Tag Archive: Content

  1. Content Marketing is Dead

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    Content Marketing as we knew it is dead. The days where you can pack your site full of text-based articles and watch your SEO results soar are gone. And so are the days of coasting by on the strength your brand name alone. Now, a new evolution of Content is more important than ever to your marketing strategy.

    Non-branded searches are up 10% year over year.* That means your target audience is less likely to search for your brand – and more likely to search about topics they care about. The key for effective content creation is to find the intersection of what your customer cares about, and where your brand can provide expertise.

    Today’s content marketing starts with defining your Authority to Publish. A brand’s Authority to Publish lies at the intersection of what their customer cares about and elements of a brand’s DNA. Here are a few questions you should ask as you improve content marketing efforts – both digital content and traditional content – for your brand.

    4 Questions to Help Define Content for Your Brand

    What content do my customers care about?

    Sure, your customers care about a lot of stuff…so find out where our brand can connect with them. Start with search and SEO. Find out if anyone is actually searching for the topics you want to create content about. Follow trends. Ignoring news coverage and trending topics that relate to your brand could be very damaging.

    Is my brand an expert or leader?

    Define your brand’s area of expertise, then stick to it. There may be many, many, many topics your brand could use in an editorial calendar and content plan but narrow it down to your zone of expertise.

    What content do customers realistically expect from my brand?

    This is where that clearly defined zone of expertise really comes into play. Because if you’re a brand of house cleaners and you’re writing content about flower boxes…sorry, but you’re in the wrong sandbox. Customers don’t want to hear from your brand about things that are just barely in your circle of influence.

    Where will anyone find this content?

    Forgetting about content distribution is a common content strategy mistake. Your content plan needs to work hand-in-hand with your distribution channels. Each piece needs to have social media content supporting it – at the very minimum. And in most cases, paid social media, to get the pump primed.

    Keeping Content Creation Effective

    Keeping a close eye on your brand’s authority to publish is critical to creating effective content. There’s no sense in cranking out content for the sake of cranking out content. In today’s content marketing model, digital content needs to drive search, sales, awareness, and handle some reputation management – all at once. If you keep within a focused zone of expertise, your content will be much more effective.

    * L2 Think Tank, Brand is Not Enough March 14, 2019