How to Do Content Marketing in 5 Simple Steps

Most online marketers know the phrase “Content is king”. There is so much hyperbole and hearsay about Content Marketing and its power- which has created confusion amongst marketers about how to do Content Marketing that can connect, convince and convert their target audiences.

That is why, we created this 5-step ‘How to do Content Marketing Guide’ for all aspects of content marketing- from Understanding What is Content Marketing & Why businesses need it- to Content Marketing Tools & Types of Content Formats- to Content Management & Publication- We aimed to create a holistic look at Content Marketing campaigns.

Before digging deep into the 5 steps to accurately understand how to do Content Marketing, let us first understand What Content Marketing is and why you need it-

What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is the piece of your Digital Marketing Strategy that refers to the management and execution of different  written, downloadable and visual Digital Media Content. When you make a Content Marketing plan, key things to pay heed to are-

• Your target audiences for your content marketing campaign
• The problem your Content Marketing is going to solve for that audience
• How your Content Marketing Campaign will be unique
• The different Content Marketing formats you will focus on
• Different channels where your content will be published
• How you will plan and manage your content creation and publication

Why Businesses Need Content Marketing

Content Marketing offers businesses cost-effective sources that generate new leads, optimize website traffic and ensure conversions. For instance, if you have a blog post and get a steady amount of organic traffic from that then an embedded link to an e-book will help you generate leads as time goes on.

• Content Marketing offers reliable sources of traffic and by using your evergreen content, you will get the needed flexibility to experiment with other Online Marketing tactics e.g. sponsored content, distributed content, or social media advertising that help in generating revenues
• Content not only attracts leads but also educates your prospects and generates brand awareness.

Now, let us dive into the 5-steps to know how to do Content Marketing

How to do Content Marketing in 5-Steps

1. Define your Goal and Conduct Persona Research

Want to know how to do Content Marketing then the very first thing you need to pay heed to is defining your goal. You need to know your goals for developing a content marketing strategy and the reasons behind producing a particular type of content.  When you know your goals, the process of creating a conversion-oriented Content Marketing Plan will be alleviated.

• For developing a successful b2b Content Marketing strategy, you should clearly define your content’s target audience that you can do by conducting persona research commonly known as buyer persona
• Persona research helps you know the target audience that helps you produce more relevant and valuable content that spontaneously connects, convinces, and converts your prospects
• Redefining your persona research by revisiting your audience parameters by conducting market research each year is one of the most important contents marketing tips that most of the how-to do Content Marketing Guides suggest

2. Determine a Content Management System & Brainstorm Content Ideas

Any marketer who wishes to know how to do Content Marketing ought to pay proper attention to this step. To do successful Content Marketing, you need to have a content management system in place. The content management incorporates-

• Content creation
• Content publication
• Content analytics

Some of the notable content management systems for you are HubSpot software, CoSchedule, and WordPress.

Once you have a content management system in place, you need to start brainstorming ideas for your next content creation project. Below given is the list of some important Content Marketing Tools for brainstorming content ideas are-

HubSpot’s Website Grader: 

You can use this one when you wish to see where you are at with your marketing, as it grades vital areas of your marketing and lets you stay updated with a detailed report of your content performance. This one also helps you figure out how to do content marketing by making your website SEO-friendly with new content ideas

What to Write: 

A unique content idea generator asks you questions that let you jumpstart brainstorming different content ideas. It also helps in generating different blog post ideas then you can use those ideas in your B2B Content Marketing campaign

HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator:

You can get blog post ideas for one year with this content marketing tool and if you want to learn how to do Content Marketing in the most relevant and scheduled manner, this tool is a must for you

Feedly: 

This one helps you keep track of trendy topics in your industry and simultaneously provides relevant content ideas

BuzzSumo: 

This one helps you find out popular content and content ideas, plus it can help you determine if your content is popular and well-liked

Content Forest:

It includes so many free Content Marketing tools, such as KeywordKiwi and ContentIdeator that help you find popular content from your competitors, plus, the information about the right keywords to use in your content along with the great content ideas

Blog Post Headline Analyzer:

This one analyzes headlines and titles and lets content marketers get feedback on length, grammar, word choice, and keyword search volume. You can use this one to run a few title options that will help you know how you could have better titles

3. Know Which Types of Content Would be Best Fit for Your Business

There are different types of Content Marketing that vary as per the content formats best fit for your business. Below given is the list of some of the most common content formats marketers are using-

• Blog posts
• Ebooks
• Templates
• Infographics
• Videos
• Podcasts
• External Content, etc.

Along with publishing content on your own site, distributing your content on other sites is another important thing that you need to pay heed to. This will include publishing of website content on different social media sites like LinkedIn along with repurposing of content into new formats for publishing them on social media sites or on any blog. You can also create original content for external sites like Medium.

4. Start a Blog and Post Once a Week

If you want to know how to do Content Marketing free then this one is the most important step for you. Blogs are the best ways to post content regularly and get the SEO benefit for your site. You can create your blog on the same root domain as your main site means you need not create a separate site like blog.example.com, but creating blog.example.com would also be equally beneficial for you.

• You can use WordPress, which is the easiest and most versatile Content Management System for blogging. Creating a blog with WordPress costs next to nothing, plus, you can create a blog in 10 seconds
• With complicated custom themes, the redesign may take around 15 minutes
• One of the best Content Marketing practices is linking your blog from the main page and you need to practice that if you exactly want to know how to do content marketing that converts
• Posting once a week is another important practice that you should follow. Creating content regularly in a well-scheduled manner establishes your authority in your target market and helps you boost your online presence

5. Publish and Manage your Content

Your Content Marketing strategy should go beyond the types of content you need to create and it should also incorporate things related to publishing, organizing, and managing your content. This is the last step suggested by this How to do Content Marketing Guide, but this one is one of the most integral parts of the whole process.

• By taking assistance of an editorial calendar, you can schedule managing and publishing of well balanced and diverse content library on your website
• You can also create a social media content calendar for promoting and managing your content on other social media platforms
• There can be some evergreen content ideas that can help you generate spikes of traffic and you should continue creating those posts as well
• In case there are niche holidays that are directly proportional to the interests of your audiences then it would be advisable to publishing content on your blog or on social media as per the Social media holidays

Final Words

On the concluding note, you need to understand that Content Marketing takes time and demands immaculate organization and creativity.

From a foundation of your Content Marketing plan to adding Content Marketing tools to better manage your content and setting up a B2B Content Marketing Strategy for the next year, the whole process would be quite hassle-free if you follow the aforesaid steps and explore the resources here.

For additional guidance and certification, you can join the Content Marketing Module of Digital Marketing Course in Association with LinkedIn.

Content Marketing Module in association with LinkedIn includes–

• Myths about Content Marketing
• Identifying & creating “Good” Content
• Framework to begin a Content Marketing program
• How to show ROI for content programs
• Key Resources and Tools to create & curate content
• Certification

I hope this blog post would have helped you understand how to do Content Marketing that connects, convinces, and converts your prospects.

Finally, what are the steps you find more appropriate for your business- Update me in the comments below.