Sharing knowledge instead of selling
Sharing knowledge through videos, white papers or newsletters is content marketing. So the goal is not to sell something but to teach your target audience something. To make it easy, a small example:
Suppose you are a hairdresser. Then it is interesting for your target audience to learn from your knowledge. For example, share videos explaining how people can dry their hair at home just as nicely as in the hair salon. Or teach people how best to wash their hair at home. So what you're not doing is telling them how well you can dry their hair....
In these videos, you are not calling people to come to your hair salon but helping them to be self-reliant. You add value for your target audience. The moment these people are looking for a hairdresser, you are top of mind and they will go to your salon rather than the competitor's salon that is less visible (online).
“The goal of content marketing is to bind your target audience to your brand in order to build a long-term relationship.”
So how do you apply content marketing?
‘Just get started’ is perhaps the best thing you can do if you want to get started with content marketing. There is no handbook for the best way to apply content marketing. Rather, it's about having a long breath and making yourself heard structurally. You can do this in a variety of ways. Especially online, the possibilities are endless. You can reach a large audience relatively easily. Consider, for example, the following means:
- newsletters
- whitepapers
- podcasts
- explanation videos or tutorials (what's in the name?)
- online magazines
- blogs
- webinars
- infographics
Where to start or what combination of tools to use depends entirely on your needs, and budget. For example, a periodic newsletter can work very well to provide your target audience with tips or relevant information, but you must have the e-mail addresses of your target audience. Don't you have those? Then it is interesting to start with a white paper where you share valuable insights. You can ask readers to leave their email address before they can read your white paper. This way you can collect a list of e-mail addresses of people who are interested in your field. You can then write to these people again with a newsletter.
“You choose what best suits your organization.”
What are the benefits of using content marketing?
You use content marketing primarily to build a long-term relationship with your target audience. It's not easy and you need a long breath, but it really pays off. There are also a number of other reasons to start content marketing today:
- You work on your ‘thought leadership’, or in other words, you show that you understand your craft, are the expert.
- You increase your findability If you regularly share new, valuable content.
- You can gather leads, In other words, identify potential customers. You do this by sharing valuable information only when your target audience is also sharing something with you (think back to the white paper I just mentioned).
So reason enough to start content marketing today. But how do you do it? It is not easy to constantly share relevant information with your target audience. Everything depends on a good content plan and clear content calendar.
