why you need content marketing

So here you are – you’ve taken the step to start a business, congratulations! This is one of the toughest steps you can take and I’m so proud of you for saying YES to yourself and saying YES to your dreams!

Now that you have this business, you need to know how to get yourself out there into this digital world. You need to know how to stand out in this saturated crowd of online marketing so that you and your business can grow.

That’s where I come in!

Let me show you how easy it is to practice effective marketing strategies that work in today’s online world. Even YOU can become a pro at marketing your online business. It will feel so great to start getting feedback on your social media posts right? It will feel so satisfying to start generating sales online while you sleep, or while you take your kids to the park. Because that’s why you started this business in the first place isn’t it? For freedom. For extra money. For more time with your family doing the things you love.

This is ALL possible. BUT!!! You can’t grow this business and reach those goals without marketing.

And, diving even deeper into today’s online marketing world – you can’t grow this business without CONTENT MARKETING.

Let me explain…stay with me and see how learning this technique can change everything for your business. And I mean everything!

What is Content Marketing?

Before I can tell you why you need Content Marketing, let me tell you what it is.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, we can define Content Marketing as:

“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Traditional marketing is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Think of traditional marketing as an ad that says, “Buy my product because…” This can be on social media, commercials on television, billboards, magazine ads – pretty much any marketing form. Maybe a celebrity says, “I wear this so you should buy it.” This is an example of traditional marketing. There is not really any content other than the marketing tactic used to get customers to buy.

Now lets look at Content Marketing.

Content marketing is “providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.” (Content Marketing Institute)

When you use Content Marketing, you are developing a relationship with your customers, you are appealing to their real lives by using stories, and you are creating bonds that last. If you look at commercials today, you will notice a shift of more “real life” people talking about products. An example of this I got from the Content Marketing Institute is below with this John Deere ad.

Watch this ad and you will immediately see the difference in traditional marketing verses content marketing…

This is clearly a story that does not feel like an ad at all. This is Content Marketing.

Another more recent example of Content Marketing is of Kendall Jenner and her new partnership with Proactive. Take a look at this Instagram Post and you will see how she is using Content Marketing to promote Proactive.

Kendall is telling about her troubles with acne, and in turn saying she fixed her problem with Proactive. Although Kendall doesn’t mention Proactive in this post, she doesn’t even need to! Its at the top, sort of hidden in the location section of the post. That is how Content Marketing works.

Why do YOU need Content Marketing?

Content Marketing isn’t just for the big companies. Its even more crucial for small businesses and entrepreneurs like yourself.

You probably are starting out with little to no audience (besides some Facebook Friends and your Mom), and when you use Content Marketing you can ATTRACT customers by promoting your Content as something they need to solve a problem.

This will GROW your audience and put you in front of people all over the world.

By using Content Marketing you can create relationships with your customers and keep them interested in what you are selling.

You are providing content they love and will keep coming back for, even look forward to.

They are sharing you with their friends.

They are remembering you when its time to buy.

Content Marketing Ideas and Examples

One of my favorite marketing experts Amy Porterfield is the queen at coaching on content marketing ideas. I recently joined her new Facebook Live group called Exploring B-School and she posted 13 amazing Content Marketing ideas to get you going in the right direction.

See her awesome examples below!

BOOK, MOVIE, OR PODCAST REVIEW:

Amyporterfield.com/210 – 5 Lessons I Learned From Shonda Rhimes

PERSONAL STORY:

Amyporterfield.com/239 – My Weightloss Journey (Part 2)
and Amyporterfield.com/230 – Dealing With Depression as an Entrepreneur: Amy and Jasmine Star Open Up

TOP RECOMMENDATIONS:
Amyporterfield.com/252 – 3 Ways to Mega-Personalize Your Next Promotion (This is an UPCOMING episode)

Q&A:
Amyporterfield.com/248 – How I Built My Business

STEP-BY-STEP:
Amyporterfield.com/250 – How to Create a 3-Month Content Calendar (The Step-by-Step Process)

BEFORE & AFTER:
Amyporterfield.com/241 – How a Mom of 4 Turned Her Chiseled Abs Into $330K Using Webinars In Just 9 Months with Kim Constable

LESSONS LEARNED:
Amyporterfield.com/244 – How to Get Past the Fear of Launching

DAY IN THE LIFE:
Amyporterfield.com/191 – A Week-In-The-Life (A Behind the Scenes Look Into My Business)

