What Is Content Marketing? Definition & How to Use It in 2024

What Is Content Marketing?

Content selling is the process of creating and sharing utile online contented similar blog posts, guides, and videos to pull and prosecute customers.

And it’s a precise important portion of the selling puzzle.

Why?

Because it differs from different selling methods successful that it doesn’t interrupt oregon annoy your assemblage with income pitches. 

Instead, it seeks to supply them with invaluable accusation that solves their problems and answers their questions. 

This enables you to physique spot with your audience. And presumption yourself arsenic an adept successful your field.

Why Is Content Marketing Important?

Content selling is important due to the fact that it’s much than conscionable creating and sharing content. 

It’s a strategical attack to attract, engage, and delight your people assemblage with invaluable and applicable information.

Here are immoderate of the cardinal benefits of contented marketing:

• Increased integrated visibility: Rank higher, thrust much traffic, and boost marque consciousness erstwhile you make contented that matches your audience’s needs and search intent (the crushed down a user’s search)
• Generate much conversions: Turn much postulation into leads and income by providing utile and engaging contented that attracts your people assemblage and makes them consciousness comfy doing concern with you 
• Build relationships: Foster loyalty that leads to repetition purchases and word-of-mouth recommendations by creating contented that not lone resonates with your audience’s interests, but besides encourages them to interact, share, and supply feedback
• Improve authority: Establish yourself arsenic an adept by creating high-quality content that showcases your knowledge, insights, and opinions—which makes you look much trustworthy and susceptible of sharing genuinely utile information

How Content Marketing Works

Content selling involves creating, distributing, and measuring the interaction of your contented connected your assemblage and concern goals.

Here’s however it works successful narration to the marketing funnel: 

Awareness

Content selling astatine this signifier is intended to make consciousness for your brand, products, oregon services. 

This is wherever you pull your imaginable customers’ attention. And marque them alert of their problems and your solutions.

You request to make contented that provides high-level acquisition and has wide entreaty to seizure the attraction of arsenic galore applicable radical arsenic possible.

And you besides apt request to optimize your contented for SEO and societal media platforms. So you tin fertile higher and get much shares and clicks. 

Some of the champion types of contented for this measurement are blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, ebooks, and webinars.

Consideration

The 2nd signifier is wherever you nurture leads, supply information, and transportation them to see your connection arsenic the champion enactment for their needs and wants. 

At this stage, your champion stake is to make contented that’s persuasive and explains what makes you basal out. 

You should conception your assemblage based connected their interests, needs, and goals. And supply them with personalized contented that matches their signifier successful the buyer’s journey.

Some examples of contented types that enactment good for this signifier are achromatic papers, reports, and occurrence stories.

Decision

The 3rd and last signifier is to person leads into customers with contented that drives them to instrumentality action. 

You privation to make contented that instills a consciousness of urgency, addresses immoderate last-minute objections, and makes it casual to instrumentality the adjacent step.

Some of the champion types of contented for this signifier are landing pages, lawsuit reviews, pricing pages, and merchandise pages.

Types of Content to Use successful Content Marketing

To truly recognize what contented selling is, you request to cognize determination are galore antithetic types of content.

And each benignant has its ain advantages, disadvantages, and champion practices.

Let’s research immoderate of the options.

Blog Posts

Blog posts are among the astir fashionable and effectual ways contented marketers scope people audiences.

Why?

Because they let you to stock your cognition and insights with your readers.

But much importantly, they tin assistance you get to the apical of Google’s results, thrust organic traffic to your website, and physique authorization successful your niche.

For example, we usage our blog to make high-quality, in-depth, and actionable contented connected topics similar SEO, societal media, contented marketing, and more.

And our blog gets implicit 1.5 cardinal visitors per period worldwide:

That’s the powerfulness of blogging.

Social media is different fashionable (and powerful) benignant of contented marketing.

It allows you to make and stock contented connected platforms wherever your people assemblage is already progressive and engaged. 

Which means it’s a large mode to link with your audience, summation marque awareness, and boost engagement.

You tin usage societal media to:

• Showcase your marque personality, voice, and values
• Provide worth and amusement to your assemblage and spark their interest
• Create shareable contented that tin scope much radical and thrust postulation to your site
• Engage with your assemblage and promote them to comment, like, and travel your brand
• Build spot and loyalty with your customers and make a assemblage of fans and advocates

Ebooks

Ebooks are integer publications businesses often usage arsenic a instrumentality to prosecute their people audience, make leads, and found authority. 

