Feeling confused when it comes to digital marketing? That’s completely understandable. The world of social marketing and online content has developed in such an explosive way in recent years that it’s hard for even seasoned marketing professionals to keep up!
Every month, we hear about new marketing platforms and software that are all designed to transform how we reach our audiences online. The speed of this progress can feel intimidating when you’re starting your marketing journey, but there is one very important thing you should remember.
However good these various new tools and systems are, they will always be just that: tools and systems. They will always sit on the surface of what you do, and that surface will continue to ripple and change.
Don’t even try to learn it all
Even the most successful online marketers out there today don’t claim to know it all. In fact, they are more likely to NOT know it all. Instead of trying to run their business as well as keep a close eye on the world of marketing technology, they hire people to find and implement the best solutions for them. Instead of running themselves into the ground trying to identify the best marketing tactics, they focus on their core business. They design their offering and develop their brand. They create the ocean of content that lives below the tactics.
Get the content right
It’s been said before, but I’ll happily say it again: Your marketing campaigns are only ever as good as your content. You can spend thousands on the latest automation tools, you can have all the clever targeting schemes and the premium memberships on every social platform – but if you don’t have a relevant message, you will be wasting your money.
… and don’t compromise on quality
I often speak to businesses that have a quantity-driven approach to their content marketing strategy. They are focused on publishing as many blogs, social posts, videos, images and informational documents as possible. It becomes a numbers game for them, where they argue that if they push out as much content as they possibly can, they will maximise the number of leads they can get from that content. There is of course some truth to this; it is indeed vital to be present on a number of different channels. However – there is no excuse for compromising on content quality just to populate all your communications platforms.
So how do you create the quality content that your marketing programmes deserve?
- Check what your audience wants to read/watch
Spend an hour in the digital shoes of your ideal customer. What content is trending in their field of interest? What articles and papers are being shared the most and what videos are getting the most views? This will give you an indication to the topics and formats that resonate the most with the people you want to reach. - Always aim to educate
You may feel that an infographic or a webinar that doesn’t spell out the specific benefits of your solution is too “weak”. You may be tempted to zoom in your unique selling points and explain how great you are. However, your readers will most likely tune out. They don’t want to hear a sales message until they ask for it!The purpose of your content should be to awaken curiosity, and to provide useful information and guidance to the reader. This is what makes marketing campaigns “sticky”. If you prove yourself useful to your audience, they are more likely to stick around and listen to what you will say next. They will sign up for newsletters, tune into your podcasts and share your content with their peers. - Keep a finger on the pulse
Always aim to stay relevant. If a major breakthrough has occurred in your industry or region, make sure you share your views and comments on it. If you have an analytical paper from a year ago that is no longer up to date with current events, don’t keep distributing it. You may wish to re-issue it with added information, but don’t risk being labelled as not keeping up with the times. (For blogs and news posts, you may even consider “news-jacking” relevant stories from the mainstream media if you have an interesting spin on it.) - Sweat the small stuff
For the educated reader, there is nothing more frustrating than trying to make sense of a sentence laden with grammatical or spelling errors. Not to mention broken hyperlinks or missing references. At best, your reader will piece the content together and continue reading with slightly dampened enthusiasm. At worst, they will close the page and go absorb content somewhere else.
If you have created a great piece of content, don’t allow the details to let it down. Get it proofed, get it checked and analysed – to make it the brilliant version of itself it deserves to be.
By focusing on getting your content right, you will have already won 90% of the marketing battle. Determining the right platforms and marketing tools to get the content noticed, read and shared is secondary.
