You may be familiar with a common term in the marketing world: “Content is King”. This adage has certainly proven true for many brands and businesses over the past several years, with countless ad campaigns, slogans, and memorable media moments paving the way for businesses to skyrocket into household status. As we look ahead to what’s to come, those looking to take over as thought leaders and industry shakers need to be prepared to take a closer look at what content actually is and how different mediums can form a long-term strategy you can depend on.

Over the past two decades, Atrium Digital has proudly partnered with businesses across Canada, North America, and globally to create long-lasting content that captures your audience, achieves your sales objectives, and delivers consistent results you can trust. Below, we’ll do a brief exploration into the world of content marketing and why you need to make sure your marketing strategy puts content development at the forefront to stay ahead. Read on to learn more!

What is Content Marketing?

Oftentimes, when people hear the term “content marketing” they think of blogs, infographics, and social media posts. While these absolutely do qualify as content marketing assets, they are far from the only mediums in that category. Content marketing, in totality, refers to written, visual and audio content produced to reach a specific target audience, increase brand awareness, and achieve conversion objectives. Content marketing is an essential way to build brand authority online and build positive relationships with consumers on the mediums they use most. The most common types of content marketing include:

Taking a Look at Search Marketing

Online content marketing, as the name suggests, refers to any content published online but a common sub-type of content called Search Marketing refers to assets used to help you rank better across search engines to increase visibility and click-through conversion. Dedicated programs will often target search engines specifically through the use of SEO data, making sure you appear higher in Google rankings while other programs may focus more on the development of “thought leadership” content designed to engage more directly with consumers.

Atrium’s search marketing program, for example, includes various search-oriented content, such as blogs, landing pages, and constant web page development/revisions to ensure consistent results. When integrated with a strong overall marketing mix, content marketing not only ensures that your brand is front of mind for your customers but also helps you to take a position of leadership in the market for long-term ROI.

Principles to Abide By

To make sure your content performs as strongly as possible, you need to ensure that your in-house or external marketing partners are utilizing the most relevant practices as part of your long-term strategy. When planning, developing and sharing your content, the following are essential for success:

1. Know Your Audience

In order to win your customers over, you need to know who they are and what they want. Content makes the strongest impression when it feels custom tailored to the needs, wants, and challenges faced by consumers, meaning that you’ll need to invest in a little research before you dive in. Developing customer personas, utilizing social listening, and consistently returning to proven analytics is key to building your strategy.

2. Build Trust and Authority

In addition to addressing the needs and pain points of your customers, you need to focus on building trust, which in turn builds authority online. Focus on giving timely, accurate information, creating a feeling of community and inclusion in your content, and always upholding strong values that keep you out of trouble and in the right standing with your customers.

3. Present a Strong Brand Voice

Every brand has a voice, whether they choose to develop it or not. To take that strong position of leadership and authority, you need to know who you are, what your value to the market is, and what truly sets you apart from competitors. Your content should reflect these aspects and strive to help customers learn more about who you are, as well as why you are their top choice as a service provider.

4. Evergreen Content is Key

As much as it’s important to create timely content, it’s equally pertinent to avoid falling into the trap of constantly developing ‘one-off’ deliverables that really only serve your objectives for a ‘blip’ of time. Smart marketing strategists know how to develop content that can be considered “evergreen” or, in other words, always relevant. Focus on core messages, important and consistent information points, and developing a foundation of content that your team can return to time and time for education and conversion purposes.

5. Variety is a Must

If your content starts to stagnate, your audience’s attention will waver. To keep things moving in a positive direction and drive consistent results, you should use analytics to help you vary your deliverables and stay ahead of current trends and projections. From infographics to vlogs, podcasts, white papers, social posts and other assets, you should be prepared to mix things up routinely, using proven data to guide your production.

6. Don’t Place Your Eggs in One Basket

Much like you need to be prepared to vary your content, it’s important to know which platforms are best suited for reaching your audience and converting. Not every social media platform is right for all businesses, and as trends evolve over time, you may find yourself needing to pivot to fall in line with new practices. Partnering with an experienced marketing firm like Atrium makes sure that you always have access to timely intel, as well as the right resources on hand to make adjustments in the moment rather than losing ground and needing to catch up!

Reach Your Audience With Atrium

Supercharge your marketing for the new year with the help of Atrium Digital. With offices in Edmonton and Vancouver, we’re proud to partner with clients from all industries to design custom marketing strategies you can trust to deliver consistent results quarter after quarter and year after year. Contact our team today to learn more!