Content Marketing – 5 Golden Rules

Setting up a blog or having a section on your website where content is updated regularly is a great way of getting your offerings in the limelight. However, you should plan a content marketing strategy carefully as without a set plan, you may run out of steam pretty soon. Taking some time out to decide what your objectives are, planning some themes that you can use, and establishing some tracking and measurement metrics are crucial to help you keep going and assess how successful you are in your endeavor.

So, here are 5 golden rules that can help you to get the ball rolling and keep it going:

Be interesting and stay focused: Your content should go well with your business plan. So, once your business and marketing objective has been crafted, make sure that your content sticks to it.  Though it may be tempting to write about everything under the sun, you need to remember that your content should be focused on what interests your target audience as it’s something that will count in the long run. At the same time, you should make your content interesting so that your audience keeps coming back for more. You can use multimedia elements like videos, podcasts, live chats as well as charts and images to make your content stand out and grab more eyeballs. 

Offer help and solve problems: Nobody likes reading about what you do and offer. Everyone out there is looking for things that can make their life easier and help them solve problems. So, the focus of your content should be on how your offerings can make your customer’s lives easier. Instead of hard selling your products/services or preaching your audience, try to share your expertise/knowledge to help them solve problems or tide over situations that they find hard to deal with. Having a friendly approach makes it much easier to connect with your potential clientele and keep your existing clients happy.

Think and act like a publisher: Make it a habit to think like a publisher. Try to think what will entice people to read your content, or what will make them stop and take notice. When you publish content that has many takers, it will encourage your readers to share your content and make it go viral. You may also think about ways to reward your readers’ loyalty, which could be anything from sending them gift vouchers to buy your offerings at discounted prices to inviting them to attend exclusive product launches and events.

Maintain a regular publishing schedule: Nobody likes visiting a website or blog that displays stale content or hasn’t been updated in months. So, make sure that once you have started, you keep going and maintain a regular publishing schedule.

Stay updated and keep reading: To bring variety and spice in your content, you need to stay updated about what’s happening in your industry. So, be an active participant in relevant events and read more. The online media, books, blogs, forums etc are all great sources of inspiration and you may even find pearls of wisdom that may help you in your content marketing strategy. 

With more and more businesses using social media like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn etc these days for their content marketing, it has become a tough task to stay in the news and yet bring something unique to your business. But if you religiously follow the golden rules mentioned above, you will not only build a loyal readership but also convert your regular audience into your loyal clients. So, start now and experience how the power of words can take your business to the next level.