Over the last few years, the term “content marketing” has become one of the hottest buzzwords in the digital universe. That’s because traditional advertising formats have become less and less effective on digital platforms like the Internet.
It turns out that digital audiences much prefer to consume actual content, such as videos, articles, or podcasts (just to name a few). As a result, marketers both big and small, have started to create new forms of advertising that adapt to this new digital media landscape and seek to entertain or inform audiences rather than directly advertise to them.
Videos like “Our Blades are F***cking Great” by start-up company OneDollarShaveClub.com go viral, because they manage to entertain the audience while simultaneously exposing them to the advertised product.
What worked for this small start-up can work for you, too. Here are a few ideas of how you can use content marketing to set your company apart from competitors.
Analyze Your Competition
To know how to differentiate yourself means to know what to differentiate yourself from. So the first thing you should do is analyze your competition’s content strategy.
You can do so by setting up a Google Alert around your competitor’s name and products as well as keywords and keyphrases they might use. The results of this daily (or weekly) alert will give you an idea of the various places where your competitors are reaching their audience online.
To find out where they are publishing content in the social media sphere and how they are performing there, check out BuzzSumo.com. This tool can help you analyze which content audiences respond to and which social media influencers (people with lots of followers) are in your competitor’s network.
Finally, you could sign up to their newsletter (preferably with an email address that doesn’t give you away) to get a good sense of the type of content they feature in their email campaigns.
Produce the Right Kind of Content
Now, it’s time to decide what kind of content you should focus on. You might hear a lot of people saying, “The more the merrier.” However, in many cases, more content that is not 100% relevant to the company can actually hurt the brand.
The good news is that a lot of marketers follow this outdated principle, so you can really stand out by honing in on the forms of content that make complete sense under your brand umbrella. In fact, it should not only make sense, but it should be a direct extension of your company’s unique value to ultimately enhance your brand image.
If eBooks don’t make sense for you, don’t worry about them. If a podcast or video series seems like a more natural fit, go for it!
Provide Superior Quality
Just as important as the form of content you select is the quality of the same. Again, “the more the merrier” is not always the best way to go. You should most definitely post fresh content on a frequent basis, but pace yourself. If you notice that, simply because you are trying to keep up with a set schedule, your content quality is suffering, you should consider decreasing the overall frequency of new content posts – or bring in outside help to produce the content at a high quality level for you.
Many of your competitors, as you might notice during your analysis of their content marketing strategy, most likely aim to post way too much content. So here is your chance to outpace them by producing high quality on a consistent basis, even if that means less content overall.
Consider Print
This might come as a shock to you, since we now live in a digital world. That, however, is precisely the reason why print is still relevant and, in a way, hotter than ever. Not a lot of companies still make investments into print, which is why this could be the perfect way for you to stand out from all the digital noise.
Not only does print provide a more intimate experience for your audience, but it also makes for a more memorable asset and higher perceived value than a lot of digital content. To learn about the best ways to go about print, check out Zoo Printing’s blog right here.
Whatever content marketing strategy you choose to pursue, the most important thing to remember is to always stay true to your core brand values. The rest is simply trial and error.
