From pop-ups and banner ads to high-budget prime-time television commercials, traditional advertising methods are struggling to be effective. Audiences are tuned out, and with so much data available for marketers to segment, consumers demand that their attention is earned. But there’s hope. Content marketing is one method that has seen enormous growth in the past few years.
According to PointVisible’s “The State of Content Marketing in 2017” infographic, 70 percent of B2B and 73 percent of B2C brands planned to create more content this year.
Many brands approach the realm of content marketing eager for a quick win. But with that mindset, many are in for a rude awakening. The infographic also reported that only 22 percent of B2B and 25 percent of B2C brands felt like they were achieving success in their content marketing efforts. Such statistics can make you question whether there is a secret Holy Grail for content marketing success and whether only a select few are lucky enough to find it.
Content marketing takes a significant amount of effort, so just crossing your fingers for quick successes is far from a sustainable way to put a new marketing strategy into motion. When it comes to creating content to ramp up your ROI, let the following tenets be your guide:
1. Lend a helping hand.
Let’s start with some wise words from Jay Baer: “Smart marketing is about help, not hype.” Some people inherently think marketers are liars who are constantly trying to part fools from their money. Instead, content marketing turns that notion on its head by putting prospects’ needs before marketers’ selfish desires to sell.
Psychology tells us that you forge better connections with customers if you help them solve problems on their own. By providing advice that’s free, transparent, comprehensive and useful, you position your brand as an authority in the industry that customers will seek out whenever a need arises.
The Home Depot and Kraft are great examples of brands…
