Over 80% of retail shoppers do online research before they buy something.
This means that even if you run a brick-and-mortar store, you need to have a website.
That way, you can explain your offerings and inform readers about subjects they’re interested in.
Many people think creating a website and blog page will suffice. But if you’ve only done the bare minimum, then you’ll notice that it’s not drawing in the traffic you hoped for.
However, there are a few things you can do to improve your content marketing. Here are some tips you should put into practice.
Know Who You’re Creating Content For
Have you ever posted something on social media and got polarizing responses from your friend network?
We’re all unique people with different viewpoints on life; even if one post might resonate with one person, it might not with another.
It’s true that some content will speak to everyone, but it’s not often that’ll happen. So you need to determine who your target audience is and craft your content for them.
For example, if you’re selling reading glasses, then your target audience will be senior citizens and not teenagers.
Therefore, the language in your content shouldn’t be full of slang that kids are using nowadays.
Create Specific Content For Each Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey
Creating content that randomly comes to mind might initially work. But inevitably, you’ll end up with a bulk of the content for the top of the funnel (ToFu), while there’s barely anything for the middle (MoFu) and bottom of the funnel (BoFu).
Before you hit the ground running, you’ll want to think of themes and topics, then allocate them to the proper stage in the buyer’s journey.
When you see the big picture, it’ll be easier to pinpoint areas that are lacking in content. You can then focus on bulking these areas up.
Here are the ideal pieces of content that work for each stage:
- ToFu: blog posts, social media posts, podcasts, videos
- MoFu: e-books, webinars, email marketing campaigns
- BoFu: demos, case studies
You don’t need to think of unique content for each piece either. You can recycle information by using text summarization in NLP to get the main points.
You can, for instance, highlight these points in an infographic, discuss them in a blog post, and elaborate in an e-book.
Focus On Evergreen Content
You know what they say: work smarter, not harder. While it’s good to create content that reflects current times, it can be time-consuming to update these posts whenever that information becomes outdated.
Generally, the bulk of your content should be evergreen, meaning the info holds true, no matter when you read it.
Not only do you eliminate future updates on this content, but you can also keep sharing it and provide readers with relevant content.
Disperse Content Regularly
When readers see something interesting, they’ll give you a follow so they can see what else you come up with. You don’t want to disappoint them; make sure you regularly release content.
Even if you generate a large amount of content in a short period of time, don’t just post them all at once.
Instead, use a content calendar to spread everything out evenly. This calendar is also helpful because while you can certainly reshare content, you don’t want to repost them too close to one another.
You don’t necessarily have to stick to sharing your own content either. You can curate from other authoritative sources to fill gaps in your calendar. Readers will still appreciate this, as it shows that you have your ear to the ground and care about giving them relevant information.
Take Advantage of Analytics
You’re sitting on a treasure trove of data, so it’d be a waste if you don’t harness it. Thankfully, there are many affordable (or even free programs) that let you perform analytics on your content.
Content analytics will show you things like how many people visited your site, how long visitors stayed on a page, and how they engaged with posts.
If you find that something’s underperforming, you can then switch up your marketing tactics and see if that helps. If not, then you can keep tweaking and testing until you’re satisfied.
Promote Your Content Across Multiple Channels
We mentioned earlier that you can reshare pieces of content, even if you created them a while back. This is where evergreen content is handy!
But don’t hone in on just one or two platforms. In addition to online channels (such as blogs, websites, social media platforms, and email lists), consider using offline ones too (such as newsletters, flyers, and promotional items).
Don’t forget about paid channels too. When you’re struggling to get organic traffic, investing in paid ads can be worth it since you’ll get your brand name to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). This can then boost your organic traffic too.
Try Guest Posting
Don’t have a large following on your website and social media accounts? Then it can be tough to grow your traffic; a few people sharing your posts occasionally won’t cut it.
A fantastic shortcut is to try guest posting. As the name suggests, you write a blog post for someone else’s site, preferably one with a large follower base already. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement since you give them fresh content and you “borrow” their readers.
If you do this successfully and across several websites, you’ll see your own traffic grow quickly. Those who are interested in your brand will click on your site after reading these guest posts.
Step Up Your Content Marketing Game
Content marketing will always be king, especially since people like to take control of their own customer journeys.
When you understand what kind of content you should create and when, this helps push your brand in front of consumers at critical moments in their journeys.
And as a result, they’ll remember you as a knowledgeable business they can count on.
Check out the rest of the blog page for more posts on boosting business.
