Foundations of Content Marketing

Do you want to know what content marketing is all about? To learn more about the process and structure of content marketing, read our article on the five pillars of content marketing.

There is no denying that a staggering amount of content is being created. Did you know that over 2 million blog posts are made each day? And that in 48 hours, more content is created than between the beginning of time and 2003.

So, attempting to be relevant and thriving in this vast ocean of material can be a tricky business.

One of the most common mistakes is trying to run before you can walk or do too much before you understand the fundamentals of the entire content marketing process.

Fortunately, we’re here to assist.

Before diving into the world of content marketing, it’s a good idea to take a step back and get a sense of where you’re going.

Having a clear definition and understanding of the content marketing process before you begin creating content will give you a significant advantage when the time comes.

The content marketing process is best understood as a framework, with five pillars that support and define it. Each pillar delves into a different aspect of the process, beginning with the creation process and progressing through user experience, distribution, and finally learning from the results.

So, let’s look at each pillar individually, what they all mean, and how they can assist you to unveil a successful marketing campaign. Ready? Let’s get this ball rolling…

Audience

You should always know who you’re talking to before doing anything in marketing, and content marketing is no exception.

Understanding your audience — who they are, what they want, and how to engage with them — is essential for creating relevant content for your brand.

By segmenting and analyzing your audience, you can create targeted, bespoke content that speaks to the needs of your readers. Targeted content is far more effective at attracting visitors, converting them, and marketing your business. And fully understanding your audience is the only way to create bespoke content truly.

Many marketers use customer personas to figure out who they’re trying to reach with their content. Personas enable you to test ideas and solve problems based on the types of people you currently attract and those you hope to draw in the future.

Creation

It should come as no surprise that creating content is the most essential part of the content marketing process and that it necessitates the most time, creativity, and productivity.

To create quality content, you must first be able to brainstorm effectively, then draft, edit, and optimize it so that it does precisely what you want it to do and performs well.

In this process, creativity and productivity are critical. However, most businesses require content to be produced on a large scale, and maintaining creativity and productivity on such a large scale can be difficult.

Content atomization, or the process of recreating content in various formats, means that the same creative can achieve a variety of different goals and reach a variety of different audiences. Making blog posts, videos, infographics, and other forms of content from the same creative idea allows your content to travel further, reach more people, and work harder.

Using the best processes and tools to produce the necessary content serves as the foundation for the remaining pillars of your content marketing strategy.

Experience

The pillars of content marketing are progressive, building on one another to achieve the best results. As a result, each one is directly dependent on the previous pillars, and the framework relies on a consistent approach to succeed.

The content experience refers to how your target audience interacts with and consumes the content you’ve created. It’s also an essential part of determining where and how your content generates leads and optimizing it to make it even more successful.

Your top priority should be to ensure that anyone who reads your content has a positive experience.

A positive experience increases the likelihood that readers will return to your website, trust your company, and take the actions you want them to take.

The following elements must be present to succeed in creating optimized content that provides a great user experience:

First and foremost, you must create excellent content that is specifically tailored to your target audience. This should include a thorough understanding of your current and prospective customers.

Following that, your design must be usable and responsive. It should elicit action and be compatible with all devices.

Your content should be easily accessible. This includes, of course, making it SEO-friendly, but it should also be visible on your website! The last thing you want is for your content to be hidden away, as this will cause your website visitors to leave before they find it and look for solutions elsewhere.

Finally, don’t overlook your CTAs. They should feel natural and integrated into the overall content experience and provide a clear, relevant next step for the visitor to take. If you get the CTA right, your job will be much easier.

Promotion

You must get your content out there once you have it locked and loaded. Promoting and distributing your content to your target audience is undoubtedly just as important as creating it. It is greatly aided by how thoroughly you’ve implemented the previous pillars of your content marketing strategy.

Finding the right channel(s), building a community, building relationships, and measuring what works are all part of the process of distributing your content.

Finding the best channels to distribute your content is more complicated than simply selecting the most popular social media platform and posting on it.

Sure, Instagram or TikTok is popular right now, but if your target audience isn’t there, you’re wasting your time. Don’t try to force your content into places where it won’t work or entice your audience to switch to a new channel. Concentrate your time, energy, and resources on the media where your content is most effective and where your audience is already present.

Email marketing is still an incredibly effective way to reach out to a community that has already expressed an interest in your content. But first, you must create that community! It takes time to build an extensive, high-quality email subscriber list, but it pays off in the long run.

Building great relationships with others who can help broadcast and amplify your content is essential, and while cold outreach can work, taking the time to make a genuine relationship with someone is far more rewarding and thriving in the long run.

Finally, always measure, analyze, and investigate what works and what doesn’t. Marketing of any kind is meaningless without data, which brings us neatly to…

Insight

The final pillar in any marketing framework should be the last pillar in the content marketing strategy framework. Simply put, understanding why you do what you do and what works will make your marketing efforts more straightforward and more successful.

You should always use your content to gain insights and data on:

What are the most successful types of content?

How your audience reacts to different types of content at any given time;

Where your content is most effective;

And everything in between…

To collect accurate and relevant data, you must first collect data from the appropriate sources, such as Google Analytics and your marketing automation platform. However, you can get solid measurements of key content marketing metrics from any other analytics source.

You must ensure that you are producing and sharing regular reports so that you can make necessary changes and updates.

It would be best if you also looked at how your content is performing in terms of ROI. This can be a difficult task, but it is critical to understand when allocating your resources.

Content marketing can be a tricky beast to master, but it can also be a highly effective way of reaching out to potential customers.