Even the algorithms have spoken: content marketing is the key to success. Influencers? Check. Instagrammable photos? Check. Vlogs? Blog reviews? Taste tests? Triple check. These content marketing tactics became the leading medium for marketers to advertise to their target consumers. That’s why Uubex created a comprehensive 2019 Content Marketing Guide, hoping it will help small business owners to get involved in creating their long-term content marketing strategy.

What exactly is Content Marketing and how do I get started?

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a “strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience and to drive profitable customer action.”

To put it simply, content marketing is about knowing your target online audience’s behavioral patterns — a no-brainer essential even before the content marketing trend began to rise.

What kind of trends are they into? What visual inspirations do they like? What platforms are they active in? What do they look for when discovering new products or services? What’s the best way to communicate to them?

“But there are different kinds of online audiences that I’d like to market to. Gen X, Millennials and the most coveted to target, the Gen Z’s. Should I target all of them at once?”

This is where the real content journey starts.

You have to know who your target market is.

Building a good online presence is impossible if you don’t understand how communities work per social media platform. Having a data-driven approach really helps you to figure out specific data. In that way, you’ll be able to determine what kind of tone, visual and messaging you’d be able to create for your audience.

“What if I want to target more than one audience?”

Once you have specifically targeted the market you want to address to, it’s time to create your long-term content marketing strategy. Why? Because it helps businesses prepare and plan for reliable and cost-effective sources of website traffic and new leads.

How do I create a content marketing strategy?

According to Hubspot, here’s how to get started.

• Define your goal. What do you want to aim in developing a content marketing plan? Why do you want to produce content marketing?
• Do market research. You have to make a buyer persona of your target audience. That way, you’ll have a better idea of what kind of content they’ll engage on.
• Test what kind of content works best. If you’re just starting out doing content marketing efforts, find out which type of content produces good metric results. Whether it’s blog content or lifestyle-inspired posts, figure out which works best and work your way from there.
• Choose a content management system. Whether Hubspot or WordPress, research on a CMS that works best.
• Brainstorm content ideas. Here’s where content generating platforms like BuzzSumo, Feedly, Google Trends or SEMRush comes in. You can also observe what kind of content do your target share on social media.

What kind of content marketing works best right this year?

Video content, collaboration with local influencers, Instagram Stories and user-generated content — these are the trends that are hitting it big on the Internet now. But it will all depend on who your target audience will be. If you are targeting the Millennials and Gen Z , these trends does great work. But how about marketing to an older generation like the Generation X?

With all the basics you need to know about how to get started in content marketing, you can share with us your journey on content marketing.

Want to know more about digital marketing? Visit Uubex’s website to get updated about what’s new and could open your business to newer opportunities.