The Inbound Growth Blog

The Inbound Growth Blog covers all topics relating to an integrated marketing strategy. We write about inbound marketing, social media, integrated marketing strategies and the sales process.

How To Create A Solid Content Marketing Foundation

New Call-to-action

Posted by John Beveridge on Jun 2, 2014 6:00:00 PM

How_To_Lay_An_Effective_Professional_Services_Content_Marketing_FoundationLike any effective marketing strategy, content marketing requires clear goals and benchmarks for success. Content marketing is also a long-term investment. While your professional services business may not see immediate measurable returns, building your brand and improving customer relationships will pay off ten-fold.

The last year has seen an explosion in content creation; unfortunately, that doesn’t mean this uptick in content quantity is synonymous with quality. Any content marketing farm can pump out large quantities of content; however, that doesn’t mean this content is worth reading. Poor quality content not only wastes your time and resources, but also damages your brand’s credibility – alienating potential customers and hurting your ability to upsell your current customers. An effective content marketing strategy requires a solid foundation - here are 6 tips to make sure you're producing quality content.

Tip #1 - Find the pain point and solve it

The best way to build trustworthy relationships is to understand and address your customers’ pain points. Talk with customers rather than at them. Give away advice, best practices and other free, solution-oriented content that fosters a constructive dialogue, builds a trustworthy relationship, and solves your customer’s problem. By doing so you will help build the trust required to close a professional services deal.

Tip #2 - Don't pitch, give away solutions

Your content should rarely – if ever – reference your company’s offerings. Instead, it needs to be solution-oriented. Start every piece of content by asking, “What does my customer need to solve their pain point?” Give away solutions with your content. While it may seem counterintuitive, giving away "free samples" of your content is the best way to draw buyers into your marketing funnel.

Tip #3 - Be authentic

Authenticity rules; it’s that simple. Today’s savvy customers and clients can smell fake content from a mile away. And while it’s important to create content that is professional in tone, don’t be afraid to show a more “human” side to your business.

Emotion beats promotion; let your personality and humor shine through. Personality equates with authenticity and builds trust. Depending on your business, consider occassionally creating content that takes a stand. Don't be afraid of controversy - controversial blog articles often attract the most traffic.

Tip #4 - Mix up your media

Today’s buyer consumes bite-size bits of content in all types of media. Blogging and written content creation are great, but other types of media like video, infographics, slideshares and webinars will connect with a broader range of buyers.

Video marketing is very effective and doesn't require a huge investment. Like anything else, quality video is important, but you don't have to spend a fortune to create video that connects with your audience.

Download the Professional Services Content Marketing Guide

Tip #5 - Use an editorial calendar to keep your content marketing on track

Behind every successful content marketing program there is a manager who thinks like an editor. Every content plan needs a strategic publishing schedule to manage content assets. Your editorial calendar will keep content development, approval, publication and distribution on schedule and in alignment with other marketing efforts.

While there are plenty of expensive software programs available for managing editorial strategy, you don’t need to pay a lot to keep your program on track. A simple Excel spreadsheet is just as effective for tracking content across all channels (blogs, social media, emails, etc.) and aligning with your inbound marketing goals.

Tip #6 - Repackage content for maximum utility

When it comes to creating content, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Repackaging your content into smaller “atomized” pieces makes it easy to share this content without costing your business extra time and resources for additional content production. For example, after posting a link to your latest whitepaper, take key findings from the paper and tweet a different finding each day, with a link back to your website.

Shorter pieces of information with interesting factoids are more likely to be re-tweeted, which not only drives traffic back to your website, but also increases your social media mentions. This signals to Google that the content on your website is fresh, original and relevant, which increases your page rank.

Summary

Just like a house, a content marketing plan with a poor foundation will fail miserably. Knowing your audience and finding out how you can help them is the most important thing you can do to start your foundation. Use the tips above to build out your foundation and set the stage for a professional services marketing machine that will generate leads and promote the expertise of your business.

Download our comprehensive 80-page eBook, An Introduction To Business Blogging

Topics: Professional Services, Content Marketing

Get the Ultimate Lead Generation Handbook


Learn 30 tips and tricks to supercharge your lead generation.

Ultimate Lead Generation Handbook