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Content is king. Or so Bill Gates said 20 years ago, when he outlined his vision for the internet as we know it now. And so it has turned out, with his prediction of anyone with a computer being able to add content to the internet now being a reality.
The content is king mantra was taken up by businesses all over the world and the content marketing industry was born. However, this has created a problem for companies looking to get noticed by potential clients. The market can seem overcrowded with everyone fighting to shout the loudest.
So, how can you stand out from the crowd?
Understanding your target audience is vital, whether that’s during the development of a new product, or expansion into new markets. The same can be said for the content you develop and use to populate your website.
Content is there to inform, guide and engage clients and customers, encouraging them to keep coming back to your organisation as they move along their purchasing journey. Failing to understand the needs and requirements of your audience is simply not an option when developing content. Failing to fulfil these objectives risks losing existing or potential clients.
Content marketing was added to the wider marketing spectrum many years ago and in the initial rush to develop this new area, which plays such a significant role in a business’s success, many organisations hastily cranked their content production into overdrive, filling their website with page after page without a clear strategy in place.
The number of companies utilising content marketing increased exponentially, but – as with many areas in life, such as reality TV – the rapid growth of the industry quickly led to saturation of the market. In many cases, the drive for an increased content marketing output led to audiences being swamped with irrelevant information that at best was confusing, but at worst, annoying.
The sheer volume of content that exists makes it more important than ever to differentiate your business from others operating in the same space.
The creation of content, although an achievement, is not the end goal. It can’t be added to your website and simply forgotten about. You need to make it work for you and this is where clever distribution comes into play.
Of course social media plays a significant role in pushing content out to your desired target audience and you should amplify your content wherever possible. Social media has moved on, with new platforms popping up regularly. However, in the B2B sphere, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are still the key areas where clients are more likely to interact with content.
Building a database of clients and potential clients and distributing content directly to them allows business to ensure only the best content is issued. Branded email newsletters are an excellent way to get more people to engage with your content.
Idea generation, creation, amplification and evaluation must go hand-in-hand to ensure all content campaigns are successful, and ensuring that content is not only different, but effective, plays a vital role in achieving this.