They’re typically much broad than blog posts. And absorption connected a circumstantial taxable that showcases the business’s expertise. 

Like this:

Ebooks are typically presented successful a format that’s casual to download and work connected antithetic devices and surface sizes. 

You tin usage ebooks to:

• Provide broad accusation and lick circumstantial problems
• Generate much leads and turn your email database by offering them arsenic pb magnets
• Establish your expertise to physique spot and credibility 
• Drive much postulation to your tract by promoting them connected your blog, societal media channels, and newsletter
• Repurpose existing contented from blog posts, webinars, podcast episodes, and more

Email Marketing

Email marketing is 1 of the astir nonstop and idiosyncratic forms of contented marketing. And it’s truly effective.

It allows you to make and nonstop contented straight to your audience’s inbox. Where you person their afloat attention.

You tin usage email selling to:

• Welcome caller subscribers and present your brand
• Nurture leads and determination them on the funnel
• Promote content, products, services, oregon offers
• Build relationships, trust, and loyalty
• Segment your assemblage and personalize your messages

Videos

Videos are an engaging and versatile benignant of contented marketing.

How so?

They let you to make and stock contented that’s visual, dynamic, and engaging for your audience. Helping you seizure their attention, convey your message, and evoke emotions. 

You tin usage videos to:

• Show however your products oregon services work—and however users tin payment from them
• Provide acquisition and lick problems
• Create affectional and memorable contented that tin animate and motivate
• Increase your visibility connected platforms similar YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram
• Boost conversions and income by adding them to landing pages, income pages, and emails

Podcast Episodes

Podcasts are integer audio programs disposable online for downloading oregon streaming. 

They usually person a bid of episodes that absorption connected a circumstantial taxable oregon theme, specified arsenic news, comedy, marketing, sports, oregon education. 

And they tin beryllium listened to connected devices similar computers, tablets, oregon smartphones.

Podcasts tin assistance you scope a wider and much engaged audience. Especially those who similar listening implicit reading.

You tin usage podcasts to:

• Interview guests, experts, oregon influencers
• Discuss trends, news, oregon arguable subjects 
• Increase your visibility and scope connected platforms similar Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts
• Build a loyal and progressive assemblage astir your brand

Memes

Memes are a signifier of taste look that dispersed done imitation and variation. 

They tin beryllium images, videos, texts, oregon different types of media that are humorous, informative, oregon provocative. 

And they’re often shared online. Especially connected societal media—where they tin scope a ample audience. 

You tin usage memes to:

• Showcase your marque personality, humor, and voice
• Relate to your assemblage and their symptom points
• Engage with your assemblage and promote them to comment, like, and interact
• Leverage fashionable trends and events to make timely content 

Case Studies

Case studies are existent stories that showcase however your merchandise oregon work has helped your customers execute their goals.

Case studies are large ways to stock contented that includes facts imaginable customers volition beryllium funny in, details astir your merchandise oregon service, and a persuasive narrative. 

You tin usage them to:

• Provide societal impervious and credibility
• Highlight your worth proposition
• Attract imaginable customers and assistance them determination person to making a purchase
• Repurpose existing contented from articles, videos, oregon podcast episodes that person included details astir and commentary from your customers

User-Generated Content

User-generated contented (UGC) is immoderate contented (like images, videos, text, and audio) that’s created and shared by customers, fans, oregon followers online.

It’s wholly antithetic from accepted contented due to the fact that it’s created by amateurs alternatively than professionals. And is much interactive and participatory. 

You tin usage UGC to:

• Leverage the powerfulness of word-of-mouth and adjacent recommendations
• Increase marque trust, loyalty, and advocacy
• Boost your societal media beingness and engagement
• Generate much contented to trim your workload
• Drive much postulation to your different contented and boost conversions

How to Start Using Content Marketing

What is contented selling similar successful practice? 

Let’s research the main steps to instrumentality erstwhile gathering your content selling strategy:

1. Define Your Goals & Audience

Before creating immoderate content, you request to cognize 2 things: your goals and your audience.

Your goals are the circumstantial outcomes you privation to execute with your contented marketing. 

For example, you mightiness privation to summation tract postulation by a definite percent oregon thrust a circumstantial fig of leads. 

Your audience is the radical of radical you privation your contented to reach. 

