Content marketing is one of the most important tools a business can use to connect with customers and create a connection that leads to sales. Done correctly, it can be an incredibly effective way to reach out to potential customers and introduce them to your product or service. However, content marketing can also be difficult to get right, and it takes time and effort to produce high-quality content that will be both engaging and effective.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to get started with content marketing. We’ll also provide tips for getting started if you’re new to content marketing and advice on avoiding common mistakes. So whether you’re just starting out or looking for ways to take your content marketing strategy up a notch, this guide has something for you!

What is “content”?

The first step to understanding content marketing is understanding what content is. In broad terms, content is anything you create and publish online to reach and engage your target audience. This could be anything from blog posts and articles to videos and infographics. As long as it’s original and relevant to your audience, it qualifies as content.

Of course, not all content is created equal. In order for your content to be effective, it needs to be well-written, informative, and engaging. It should also be published regularly and promoted through social media and other channels so potential customers can find it.

What is content marketing?

Good content marketing is about creating and sharing high-quality content that helps you achieve your business goals. In most cases, those goals will be related to generating leads and making sales, but they could also include building brand awareness or growing your social media following.

The key to effective content marketing is understanding what your audience wants and needs and then creating content that addresses those needs in a way that is both helpful and interesting. It’s also important to remember that while you want to sell your product or service, the focus should always be on providing value to your audience first and foremost. If you can do that, the sales will follow.

Why do businesses need a content marketing strategy?

When done effectively, content marketing can be a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. Businesses can attract and retain customers, drive website traffic, and build brand awareness by creating and distributing relevant and valuable content.

Content marketing can also help businesses boost their sales and revenue. In fact, a recent study by Content Marketing Institute showed that content marketing leaders see an average of 7.6 times more site traffic than those that don’t. The same research from Content Marketing Institute also suggests that content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing while generating 3 times the number of leads.

While the benefits of content marketing are clear, the path to success is often less so. Businesses need to develop a content marketing strategy before creating and sharing content.

A good content marketing strategy will take into account your business goals, target audience, and budget and then map out a plan for creating and distributing content that will help you achieve those goals.

It’s also important to note that your content marketing strategy should be flexible and evolve as your business grows and changes. What works today might not work tomorrow, so it’s important to be prepared to adjust your strategy as needed.

Content marketing v copywriting v copyediting

Content marketing, copywriting, and copyediting are all independent yet related topics. Understanding their differences is critical to developing a successful content marketing strategy.

Content marketing is the overarching process of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. Content marketing aims to increase brand awareness, drive traffic, and generate leads, and can do so through either informational or persuasive content.

Copywriting is the act of writing copy, or text, for the purpose of advertising or marketing. The persuasive writing of words aims to promote a person, product, business, idea, or opinion. Copywriting aims to persuade someone to take a particular action, such as buying a product, signing up for a service, or clicking on a link.

Copyediting is reviewing and correcting errors in a text before it is published. A copy editor will check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors and ensure that the text is clear and easy to read.

All four areas play an important part in content marketing but serve different purposes.

Types of Content Marketing

There are two types of content marketing: informational and persuasive.

Informational content marketing educates your audience about your product, service, or industry. This type of content provides valuable information that helps your audience make informed decisions.

Persuasive content marketing is designed to convince your audience to take a specific action, such as buying a product, signing up for a service, or clicking on a link. This type of content uses testimonials, case studies, and product reviews to make its case.

How to become a content marketing expert

Now that you understand content marketing and its objectives, it’s time to learn how to become a content marketing expert. You need to consider your content marketing strategy.

A content marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how you will create and distribute valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

In other words, you will need to create a lot of content. But don’t worry; we’ll help you figure out what kind of content to create and how to get it in front of your audience.

To succeed in getting your content read, you need to consider who you are writing for and what they want to read.

The 5 steps to develop a content marketing strategy

When you set out to create content, you should plan your material to ensure that it suits both the customer and the location you will post it. Whether you are writing for a blog post, social media, an email campaign, or even just to have something to post on your website, you need to consider the following:

1. Define your audience

The first step to creating successful content is understanding who your target audience is and what their needs are. Who are they? What are their pain points? What are they struggling with? What kind of information do they need to make informed decisions? As a clear example, a sports brand might want to target 21 to 30-year-olds, while a supplement company wants to target 40 to 60-year-olds. Different copy, both in terms of words and images, will appeal to each of these groups. When creating content, it’s vital to serve only relevant content to the audience you are trying to engage.

