Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material that aims to spark interest and curiosity in a business’s products or services among potential consumers. It is not so much about the promotion of those products and services but a strategic approach to content creation and distribution that tries to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience for those products and services, and ultimately drive them to complete the desired and profitable customer action.

Content marketing examples include blogs, educational videos and articles, ebooks, webinars, social media posts. All of these pieces of content have the same main goal behind them - to answer the questions of your target audience and provide them with valuable answers they could not get anywhere else. Strategically written and distributed content allows you to present your own products and services as ones that are not like anyone else’s.

Content marketing is important because it allows you to take control of how you educate and how you connect with your customers and potential leads. You can position your content in a way that helps you build trust with them and help them to make educated purchasing decisions. This, in turn, helps your conversion rate as customers feel fully informed before they make their final decision. Additionally, in today’s age, people expect consistent and high-quality content from their favourite brands. Supplying that to your customers and leads can put you ahead of your competitors.

Content marketing is used by businesses in a way that helps them become thought leaders within their industry. Depending on the industry you’re in and the needs of your target audience, you can adjust your strategy in a way that will provide them with the information, statistics or evidence they are looking for when making their purchasing decisions. Content marketing is a bit like generating positive PR for your own business as high-quality content may get recognised by other online information providers and as a result, create a buzz around your brand.

The simple answer is, yes. For example, data shows that B2B buyers consume on average 13 pieces of branded content per month, and around 8 of those come directly from the vendor. Consumers are online, doing their research before they make their final purchasing decision. By providing the information they’re looking for you get to influence that purchasing decision later down the line. The first step is to provide them with value before they buy and that’s what content marketing can do for you.

How long it takes for content marketing to yield results will depend on the strategy you take, the type of business and industry you’re in, and most importantly the amount of content you’re putting out there. In general, it can be expected to see some real results after around six months of producing relatable and valuable content on a regular basis for your target audience.

Lead-generating content marketing is a process of producing and distributing content that gives the audience almost a small sample of what your business could do for them. Often these are pieces of content that can be packed into lead magnets which you’ll offer in exchange for the user’s email address. This way you’re creating a micro-conversion that can then be nurtured into a macro-conversion with your content marketing strategy within your email marketing campaigns. A macro-conversion is the more significant desired action you want your potential leads to take.

There are many ways to gain qualified leads through content marketing. Your entire content marketing strategy will generate potential leads but there are some good ways to then capture those potential leads and turn them into actual leads. Some examples include offering lead magnets, offering content upgrades, organising webinar collaborations and publishing quizzes and surveys on your website where the user has to leave their email address to receive the results. All of these methods, in one way or another, help you to capture their email address which brings you a lot closer to them and allows you to personalise the marketing material you send them.

There are hundreds of useful content marketing tools. All content marketers have a list of their favourite tools to use. Some of the basic tools that are often used for content marketing are SEO keyword finders and analysers, such as SEMrush, and Ubersuggest. For planning purposes, it is common to use project management tools, such as Trello, Asana or Airtable. When it comes to the creative part, a user-friendly tool that can be used is Canva. Distribution of the content can be done with tools such as MailChimp, Hootsuite or Planoly. In order to track the results of the content, it is always great to refer to Google Analytics.

The global content marketing industry continues to grow at a fast rate. According to a study report by Research Dive Analysis, the global Content Marketing market forecast will surpass $107,540.6 million by 2026, from $36,786.6 million in 2018, which shows that its compound annual growth rate is around 14.3%.