Winning Content Marketing Ideas

Content marketing strategy is more than blogs and ebooks, it’s SEO, PPC, CRO, video, and social media.

About 26% of internet users have ad-blocking tools active on their devices, privacy regulations are increasing in the US after the EU launched the GDPR last year, and more and more users (about 70% of them) would rather read a blog or a social post to educate themselves in place of a more traditional advertising.

What does this mean?

Content marketing strategy is changing and if you want to convert browsers into buyers, it’s time to invest time (and budget) into your content marketing efforts.

Content Marketing Definition

Content marketing is one of those catch-all terms that means different things to different people. But, for the sake of sanity and for making this post easier to write, I’m going to define it thusly:

Content marketing is any type of marketing that involves the creation, sharing, and promotion of content through digital means like social, ad copy, blogs, website content, and other online collateral.

Basically, if you write it and publish it, it’s content marketing. You’ve no doubt heard the now-famous online adage “Content is King!” and while monarchies have proven to be an inefficient form of government, the general idea that content rules the digital kingdom has only grown in veracity as the years have progressed.

Not sure you agree? Well, I thought you might offer some resistance so I’ve gathered some interesting stats about Content Marketing that can help change your mind (or the minds of those who are in charge of your marketing budget).

B2B:

• 71% of B2B customers stated they reviewed a blog while on their buying journey. (Source: Demand Gen Report)
• 65% of B2B consumers prefer content from industry influencers, peer review, and reviews from other credible industry sources. (Source: Animoto)
• Content marketing generates THREE TIMES as many leads as outbound and costs 62% less. (Source: Demand Metric)

B2C:

• 32% of consumers go and take a look at a company’s social media before they visit the company’s website. (Source: Animoto)
• 57% of B2C brands plan to increase their content marketing spend next year. (Source: Digital Marketing)
• 84% of consumers expect brands to create engaging, entertaining, and solutions-oriented content. (Source: Cision)

There are absolutely MORE stats but I know you’re here for the content marketing strategy tips so let’s get on with it!

User Experience Stacks

This is something that is very exciting for a content/CRO nerd like myself! It came to my attention via a business coach that was working with our leadership team this summer to help us up-level our current services and take some much needed time to daydream about better solutions for our clients.

So, what is a User Experience Stack? It’s a user experience created for a specific persona to solve a specific pain point. Think of it as a hyper-focused nurture campaign.

The success of this type of content marketing strategy stems from it’s hyper-relevant, niche nature. If you’ve done any marketing in the past 12 months, you’ve noticed that your content is performing better if it’s more niche and specifically relevant to your user personas and their specific needs. Remember that internet users are used to getting very specific, targeted content so it’s important that your brand’s content marketing follows suit.

The User Experience Stack is basically a mini funnel that helps convert a persona. Creating these top to bottom conversion experiences means that you’re tackling a very specific problem and offering a very specific solution.

Be sure to start with a persona and a pain point that is obviously solved by your product or business and work your way up to the more difficult to convert personas once you get the hang of this strategy.

More Images

This one isn’t too hard: 👏people 👏 love 👏 pretty 👏 pictures 👏. Let’s make sure we give them that! Both B2B and B2C businesses should be investing more in image assets for social, their websites, and for their collateral.

Visual content is more than FORTY TIMES more likely to get shared than any other type of content!

It’s also easier for consumers to recall a brand message or CTA if it’s paired with a strong and relevant image. I emphasize relevant because if an image is TOO abstract or out there, it will distract from your actual message. Think: have you ever seen a commercial or ad so outlandish that you remembered the content but not the brand or product? Don’t be those people.

Get that video going

We’ve mentioned it before, but you guys, video is super important. So important…like, really important. Whether it’s content done on an iPhone (or Android!) for social or a more professionally done video for your site or YouTube Channel, video content has been rising in the ranks pretty steadily as the type of content users want to see.

From Gen Z to Millennials to Gen X to Baby Boomers–everyone likes and consume video content.

Hey, more stats:

• 85% of all internet users in the US have watched video content at least once a month. (Source: Oberlo)
• In our Generation Z book, we talk about how Gen Z consumes 30+ videos A DAY and Millennials aren’t that far behind. (Source: Envision)
• YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world

Another reason to get into it? Because Google said so. If you read or read about Google’s recent quality score updates, you’ll have noticed that video is playing a bigger role than ever. This means that Google will view you favorably for creating and publishing video content. Why? Because users like it and they spend time with it. Google makes money when people use their product, if they want people to use their product, then they have to give them what they want.

Microblogging

Microblogging is a trend that’s gaining traction across social media. More and more users and brands are choosing to forgo more formal blog posts and instead spend more time crafting longer, thoughtful posts on social. It’s especially popular on Instagram where images rule but context is equally important.

If you’re short on bandwidth (and honestly, even if you aren’t), creating at least one to two microblogs a week will not only help increase your engagement rates and reach on social (letting more people see your company) but it can also help increase traffic to your website.

We’ll be writing a whole post on microblogging in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Content Marketing Strategy Needs

Whether you work with a team, have a single content creator, or a full agency team, making sure that your content strategy is based on research and personas and aligns with your sales and marketing efforts are a critical foundational element to making sure your content marketing, in whatever form, can educate, interest, and convert.

Want to learn more about Content Marketing with Envision? Reach out and we can chat!