2. Set your goals

Once you know your target audience and their needs, you can develop a content strategy to help you achieve your business objectives. Your content strategy should include goals, topics, formats, and distribution channels. If you want to target very young audiences, maybe your content needs to be short-form videos on Tiktok. If you are looking for professionals to read your posts, maybe you would share introductions on LinkedIn.

3. Create great content.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s important to remember that not all content is created equal. To be successful, your content must be relevant, interesting, and useful to your audience. It should also be well-written and free of errors.

4. Distribute and promote your content

Once you’ve created great content, you need to get it in front of your target audience. There are many ways to do this, including social media, email marketing, and paid advertising. Of course, search engine optimisation (SEO) should never be far from your thoughts when creating copy – Google provides ample free traffic to content that meets users’ search intent.

5. Measure your results

Finally, it’s important to track your results and analyse your performance. This will help you understand what’s working and what isn’t to adjust your content marketing strategy accordingly. You can use many tools to track the results of your content marketing efforts, including Google Analytics and BuzzSumo.

Following these steps, you can develop a content marketing strategy to help you achieve your business goals. However, it’s important to remember that a successful content marketing strategy is a long-term investment. It takes time to develop an audience and build trust.

How SEO relates to content marketing strategy

SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the process of improving the ranking of a website on search engine results pages. Really, we mean Google, as it dominates the search market with 92.47% of all search volume. The higher a website ranks, the more likely it is to be found by potential customers. A number of factors go into SEO, including the quality and relevance of the content on a website, the number of links to the site, and the use of keywords.

SEO services can help businesses improve their search engine rankings and drive more website traffic. By working with an SEO agency, businesses can access experts who can help them improve their website’s SEO and get more leads and sales from online traffic.

SEO is a way to make sure as many people see your website as possible. You do this by making your site more visible to people looking for things related to what you or your organisation sell. This is done by ensuring your website’s content is exemplary and getting other websites to link to yours, referred to as backlinking. You can also use certain words on your website that people might search for on Google, which will help you show up higher in the search results. If you work with an SEO company, they can help you do all of this and more.

For example, at Suck Less At Content, we target “Freelance Content Writer” and “Website Content Writer” as primary keywords across our site, as well as a host of keywords relating to copywriting, content marketing, and content creation. We sit down and consider whether we are creating content that our target audience wants to read before we put our fingers on the keyboards.

Consider what your business offers to customers, and find keywords that your target audience will be searching for. Once you have completed your keyword research, you can start implementing them into your website’s content. Remember to also use these keywords in your social media posts and other marketing materials.

How Copywriting relates to content marketing strategy

Copywriting is the art and science of persuasion. It’s about understanding what your audience wants and needs and then using words to influence them to take the desired action.

Good copywriting can help you sell products and services, generate leads, and build relationships. In short, it’s an essential skill for any business owner or marketing professional.

Copywriting is closely related to content marketing. They’re often used interchangeably. However, there is a difference between the two terms. Content marketing is a broader strategy that includes copywriting but also encompasses other types of content, such as videos, infographics, and blog posts.

A good content marketing strategy will include a mix of different types of content, all of which should be written to persuade the reader to take the action you desire them to take.

Copywriting is just one piece of the content marketing puzzle, but it’s an important one. To create successful content that achieves your business goals, you must learn how to write persuasive copy.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Write with a clear purpose in mind. What do you want your audience to do after reading your copy? Make sure every word is working towards that goal.

2. Keep it simple. Use short, straightforward sentences and avoid jargon.

3. Be persuasive, not pushy. Use strong arguments and supporting evidence to make your case, but don’t be overly aggressive or salesy.

4. Tell a story. People are more likely to remember and respond to a story than a list of facts. Use storytelling to illustrate your points and connect with your readers on an emotional level.

5. Focus on the benefits. What’s in it for your reader? Make sure you highlight the advantages of taking the desired action and make them as compelling as possible.

By following these tips, you can start creating effective copy to help you achieve your content marketing goals. Our Definitive Guide to Becoming a Copywriter provides a deep dive into copywriting; take a look if you want to know more about this valuable and often lucrative skill.