For example, you mightiness privation to people tiny concern owners, freelancers, bloggers, oregon students. 

A speedy mode to find your people assemblage is to usage a instrumentality similar One2Target. 

Just participate up to 5 competitors’ domains and the instrumentality volition stitchery accusation astir their audiences’ demographics, socioeconomics, and behavior. 

Like this:

Here are immoderate further steps you tin instrumentality to specify your goals and audience:

• Review your existent performance. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your opportunities and threats?
• Identify your perfect customer persona. Who are they? What are their symptom points, needs, and desires? How tin you assistance them?
• Conduct a competitor analysis. Who are your main competitors? What are they doing good and poorly? How tin you differentiate yourself from them?
• Set the close types of goals. Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals marque it casual to spot whether you’re connected track. For example, a SMART extremity could be: “Increase integrated postulation by 50% successful the adjacent six months.”
• Choose cardinal show indicators (KPIs) that measurement progress. For example, immoderate communal KPIs for contented selling are views, bounce rate, mean engagement time, societal shares, comments, email subscribers, etc.

By defining your goals and audience, you’ll person a wide absorption and absorption for your contented marketing. 

You’ll besides beryllium capable to make contented that resonates with your people assemblage and helps you execute your desired results.

Further reading:

• Target Audience: What It Is & How to Find Yours [+ Examples]
• SEO KPIs: 12 KPIs for SEO to Track & Measure

2. Determine Appropriate Content Types

You’ve defined your goals and audience. Now, you request to take the champion contented types for your contented selling efforts.

Content types are the formats and styles of your content. 

We discussed immoderate of these earlier, including:

• Blog posts
• Ebooks
• Videos
• Podcast episodes
• Webinars
• Case studies

Don’t cognize wherever to start?

A large mode is to reverse-engineer your competitors’ contented strategies. See what’s moving for them and replicate it successful a amended way. 

Open Organic Research, participate immoderate competitor’s domain, and caput to the “Pages” tab. 

This is simply a database of that competitor’s pages, conveniently sorted by the estimated integrated postulation they each bring in. 

Click the icon adjacent to the URL to spot the existent page.

Browse done a fewer of the apical pages. Repeat this process for your main competitors. And look for patterns.

For example:

• Do they usage tons of ocular assets?
• Is the contented mostly long-form oregon short-form?
• Are the URLs mostly landing pages, ebooks, lawsuit studies, oregon thing different?

Use the answers to these questions to usher your prime of contented type. 

You tin besides reappraisal your competitors' societal media accounts successful a akin way.

Here are immoderate further tips for deciding which contented types to use:

• Align contented types with your goals. Different contented types person antithetic purposes and benefits. For example, blog posts are large for driving traffic, ebooks are large for generating leads, videos are large for expanding engagement, etc.
• Align contented types with your audience. Some contented types entreaty to antithetic audiences. For example, immoderate audiences similar ocular content, immoderate similar audio content, immoderate similar interactive content, etc.
• Experiment and optimize. You don’t request to instrumentality to 1 contented type. Mix and lucifer to spot what works best. Track KPIs and set accordingly. 

3. Set a Content Budget

Next, you request to acceptable a contented budget.

Your contented fund is the magnitude of wealth you’re capable to walk connected your contented selling arsenic a whole. It includes the costs of creating, distributing, and promoting your content.

But however bash you acceptable a contented fund that works for your business?

Start here:

• Estimate contented costs. Do immoderate probe to spot astir however overmuch it would outgo to nutrient content—think hiring writers, designers, editors, etc.
• Estimate organisation costs. These are the costs of getting your contented successful beforehand of your audience, specified arsenic paying for ads, creating sponsored posts, leveraging influencer marketing, etc. 
• Calculate your predicted instrumentality connected concern (ROI): The ROI of your integer contented marketing is simply a metric that shows your contented gross comparative to your contented costs
• Adjust your contented fund accordingly. Based connected your estimated costs and ROI, determine however overmuch you tin allocate to antithetic contented types and channels

By mounting a contented budget, you’ll beryllium capable to program and negociate your contented selling much efficiently and effectively. 

4. Decide connected Distribution Channels

Now you request to determine which places to distribute content to. Places wherever your assemblage hangs retired and consumes content.

How?

There’s nary one-size-fits-all answer. It depends connected your niche, audience, goals, and resources.

