Between 4,000 and 10,000 advertisements force their way in front of the average American every day, according to Red Crow Marketing. With all of them vying for our attention, we’ve naturally learned to tune most of them out. Still, some advertising excels. Remember Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the edge of space? The video has racked up more than 44 million views just on YouTube and even more on TV and other outlets. Baumgartner’s jump was a great example of Red Bull’s use of inbound marketing—the gold standard of modern advertising. Advertising content that people want to watch will always be more effective than content that’s simply shoved in their faces. When a company’s content is entertaining or educational, customers are more likely to share it themselves. Rather than swatting away the advertising like an annoying pest, consumers become advocates, amplifying the brand by spreading its content and ideas. For businesses that have their target demographics and personas already figured out, following these five steps can lead to great inbound marketing. Many thanks to Qorus’ SVP of Marketing, Heather Thompson, for sharing her wisdom on this topic: 1. Make a thorough plan A strong content strategy takes time to develop, so it helps to plot your journey up front. Brainstorm content ideas before developing them. Everyone is in on the action: sales teams, support teams, customer feedback specialists, and anyone else in the company with input. 2. Assemble your tools and team To identify which topics to create content around, use a variety of resources: Buzzsumo, AnswerThePublic, Quora, and several tools from Google such as Search Console, Trends, and Analytics. Each of these provides a data-driven sense of what’s popular and what inspires click-throughs. 3. Draft a persona worksheet Create a series of worksheets based on different personas and the buyer stages. This makes it easier to develop the personas and plot the content to the journey that customer might take.4. Go for quantity and quality In content marketing, consistency is key. Low-quality content doesn’t convert buyers. If an article isn’t informative or if a video isn’t entertaining, consumers won’t click through to the company’s website to learn more. Consistency in quantity is important, too. You don’t want to be forgotten. Making a content calendar is a good idea. Whatever you create needs to be on the right topic for the right customer at the right time. 5. Distribute appropriately After identifying the aim of your content marketing campaign, gathering your analytics and your team, and starting to produce engaging, high-quality content, you have to get it in front of customers. There are endless ways to get content out into the world, even if we’re focusing only on the internet. You should use both paid advertisements and organic methods, such as a compelling blog and a dynamic, search-optimized website (to name two examples). Every company’s inbound efforts can benefit from the right kind of content marketing. It’s important to remember: High-quality content generates high-quality leads. Invest in creating the best possible content for your company and you’ll be on track to reap the rewards.
