Content Marketing is, of course, a new trend in marketing, which only the lazy are not talking about now. The consequence of this was several reasons.

One of them is search engine filters.

In 2015, many projects that relied on old methods of SEO
promotion, suffered serious damage in the form of loss of positions in search
results, and as a result, in organic traffic to the site.

There were times when it was possible to have a site with
poor design and usability, but at the same time to buy thousands of links,
write a robot text and be on the first page of the issue disappeared without a
trace. Now on the first pages of the issue are sites with unique, deeply revealing
content and having backlinks from other authoritative resources.

The second reason is the decrease in the effectiveness of
traditional advertising. Especially in the service sector and the B2B sector.
According to the Content Marketing Institute:

• 86% of buyers ignore TV ads
• 44% of buyers ignore direct mail
• 91% of email users unsubscribe from corporate
  newsletters

But 60% of buyers are ready to learn more about the product
by first reading useful content about it!

What is content marketing?

In this section, I have collected articles that explain what
content marketing is, to which business content marketing will be useful, and
to which not. I also added articles that show how content marketing works and
what results can be expected from it.

Content Marketing Strategy: The most Reliable Tactic

We take a document describing our startup, then the
methodology begins. Let me remind you that now marketers are talking not so
much about the target audience as about the consumer environment , then there
can be completely different consumers in this environment. They can be of a
certain age, a certain gender, with a certain occupation, but they can behave
differently. For this, a method such as drawing a consumer map is now popular .

It literally signs how a person wakes up, how to wash
himself, where he is going, how he spends the day, how this day ends. And on
this map you need to describe as much as possible where he will meet with your
product, startup, where your idea, solution can help him, satisfy his any
needs.

Content Strategy: A Startup Guide

Just as content topics should correspond, be relevant to one
or another stage of the marketing funnel, so should the types of content be
relevant. What is this about? There are many types of content. In addition to
the texts with which we work most often. There is still video, there is graphic
content (infographics, images, photos), there is audio content, the same
podcasts, etc. etc.

What Type of Content Marketing to Choose?

It is based on a number of factors. I already mentioned one – this is a certain stage of the marketing funnel, where, for example, at the selection stage, some kind of training video will be more appropriate.

Because it is both emotions and a graphic illustration of something that we sell. This is why it is necessary to prescribe the entire strategy before starting practical work with content, because on the basis of this whole strategy we understand what, and where, and how we need to place and promote. If we do not, then the publication of content publications will be episodic, without the desired result – these will be just endless tests.

Sales Funnel Dictates Content Marketing

It is important to understand the simple truth – not
everyone who is interested in your business will become your customers. Content
is not only texts, but also videos, images and other formats that the user
encounters. Different formats are suitable for different stages of the funnel.

At the “Meet” stage ,  you need to attract attention. Use
educational or entertainment content for a wide audience of coffee lovers. For
example, an article about the beneficial properties of coffee or the test “How
many percent are you coffee lover”.

The next step is “Evaluation” . Content is already created here only for those who are interested in your product. You need to tell how the product is useful, what problems it solves, show scenarios for its use, etc.

Conversion and Hold

“Conversion” is a funnel stage where potential customers
turn into successful buyers. Now you need to help people make the right choice
and purchase the optimal model of coffee maker. And, preferably, buy it from
you. This will help you reviews, comparisons, reviews and the maximum
simplification of the checkout process.

At the “Hold” phase , repeat sales are generated. Brand
information is distributed via word of mouth. Here we will come in handy
emails, cases, life hacks. Make your content want to come back and get it
again.

Conclusion

When starting a startup, if we work with content marketing,
we need, first of all, to prescribe a general marketing strategy and a content
marketing strategy. Those. understand the goals of our future company, the
goals of the product itself, which is introduced to the market, understand the
audience, its segments, the consumer environment, positioning.

From here we can understand what channels we need to use, register a user’s map, types of content that are most appropriate for this audience, draw up a content plan and a promotion plan. And in the end, all this, of course, track using analytics.

On the Internet, in principle, there are already many
articles on this topic. These metrics are designed primarily to measure some
quantitative characteristics of your content. But in any case, it’s worthwhile
to understand that the content concerns more quality metrics.

Any content in a startup is designed to facilitate the life of the user, work with this product, with this startup. And this concept of life facilitation with numbers is very difficult, if not impossible. An indicator here will be an increase in efficiency in other metrics. However, something is being measured. It measures the traffic to your blog, site, and some other metrics that are associated with the content.