If your content marketing strategy still revolves around writing articles and distributing them among dozens of article directories, you are so old school. Internet users today demand much more. Discover the content marketing strategies that will help you survive, and flourish in 2013 and years to come.
All Stuff, No Fluff Content
In the past, internet marketers could get away with articles so full of fluff. Not any more. If you are serious about online marketing success, you need solid content that interests your potential customers.
Don’t just tell what to do. Tell them how to do it. It seems anyone in the street can tell you what to do. Few can clearly explain the steps to take. It is easy to tell me what to do. However, it is extremely difficult for you to tell me how I can do it. I will start loving you if you tell me how I can achieve a certain result by taking specific steps.
For example, instead of telling your readers to save money for retirement, show them the safe funds, stocks and investment vehicles that will help them achieve their retirement goals. You can also tell them how they can minimize expenses of owning a car, a house, etc.
It is easy to ask your readers to save money. It takes a lot of research, studies and observations to find out how. It is painful comparing costs of insurance, car ownership, home ownership, etc that will help your readers.
Content in Different Formats
PDF: Text content in the website is not the only kind of content. Offer text content in PDF format or e-books. Same content delivered in such formats have higher perceived value.
Here is one easy way to create PDF: Create your document with MS Word™ and upload the document to Google Docs (now, Google Drive). Then, export the document as PDF, and download the same to your desktop. You have a PDF document to share.
Video: Video content is another big marketing tool, rising in prominence. Supplement your text content with videos. Video tutorials are in hot demand today, and your potential customers will love you for delivering helpful videos.
Record videos with your digital camera and upload it to your site. Don’t be worried about the quality. If the video is helpful to your audience, they are going to love it. Professional video editors and studio professionals can record and edit a top of the line video.
Infographics: Infographics are another fad of the day. Create your own infographic by going to visual.ly. Upload it to your site and share it from Google+, Facebook or any social networking site where you are active.
If the content you share is very helpful to your audience, they will share with others – giving your content even more exposure. And, delivering solid, helpful content to your target audience is the only way to content marketing. Without proper content marketing, you will find it extremely difficult to profit from your online marketing efforts.