First of all, do you remember what a content strategy is? Inbound Marketing is a profound beauty that manages to brush the secret of attraction. Among all its aspects, content stands out, a strategy that Joe Pulizzi defined more than a decade ago as:
"A marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and grab the attention of a well-defined target audience, with the goal of propelling them to become future customers."
Despite the years that have passed since the content guru established this definition, nothing has changed. The concept remains untouchable, which means that the rules that govern this strategy are permanent and constant over time. That is why today we want to share them with you.
The rules of the game in content marketing
Of all the factors that can have a strong influence on the creation of content, the target audience stands out. The reason is that they are the people we are addressing, the ones we must rely on, the ones we must empathise with, put ourselves in their shoes, think for a moment about how they feel, what their tastes, needs and preferences are. We will tell you the rest of the rules below:
- Language: Communication with our potential customers must be appropriate, so it is important to use a language that is adapted to the audience we are targeting. A more colloquial style, specialised and respectful of grammatical rules, is essential for successful communication and understanding.
- Objective: Before starting our content strategy, we must establish a series of objectives and goals, as the actions we carry out will depend largely on our purposes. For example, if we want to present a service, we will have to focus more on its characteristics, advantages, etc.
- Quality: Sometimes, we forget that quality loses meaning when we focus on quantity, because what we are looking for is not to publish as much content as possible, but a balance between quality and quantity. What we are interested in is to deliver valuable content to our audience, and if we lose sight of this objective, then our readers will end up abandoning our texts. Don't write for the sake of writing!
- Audiovisual: Content delivered through audio, image and video is much more impactful for any user, as some studies have shown. Infographics, for example, are a good way to support written content. The audiovisual approach simplifies the comprehension process for our audience.
- Documentation: Before starting to write content, it is important to stop and do some research, look for reliable sources of information, alternate relevant information and counteract it. This is a fundamental step to start producing quality content.
The rules of the game can be translated into 5 words: language, objective, quality, audiovisual and documentation. They are not just concepts, as they are 5 essential pillars in the content strategy of any brand. Do you have any doubts about this?
where have you focused your content?
In an interesting interview with the founder of the Content Marketing Institute, the content expert dared to talk about the main paradigm shift that companies face to achieve success in content marketing. Pulizzi highlights the following: "I would never publish an article saying 'you must come to our event'. 95% of most companies' content marketing (white papers, posts, announcements, press releases) is about the company, not its audience".
In thesame way, he believes that "until a few years ago you could get by this way because consumers had no other channel to find high quality content, but now the internet has armed them with all the information they need to make purchasing decisions". He is not wrong, and those in charge of marketing actions in an online shop or any other business should change their approach. If their publications do not provide value and serve to improve the lives of their potential customers, what is the point of publishing them?
let's think about it!
The world of content is becoming more and more important
And not only written content, but also audiovisual content. As we mentioned before, posts, videos, images, infographics, press releases, etc., are the steps on a path called content marketing. Telling real stories based on our products, services, or even our brand is part of the business objectives. We are talking about storytelling and knowing how to build the narrative to use it and make it reach the consumer.
Companies, regardless of their size, are looking for the best way to use it to stand out in a universe of competition.
The best choice of audience can be you.
