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Written by: Emma MacAnally
Ah yes, content marketing. If you find yourself wondering what it means or how you are supposed to achieve greatness in the mystical world of content marketing, you are not alone.
You can’t simply throw information out into the digital abyss and hope it hits a target. You need feasible content marketing goals.
If you are faced with the demands of an online marketing strategy, you have no doubt heard about content marketing. You know that you need content. However, what you really need are marketing goals to guide your content. If you are taking a trip, how do you plan the route if you don’t know where you intend to go? You need to identify your marketing goals and then design your content to meet your goals. Here are some content marketing goals that can apply to any business.
1) GAIN THE TRUST OF POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
This is huge and should be a major factor in any content marketing strategy. You need people to trust your company if you ever hope to have them as customers. Moreover, gaining trust is how you gain loyal customers, which as any marketer will tell you, is a beautiful thing. Not sure how to do this? Check out the Content Marketing Institute for tips on gaining trust with your content marketing strategy .
2) INFORM YOUR CUSTOMERS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS
Use your content as an opportunity to educate customers about your business. What better information can you provide to your consumers? This does not mean that you should plug your business name whenever possible. This will come off as greedy. Educating consumers about your company does not have to be promotional in nature.
3) ENGAGE CONSUMERS IN A CONVERSATION ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY
Getting consumers to talk to you about industry concerns is a great way to encourage engagement and to identify market concerns. People LOVE to offer their opinion, and lucky for you, this can drive traffic and give you important information about existing and potential clients.
4.) CREATE BRAND AWARENESS
Ultimately, you want to be recognized. You won’t be able to reap any benefits from your content marketing efforts if no one knows who you are or what you do. You want potential consumers to recognize your brand so that they think of it when a need arises.
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5) ADDRESS A KEY NEED OF YOUR CLIENT BASE
Why do people scour the web? They need something. Be the something they need. Successful businesses provide a solution for a need. Use your content to illustrate how you provide that solution.
6) PROVIDE ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS
Remember, people are seeking answers when they attempt to weed through the massive amounts of information that is available to them on the web. If you can identify common questions consumers have about your industry and provide the answers in your content, you will see more traffic, more engagement, and ultimately, more sales.
7) BUILD YOUR REPUTATION
You will need to bring in new business to remain competitive in any market. One of the best ways to garner new business is to build a solid reputation. If your business is seen as a reliable, trustworthy, knowledgeable business, you will see new business. Check out Forbes for 10 ways to improve your reputation.