In order to define what is content marketing, we also want to define the most effective types and define its purpose.
Content marketing is a marketing strategy in which you create and publish various educational and sales materials to generate new website visitors, convert leads, and nurture prospects into successful sales. We call these materials “content” and they are often digital or digitally distributed. Marketers use content to convert, inspire, inform, and nurture prospects throughout the buying journey.
Content marketing occurs throughout the sales and marketing funnel. According to the popular Hubspot definition, there are three main stages of content marketing in the purchase funnel: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
As you can see, content marketing serves many roles through the buying funnel, so it requires many different formats of content to be successful.
Moreover, successful content marketing strategies utilize a wide range of pieces. Of course, it can be resource-intensive to create all of this as a company, especially with a limited marketing team. So many companies outsource the writing, strategizing, and design of content to a B2B agency, or freelance some of the process to individual contractors.
It’s also wise to repurpose content for various formats -- for example, turning a research report into several blog posts and an infographic can save you time and maximize ROI.
Below, the effectiveness of B2B content types in customer journey stages in North America 2018 based on a survey of 192 Respondents; among B2B marketers by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute.
As you might have guessed, content marketing overlaps with different digital marketing tactics. In fact, content marketing can be an umbrella term referring to a wide range of activities that help you strategize, promote, and analyze content for impact.
And in order to use content for lead generation, you need to host content via conversion points, like forms, on your website. This enables you to generate new leads who submit personal information in exchange for content resources.
As you can see, content is about more than writing copy and adding a nice design. There are many steps to succeeding with content marketing and many iterations to make over time. Content marketing requires skills in many areas including digital strategy, design, copywriting, promotion, advertising, sales enablement and more.
Start by reading and learning as much as you can about best practices and strategy for content marketing. Also, see what your competitors are doing, and get your entire organization on board.
The more you can get contributions from stakeholders in your organization, the more informed your content will be. And you will also be able to secure more resources for content production and promotion.
For more reading and education, check out these Ironpaper articles:
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