But present are immoderate wide tips you tin follow:

• Start with your ain channels. These are channels you power similar your website, blog, email list, societal media profiles, etc. They’re the easiest and astir cost-effective ways to administer your contented and physique an audience.
• Expand to earned and paid channels. These are the channels you don’t ain but tin leverage. Like impermanent posting, podcasting, influencer marketing, media outreach, etc. They tin assistance you scope caller audiences, make backlinks (links from different sites that constituent to yours), and summation your authorization and credibility.
• Test and optimize. You don’t request to beryllium everywhere. You request to beryllium wherever it matters. So, trial antithetic channels to spot what works champion for you. Measure your results and optimize your contented and strategy accordingly.

Further reading: SEO and Content Marketing: How to Combine Them Effectively

5. Decide connected Your Content Schedule

It’s clip to determine connected the frequence of your contented instauration and organisation efforts. 

For example, you mightiness privation to people a blog station each week, a podcast each month, and a webinar each quarter.

Then, you request to docket those successful a content calendar to spot precisely what you’ll make and erstwhile you’ll make it. 

Like this illustration from our content calendar template:

To start, travel these tips:

• Assess your resources and capacity. What does your contented fund look like? How galore radical are progressive successful your contented team? What are their roles and responsibilities?
• Balance prime and quantity. You don’t needfully request to make and administer contented each day. You request to make and administer contented that’s valuable, relevant, and engaging for your audience. Quality beats quantity each time.
• Experiment and optimize. You don’t person to instrumentality to 1 contented publishing cadence. Test antithetic frequencies and work times to spot what works champion for you. Track your KPIs and optimize accordingly.

Further reading: 4 Content Calendar Examples to Inspire Marketing Teams

6. Create High-Quality Content

You’ve done the hard enactment progressive successful planning.

What now?

It’s clip to make immoderate high-quality content. 

High-quality contented is contented that’s:

• Valuable to your audience
• Original and unique
• Well-researched and accurate
• Well-written and casual to read
• Well-designed and visually appealing
• Optimized for SEO and conversions

Not definite wherever to start?

One of the easiest (and astir effective) ways is to usage our Content Marketing Platform. 

It tin assistance you find fashionable contented ideas, headlines, and questions trending successful your industry.

And it tin assistance you constitute prime contented that’s SEO-friendly, casual to read, original, and successful the due code of voice.

Here are immoderate bonus tips:

• Follow a contented instauration process. This is simply a systematic and repeatable mode of creating content, specified arsenic brainstorming, outlining, drafting, editing, proofreading, formatting, etc.
• Use contented instauration tools. These are tools that tin assistance you make amended content, specified arsenic Grammarly, Hemingway, and the SEO Writing Assistant
• Follow SEO writing champion practices. These are tips that tin assistance you make much effectual content, specified arsenic utilizing subheadings, slug points, images, videos, calls to action, etc.
• Experiment and optimize. You don’t request to make cleanable content. You request to make contented that helps you scope your goals. So, trial antithetic contented ideas and formats to spot what resonates.

7. Monitor and Analyze Results

Your last measurement is to show and analyse your results. 

You request to spot however your contented is performing and whether it’s helping you execute your goals.

How?

Try pursuing these steps:

• Use analytics tools. These are tools that tin assistance you measurement and way your contented performance, specified arsenic Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Semrush
• Use feedback tools. These are tools that tin assistance you cod and analyse feedback from your audience, specified arsenic SurveyMonkey, Hotjar, and UserTesting
• Use reporting tools. These are tools that tin assistance you make and stock reports connected your contented results, specified arsenic Google Data Studio, Tableau, oregon Power BI
• Compare results with your goals. See however your contented is performing against your SMART goals. Identify what’s moving and what’s not.
• Make data-driven decisions. Based connected your results and analysis, determine what actions you request to instrumentality to amended your selling content. For example, you mightiness privation to make much oregon little content, alteration your contented types oregon channels, oregon optimize your contented for SEO oregon conversions.

Invest successful Your Future with Content Marketing

Content selling isn’t lone astir driving contiguous results. It’s besides an concern successful your business’s future.

By creating high-quality, relevant, and invaluable content, you tin pull and clasp customers for years to come. 

And the champion portion astir contented selling is you don’t request a immense fund oregon a ample squad to get started.

You conscionable request wide goals, a coagulated plan, and a willingness to larn and improve.

Start your contented selling travel contiguous and reap the benefits tomorrow.