Content Marketing has become, as B&T put it, the new Kool Aid. As one of the biggest buzz words of 21st Century marketing, this is now an attractive career option to many media students.

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But what does a content marketer do and how do they measure their success?

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the creation and distribution of interesting, relevant and ‘sharable’ content. It is created to attract, acquire and retain customers. It is the “storytelling” of sales if you will.

An ongoing process, it is best integrated with the existing marketing strategy. Your content should act as the personal and professional voice of your business.

What does a content marketer do?

A Content Marketer is responsible for creating useful, relevant content to use across all the marketing channels.

Essentially, they must take a piece of content and repurpose it an almost infinite amount of times. Great content marketers create next-generation comms and collateral that engages your audience on topics that are relevant to your product/service.

Take a company overview PDF for examples. If you tweak the messaging to make it relevant for different vertical markets you sell to. Then, tweak it again for all of the job functions you want to hit, then tweak it again by the media used. In this example I will push this content out in 9 ways – PDF, Infographic, Video, Blog, White paper, Social Post (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).

So, let’s run through the numbers: 1 piece of content x 8 verticals x 6 job functions x 6 forms of media

= 288 pieces of content from a single source..

What are the goals of content marketing?

BRAND AWARENESS

This is one of the most common goals, as publishing content relevant to a target audience can raise the profile of your business.

BRAND LOYALTY

When brands begin to publish regular, relevant content, consumers can develop brand loyalty. If they trust your knowledge, they are more likely to purchase from you.

GENERATE BUSINESS LEADS

By producing interesting, relevant and on-brand content, you can attract the right people. Inbound leads take much less effort to convert than outbound leads, and content marketing is key to inbound lead generation.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Social media created a 24/7 line of communication between your business and its customers. It is now estimated that, once contacting a business via social media, customers expect a response rate of between 1-24 hours.

A high level of customer service is now expected, and if you can create content that answers your customer’s questions, you can create automated responses to their late night questions.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

This is mainly a focus of B2B companies, but also critical in the B2C environment. Demonstrating expertise in certain areas and establishing executives as business leaders in your industry can boost awareness and engagement.

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Engaging with consumers humanises business, giving the brand a “Voice”and a personality. This fosters a deeper connection between the business and their audience and leads to an increase in brand loyalty.

TALENT RECRUITMENT

Showcasing company culture, workplace philosophy and vision can demonstrate brand thought leadership and expertise. This is useful for recruitment, as high calibre candidates will be attracted to leaders in the industry.

5 Free Content Marketing templates

If you are just starting out, here are a few templates you can use:

Content Marketing Calendar –   a shareable spreadsheet that helps marketing teams plan their content.

Blogging Template – to help you create the perfect blog for your business.

Content Creation Kit – A helpful kit from Hubspot to help you generate more valuable leads.

Title Evaluation Scoreboard – this is a helpful resource in developing effective blog titles and generating leads.