believe you is a great foundation for your marketing strategy.
Here are a few ideas to help you start creating content to create content that can help you find your voice.
1. Focus on your strengths
What do you do best? What do you do that makes you feel your best?
By focusing on your strengths, you can authentically share your ideas — and your passions — with your audience.
When crafting content, be it a blog post, an FAQ page, or an email nurture sequence, write about what you know and what will resonate most with your target audience.
2. Be intentional
As you share ideas, thoughts, and dreams, consider the purpose (or goal) behind your message.
Who is — specifically — your target audience?
What is the objective of the piece? Is the goal to educate your readers? Do you want to inspire them? Inform them?
Clearly outlining these elements before drafting your content is key to creating effective and strategic content — content that can be used to capture your audience’s attention at every stage of your digital marketing strategy.
3. Strive for excellence
With so much information out there, putting your best foot forward requires creating content and choosing engaging topics that add value to the lives of your audience.
Half-baked ideas may help for those looking to build their audience quickly, but thought leaders should always have the goal of building an active audience, rather than a passive one.
An active audience is one that consistently and genuinely interacts with you and your content.
Building these types of audiences takes time, but by striving to create high-quality content that comes from the heart, you can ensure that your work resonates with those who will most benefit from your thoughts and ideas.
4. Speak your truth
Most importantly, anyone seeking to authentically mark their place in their industry must deeply believe in themselves, and in their work.
It’s so easy to look at what others have said and done, whether it’s a blog post from your competition, or a famous figure you look up to.
But what your audience needs from you as you build your brand online is the truth — your truth.
As with so much in life, confidence — and the ability to continuously learn, grow, and change — is essential to success.
5. Be consistent
You’ll want to have a plan — in this case, a content strategy — to help drive consistency. Whether it’s once a month or once a week, you need to create and share content consistently to see results.
Once you do, always seek to improve. Push yourself to be the best you can be. Hire where you need to. Put your best foot forward. And always be yourself.
Because that is where the magic lies.
The type of content you create depends on your unique strengths, resources, and audience needs; but most importantly, it starts with giving your authentic, deepest self-permission to break through and speak your truth.
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