BEHIND-THE-SCENES:
Amyporterfield.com/224 – A Behind the Scenes Chat with My Integrator, Chloe

MISTAKES TO AVOID:
Amyporterfield.com/4 – 5 Reasons Most Online Courses Fail (& How To Turn Them Into Your Biggest Opportunity)

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW…
Amyporterfield.com/233 – Podcasting 101: From Creation to Promotion

HACKS EVERY _______________ SHOULD KNOW:
Amyporterfield.com/173 – 3 Hacks to Help You Get More Done in Less Time

PRODUCTIVITY TIPS FOR THE BUSY_______:
Amyporterfield.com/177 – How to Design Your Ideal Week

Amy has a ton of great content ideas so be sure to listen to her podcast Online Marketing Made Easy for more in depth knowledge on how to use Content Marketing.

Okay so now you have some ideas on how you can create some Content Marketing Content, but what you DO WITH IT is even MORE IMPORTANT. Read more below!

How do you use Content Marketing? (This is important!)

Everywhere.

This type of marketing isn’t limited to a social media post. Social Media is NOT your best marketing tool. Think of Social Media as a supplement to your MAIN Content Marketing tool.

There are THREE main marketing tools you MUST BE USING to practice effective content marketing. These are:

Blog

Video

Podcast

No matter what type of business you are in, pick one of these three mediums and start publishing Content Marketing consistently each week. (Do all three if you are a rock star!)

Here are examples of each way to use these three mediums:

Blog: Create a free blog or add a blog to your Website and write a blog post each week

Video: Use YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram TV to create videos and post each week

Podcast: Create a free podcast and create a new episode each week

These are the best ways to create Content Marketing. You need to pick ONE and post a new original content idea each week.

How do you Promote your Content Marketing Content?

(This is a lot to learn! Read through first and then I’ll give you a step by step below.)

After you create your Content Marketing Blog Post, your Podcast, or your Video – you need to promote it. This is HOW YOU WILL GROW your business. By having this awesome content, you open up all sorts of ways to reach your audience.

Now when it comes to Social Media – you use Social Media to tell people about your blog post, video, or podcast, and then you supplement additional content there as well. After you create your new content, share it on all social media platforms more than once with LINKS to your main Content Marketing Tool.

In addition, create social media posts up to three times a day utilizing Mini Content Marketing. An example of this is the Kendall Jenner post above. This is Mini Content. Its supplemental and backs up your Main Content.

After promoting your Main Content on social media, you need to take it further and promote it on your EMAIL LIST and PINTEREST.

Use an Email List to email your customers weekly promoting your new and old content.

Use Pinterest to PIN your content weekly, and you even PIN each piece of content multiple times plus PIN your Mini Content.

Link everything back to your Website, or your YouTube Channel, or your Podcast. Always LINK to your Main Content Marketing Tool.

These are your non-negotiables when it comes to Content Marketing. This is the minimum you should be doing to market your business.

I know this seems like a lot and it can be overwhelming at first. Let me give you a real life example of how I use Content Marketing and show you a step by step of how this process works:

Create this Blog Post on Why You Need Content Marketing and publish to my Website
Share Blog Post details on Instagram and Instastories and link back to my Website (Use #’s to attract new audience)
Share Blog Post on Facebook and link back to my Website
Share Blog Post on Twitter and link back to my Website
Pin Blog Post on Pinterest at least two times and link back to my Website
Email my Email List new Blog Post on my Weekly Email
Supplement Blog Post with Mini Content on ALL social media platforms 2-3 times over the next week (Use #’s to attract new audience).

That’s it! Do this once a week with either a Blog, a Podcast, or Videos.

Content Marketing isn’t going anywhere friends. This is something you need to start doing YESTERDAY to promote your business. Whether you have an Etsy Shop, you’re selling Essential Oils, you own a Yoga Studio – whatever your business is – you need to use these tools today to start growing that audience and ultimately increasing your sales.

Once you get into a rhythm with this Marketing Process it will become easy-peezy and you will reap all the benefits of a growing, profitable business. That freedom you want is just within your reach! Break through the online marketing crowd and stake your claim now using Content Marketing.

I can’t wait to talk more about Content Marketing with you! What questions do you have? How can I help you?

Be sure to check out my other Marketing Posts to learn more about marketing your business. Know Your Why & On Branding