Content Marketing Kick-start

Content marketing is a simple alternative to traditional marketing methods. Content marketing is based on using useful, informative or entertaining content in any format to attract and retain customers. It works because it positions you and your business as a trusted resource and encourages prospects to search you out as opposed to you doing all the chasing.

Perhaps equally as important is that it rewards your customers for responding to your marketing. Instead of getting the same old sales pitch they get useful, informative or simply entertaining content.

It's precisely because it rewards people for their attention that it works so well when combined with other marketing strategies - and smart businesses can use that fact to kick-start their existing efforts. Let's try an example:

Suppose you run a nice upmarket caf?Your traditional marketing might include things like your ads in the paper or the leaflets you hand out. In terms of content, it's pretty much a sales pitch along the lines of, "here we are, this is what we offer and isn't it great."

None of that really does anything for your prospective customer though. On the other hand, as a content-led business you can make a few small changes to those leaflets or ads that actually gives your prospects something of value - and increases the response rate accordingly.

Start by looking at your ideal customers, what do they want? Could they be interested in healthier alternatives? Saving money? Trying new things? In this case we'll assume that healthy eating is important to your customers, they want to know how to prepare wholesome meals with minimum fuss.

On that basis you could start by putting together a number of attractive recipes and suggestions for healthy eating. That kind of information is useful in itself and so will appeal to your market much more than a standard sales pitch.

With a strong content idea in place the next step is to incorporate it into those advertisements or flyers. Your ads can be recipes in themselves, designed to be cut out and kept (or at the very least say 'check out our website for healthy recipes options'). Instead of using traditional flyers or printed menus, you could opt for branded recipe cards - something that people will be more inclined to hang on to.

Done well, your great content makes you the place to go for healthy eating when your prospects couldn't be bothered to try those recipes themselves. And if they do put your recipes into practice you'll likely benefit from additional word-of-mouth - provided they taste as good as they look.

In short, if you start with a focus on creating valuable content to attract and keep customers, then bringing that content into your existing strategies is the prefect way to give flagging advertising and marketing campaigns a real kick-start.