Is it content, or is it marketing? No, that’s not a trick question. It’s actually essential to how you approach your blog as an online marketing tool–and your online marketing vis-a-vis your blog.
We’ve written left, right, and center about why you need to blog. But while we’ve talked a lot about why blogging is so important to your content strategy, we haven’t talked much about how they fit together.
And if you want to blog effectively, it’s time to change that.
What is Content Marketing?
First, the basics.
Content marketing refers to the creation, publication, and distribution of content to further your marketing goals. And unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several years, you’ve heard by now that content is king.
But not just any content. Smart content. Content that shows who you are, what you do, and why your customers should care.
To do this, you have to combine content marketing with a content marketing strategy, which addresses:
- Whom you’re making content for
- The problem you’re going to solve for them
- Why your solution is different (and better) than everyone else’s
- The content you’ll use to show it
- The channels you’ll use to show that content
- How you’ll create and publish on those channels
You wouldn’t try to drive from New York to Seattle without a map, and you shouldn’t try to steer your content marketing without a strategy either. This requires a strategy down to a granular level, addressing the role each piece of content plays in furthering your strategy.
Content vs. Content Marketing
This is where the minutiae of content versus content marketing is a big deal.
Yes, blogging is a big deal for your content marketing. But blogging does not a content marketing strategy make.
Think of your blog content as chapters. The story of the site is simple: it’s a story about you. Who you are as a brand, what you bring to the table, and why someone should keep reading (er, convert) this story instead of a different book.
To the untrained eye, this content looks like…well, content. But content is not content marketing.
Content marketing campaigns are more than a single blog post, or even twenty blog posts. If your blog posts are the chapters, then content marketing is the plot. It’s the road map your visitors will follow to understand you, and from a strategy side, it allows your marketing team to know where to lead the crowd next.
Blogging as a Cornerstone of Content Marketing
Happily, blogging can serve as a cornerstone of content marketing. Hint: if you’re not using it that way, you should be.
Unfortunately, many marketers think they understand the gap between blogging and content marketing.
Even you, an intrepid content marketer that you are, may think you’ve got a grasp on this. But chances are, you’ve made the same mistake over and over again: you just start creating content.
Blogging can be part of your strategy if you develop a clear strategy. But if you’re making it up as you go along, it’s just another way to trip yourself up.
Set SMART Goals
Since so many marketers struggle with the having of plans and the executing of long-term ideas, the best way to counteract this error is to be smarter.
Or rather, SMART-er, as in SMART goals.
SMART goals cover the five elements of what makes a goal successful:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-sensitive
Don’t dream about your goals. Set concrete parameters to define the limits of your goals and the exact scope of your efforts. Growing your blog following isn’t a SMART goal, but growing your blog following by 200 followers in six months is better.
The key is knowing where you stand right now and what you can realistically expect to achieve within a given timeframe. Also, do some critical thinking about whether the goal is well-matched to your aims.
Know Your Audience
When in doubt, know thy audience.
If you don’t know whom you’re marketing to, you don’t have any hope of marketing to them. A 30-something soccer mom with 2.5 kids, a small dog, and a minivan is different from a twenty-something single young woman.
To that end, it helps to develop buyer personas. If you already have buyer personas, refine them. These personas should be so specific that you could pick your ideal customer out of a crowd in Times Square.
Once you know your buyer in (slightly creepy) intimate detail, you can figure out how to write for them. Think about the type of content that would engage them and the journey they have to take in order to convert as a customer.
Bringing Together Marketing and Content
Got it? Great! Let’s bring together your content marketing and your content into one glorious conversion system.
Oh, and if you’re not quite ready to get there on your own? Or if you’re still fuzzy on the creation of good content? No worries. That’s where we come in.
We know content like you know your business, i.e. like the back of your hand. If content isn’t your game, you can still get great content while focusing on what you do best (serving your customers).
Ready to change the way you think about content, content marketing, and converting customers through content? Then let’s talk. Get in touch today to talk about how we can revitalize your content.