Content marketing is a popular buzz phrase among marketing professionals right now. Everyone is talking about different ways to create content, the different forms of popular content and sharing tips and tools for content creation and distribution. But one question that many business owners ask is “how do I actually start doing content marketing?”
John McEvoy, owner of CrossFit Craic – a CrossFit gym in Dedham, MA – recently joined Nick Saber, President of The Pulse Network and host Tyler Pyburn to discuss how John has used content marketing to build an online community.
Watch this video clip from their interview as John describes how he started building content around CrossFit Craic before the gym even opened:
To watch the full Content Marketing 360 interview with John, follow this link.
According to John, the hardest thing about content marketing was getting started. By building content with photos and videos during the early stages of construction of CrossFit Craic, however, John has created an index of content that can be re-purposed and reused for his audience.
Tips for Starting Your Content Marketing
1. Set Clear Goals. Before you do anything, ask yourself: What am I trying to do through content marketing? Are you trying to create buzz around a new product? Do you want to drive sales? Generate qualified leads? Knowing the answers to these questions is critical in being able to reach your target audience.
2. Define Your Buyer Personas. Who exactly is your target audience? Are you trying to promote your product to individual consumers or sell a business solution to an enterprise? Understanding who will be consuming your content will help you determine exactly what forms of content will be the most effective for reaching this audience and what channels to use.
3. Develop a Strategy. Like traditional marketing, content marketing needs to have a strategy behind it. Identify specific channels for your content to live on, the voice your content is going to take on and your desired audience perception.
4. Appoint Someone To Do It. Content marketing is a time consuming task, and finding the right person to execute this strategy is important for ensuring that it doesn’t fall flat. In addition to having an internal employee promoting your business through content marketing, identifying influencers within your industry will become valuable for syndicating your original content and growing the reach of your content.
5. Measure Your Results. Measure the results of your content regularly. Creating benchmark reports which contrast and compare your goals and your actual results will provide valuable insight into what forms of content are most effective and what channels are most popular with your targeted buyer personas. Benchmarking will also give you an opportunity to make adjustments to your content marketing strategy as needed to achieve your long-term goals
Yes, content marketing is time consuming, but it has also been highly effective for businesses small and large. During his interview, John McEvoy compares content marketing to developing a great physique. “It’s all done one step at a time, the same way that you see someone in amazing shape. It takes time…you just have to make the decision to do it.”
Interested in learning more about content marketing? Follow @ThePulse on Twitter and join in the conversation using #CM360.
