This is the founding principle behind content marketing. UK businesses need to be aware of it, as many are still too focussed on creating the solutions and at the same time neglecting to get them out in front of the people looking for them. It is the content of your website that sells what you do and who you are – and you have nothing more than what’s on the screen to convince visitors that you’re the best in the business.
As such, the long and short of it is that standard or b2b content marketing cannot be overlooked in terms of its importance for any small business looking to compete. And while there’s no universal blueprint for getting it right every time, digital content marketing strategies based around the following principles are your best chance of succeeding.
Ask Why?
First of all, consider the following question: why can’t more of your ideal prospects find your business? Are they behaving in a different way to your actual visitors? Are they using different search methods or platforms? Rather than trying to implement a universally successful method to scoop up all the traffic in the world, it’s best to start by looking into what your target customers are really searching for, and where they’re searching for it. When you find your answer, you’ll also find the basis for your entire content marketing strategy.
Build Ties
It’s hugely important to build as many ties as possible with similar businesses and sources of authority, which will boost the power of your message and act as ‘social proof’ of your own expertise. The more peers and superiors that back what you have to say, the bigger its impact.
Exceptional Content
The content itself must go beyond the factual or the instructional – it should be engaging, dynamic, memorable and ideally sharable from a reader’s perspective. You’ll usually win or lose their trust within 10 seconds of your page appearing, so quickly hooking their attention and assuring them that they’re ‘in the right place’ is a key factor in content marketing success.
Comprehensive Promotion
Getting the message out to those you’re targeting means making use of all the relevant marketing channels. From blogs to social media to traditional email campaigns, all bases must be covered.
Analysis and Alterations
And finally, a successful content marketing campaign requires careful and thorough evaluation of analytics on an ongoing basis, in order to tweak and modify the strategy in accordance with what’s working and what isn’t.