How to become a content marketing writer

Content marketers fall into two employment types. For those working full-time for major brands, content marketing success comes from setting industry trends and developing an entire content marketing strategy that the brand can roll out across multiple platforms and products. If you find yourself employed to create content, you will most likely work as part of a content marketing team.

For a freelance writer, the mission is often much smaller, working to develop organic traffic from social media marketing, a blog post (or many), or a website’s core content. You’ll need to be efficient at working alone, often with extremely thin briefs from clients.

Whether you are employed full-time, creating freelance writing, or just writing for yourself, a great content marketing writer can produce great copy and understand how to market that content across channels to an audience that will appreciate it.

The barriers to entry are low for content marketing writers. You don’t need a college degree, although a background in English, journalism or communications can be helpful. The most important requirement is the ability to write well and be able to create persuasive copy.

Content marketing writers come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are English majors who have a knack for writing compelling copy. Others develop an interest in content marketing after working in advertising, marketing, and sales or as journalists or PR professionals.

Whatever your background, life in content writing jobs can be very rewarding. You get to use your creativity and persuasion skills to help businesses achieve their goals, all while getting paid for it.

If you’re interested in becoming a content marketing writer, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Start writing. The best way to improve your writing is to start doing it. Write blog posts, create social media content, work on SEO articles—anything that will give you practice crafting persuasive copy.

2. Study the masters. Look at some of the best content marketers and see what makes their writing so effective. What do they do that you can learn?

3. Understand your audience. Before you can start writing persuasively, you need to understand for whom you are writing. What are their needs and pain points? What do they want to achieve? Once you know this, you can start crafting content that will resonate with them.

4. Find your niche. There are a lot of content writers out there, so you need to find a way to stand out. One way to do this is to specialise in a particular niche or industry. This will make you an authority on the topic and give you a valuable skillset that businesses seek.

5. Keep learning. The world of content marketing is always changing, so it’s important to keep up with the latest trends and best practices. Attend industry events, read blogs, and listen to podcasts to ensure you’re always on the cutting edge.

By following these tips, you can start down the path to becoming a successful content marketing writer. So what are you waiting for? Start writing!

FAQs

What are the 4 pillars of content marketing?

The 4 pillars of content marketing are:

1. Strategy (Define your audience and set your goals)

2. Creation (Create outstanding, useful content)

3. Distribution (Use all effective channels, including social media marketing)

4. Measurement (Analyse the engagement of readers)

What is the most important aspect of content marketing?

There is no single most important aspect of content marketing. However, some aspects that are considered to be important include having a clear and defined strategy, creating high-quality and useful content, and using effective distribution channels. It is also important to measure the engagement of your readership to help improve your content marketing efforts continually.

What are the 5 essential elements of a content marketing strategy?

There are five key steps to writing marketing content. There are:

1. Define your audience

2. Set your goals

3. Choose your topics and format

4. Create your content

5. Distribute and promote your content

What are the most effective types of content marketing?

Some of the most effective types of content marketing include blog posts, e-books, infographics, case studies, and webinars. These types of content can help you build trust and credibility with your audience while also providing valuable information to help them achieve their goals.

What is an example of content marketing?

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

An example of content marketing would be creating a blog post on your company website that discusses the new product you just released. You would then share this blog post on social media and through email marketing to generate interest in your new product.

How much do content marketing writers make?

This is always one of the first questions that comes up when people look into how to make money writing freelance. Average content marketing writers can make anywhere from £30,000 to £100,000 per year, depending on experience and the quality of their work. Some can even exceed this if their work reaches a level of demand that can sustain higher prices, although this is rare. However, freelance content writers can make an additional income by creating multiple income streams from creating blogs with content that generates considerable income from advertising and affiliate revenue if the level of organic traffic coming into the site is sufficient.

How do I become a content writer?

It is simple to become a freelance content writer. Aspiring content writers can join sites such as Fiverr, Upwork, and People Per Hour to find writing gigs. Once a content writer has built a strong portfolio, they can branch out and work directly with clients.

What are the skills required for content marketing?

Some key skills required for content marketing include excellent writing and communication abilities, SEO knowledge, and an understanding of what type of content is most effective for different situations. Additionally, content marketers need to be able to work independently and manage their time effectively.