Content production’s value is undeniable, especially in a world where target audiences are looking for quality resources to help them make decisions about goods and services. Yet among marketers, there are still gaps in understanding how to surround rich content with an equally rich and effective content promotion strategy.
Only 12% of marketing professionals think their content is hitting the right audience at the right time. Implementing the most effective tools and tactics will help strike a balance between casting a wide net and making sure the message is narrow enough to reach your target audience at the right time and in the right place.
Content Promotion Strategy & The Pandemic
There’s no doubt that the pandemic was a major inflection point in content promotion strategies. Overnight, playbooks were upended, the existing rules were challenged, and everything we relied upon concerning customer relationships and building brands was quickly thrown into question.
New truths began to supplant old truths, including:
- Old truth: Marketing begins with knowing your customer. New truth: Marketing begins with knowing your customer segment.
- Old truth: You are competing with your competitors. New truth: You are competing with the last best experience your customer had.
- Old truth: Courting customers is just like dating. New truth: Courting customers is just like online dating.
Beyond these paradigm shifts, the biggest problem most marketers struggle to get past is the content crisis: to keep pace in the content-based world, you have to create more content. However, pumping out tons of content is not a sustainable or effective strategy. Addressing the content crisis with mass amounts of content is like dealing with inflation by simply printing more money.
As old marketing approaches expire, marketers should understand this simple axiom: less is more for content promotion strategies. In other words, invest in heavily promoted, narrow, focused, high quality pieces of content instead of inundating target audiences with weaker content with less promotion density.
Post-Pandemic Tips For Driving Traffic To Your Website
When it comes to promoting your post-pandemic content, there are a few simple things you’ll want to do that might contradict conventional marketing wisdom.
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Focus on the customers you already have
If customers have remained engaged with your business throughout the pandemic, it is safe to say that they are major fans of your company. It is vital to keep those customers on board by recommitting them. Remaining engaged with them will position you as a brand they can count on regardless of what may be going on.
To keep those customers with you, create content that speaks directly to them. If you can provide loyal customers with consistent, valuable content, your business will be first in line when they require your goods or services.
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Run exclusive deals and offers
A great way to get people interested in your business is by offering exclusive sales promotions or deals. For those businesses that Covid hit hard, running discounts and offers will bring people back through your doors and place you in the front of their minds. To get the word out, utilize your social media platforms and email lists.
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Overhaul your communication strategy
Communicating to your customers in a time of uncertainty takes tact, empathy, and a keen understanding of how they’re feeling. Overhauling your communication strategy could mean focusing on content that caters to their doubts, fears, and questions related to their current situation. Small surveys that ask them about new pain points and needs can help you understand your customers and identify new ways to communicate.
Content Promotion Strategy Insights from Chad Pollitt
During the latest installment of the Digital Marketing Masterclass, we sat down with thought-leader Chad Pollitt, a decorated Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, digital marketing expert, and international public speaker. He has written ten books since the early 2000s and has contributed to The Huffington Post, Moz, and Hubspot, among many others.
Early on, Chad discovered that three main types of content could reach and convert his audience into paying customers. Those types of content include:
- Earned Content: includes publicity or exposure gained from methods other than paid advertising, such as email marketing.
- Owned Content: includes any online content that you own and control—for example, your website, blog posts, email list, or YouTube channel.
- Paid Content: includes content where you are paying for media space or placement, such as paid social media, paid promotions, and Google ads.
By balancing these three forms of content, Chad was able to not only reach his intended audience but to turn them into devoted brand ambassadors who latched onto his message and amplified it further.
Much of his success came down to his content formula. For every piece of content, he would spend 60-80% of his time promoting it. He devoted the other 20-40% of the time to creating the content itself.
You can watch the rest of our interview with Chad Pollitt here.
Improving Your Content Promotion Strategy
There are many ways to improve your content marketing to create nuanced, targeted, and quality content that will drive traffic to the eyes and ears that want what you’re offering. To guide you in your journey toward an optimized content promotion strategy, we recommend that you use a team-based approach.
With a team-based approach, you get all the benefits of a full-time team of marketing professionals without the drawbacks. At Farotech, we have dozens of experienced marketers who are ready to get your message out there to the right people, at the right place, at the right time.
Bonus: Enjoy this free resource from our team, the Inbound Marketing Campaign Checklist, by filling out the form.
