Category Archives: Content Marketing

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The 3 pillars of content marketing

Lord Vincent Van Mendoza > Blog > Content Marketing

Content marketing is a garden that makes any business beautiful and inviting. With it, you are more likely to attract your desired market organically. Without it, you are likely to lose your charm over the years compared to those who do content marketing.

Content marketing should not be treated as a want for your business; rather, it is a must. To drop a few, Mendoza (2021) wrote about the 3 reasons why your business needs content marketing. This marketing discipline lets you get your audience’ attention; generate, engage, and nurture lead; and, retain customer loyalty and promote evangelism. Hence, this is far more effective than traditional forms of marketing — which, in turn, results to much higher Return of Investment (ROI).

In getting onboard for your content marketing initiative, it’s not just thinking like “Hey! I want this to be the content today.” and that’s it. Sure, there are things to consider in creating content; however, there are also pillars you should bear in mind so that you can make the most of your content marketing plan.

What’s a pillar, anyway?

pillar (noun)

a large post that supports something

– Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Right. We got it. But how do we translate this to content marketing? Simple. It isn’t enough that you have content in mind. These things should be well taken care as you go along in your content marketing journey.

1) Content creation

Well, this is very obvious. There’s no content marketing without creating content. Let’s do an inventory. What do you have now? Blog? Podcast? Webinars? Great! But wait — you have to realize that even your competitor also creates content. Your goal, then, is to make your content stand out.

First, it needs to be something interesting to your target audience. It goes without saying that if the content serves their interest, they sure would want to consume it. Don’t just make post after post on why your company is so great and why your products are the best available. Please slow down. You could do this by providing important information: how to do something related to your field, the latest news and upcoming events they’ll want to know about. This is what will draw potential customers to your content.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is content quality. This is often neglected. Make sure your blogs are well-written and engaging. Have well-produced videos or dynamic podcasts with worthwhile guests. Try to connect with other professionals who know what they’re doing, instead of trying to create all your content in-house. It will make a world of difference to your audience. Remember, variety is the spice of life.

2) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Once you’ve created your content, you need to make sure that your target audience can easily find it. This is where SEO becomes your best friend. SEO is a BIG deal. You should work well in it. Some tips? Use the words and phrases that people are searching for in your content. In other words, you need to think the way your audience thinks. In the cae of a blog, use keywords well in the text itself. If it’s a podcast, a video, an infographic or anything visual, audio, or video content, use keyword tags to associate your post with those terms, so that your content will come up next time someone searches for those keywords.

Make sure it fits with the natural flow of the post, though. Avoid content saturation (when a particular niche is overly crowded with content pieces) in your content with SEO and don’t tag it with keywords that don’t directly apply to it. Wanna know why? You have to be very careful not to make your content seem clunky and badly written, because if you do so, Google will penalize you for abusing the SEO process, making your content appear lower, rather than higher, in search engine results. That’s only Google. For sure, you also don’t wanna get penalized in other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo!, and AOL.

Have a look at this example below.If you could comprehensively provide content for a specific subject matter, it will be highly prioritized by search engines like Bing (in this example).

PICASSO Framework in content marketing

3) Social Media

SEO is never enough. You have to believe it. Once your content is posted, you vannot just simply sit back and wait for your audience to come to you. You need to be actively promoting your content and drawing people in. Social media platforms are the avenue for that. Building your social media presence means having a built-in audience of people who not only are willing to hear what you have to say, but have actively asked you to do so. In fact, I often receive content request from my Facebook friends. I’m saying social media is the first place to post your content. Then if your followers like what you’ve posted, they’ll share it with their own social media circles. In effect, their friends will share it with their circles, and so on. You don’t know where your brand will be taken through your content. This is viral marketing that means free publicity and an opportunity to expand the audience for your content. TMDirect (n.d.) describes this as the beauty of content marketing. Your focus is localized, but your potential reach is virtually limitless. Imagine you can write from the Philippines and your content may get to the end part of the world.

TL; DR: Any content marketing initiative needs some support so that it doesn’t only get published, but it’s also amplified and distributed to an even wider audience. Don’t forget these 3 pillars of content marketing: (1) content creation; (2) Search Engine Optimization (SEO); and social media.

If you need a content strategist for your brand, I can be the guy for the job! You may reach me through +639760030342 or send me an email at [email protected] .

Things to consider in creating content

In the context of business, content is not created randomly. It is not about producing the content you love, personally enjoy or about a viral video everyone is talking about. It is not about producing anything that comes to your mind.

Content creation includes so much more than having an idea about a certain topic. It is supposed to be a planned strategy that is aimed at bringing your business achievable results, which means that you should think about all the aspects that could help you create content that brings you to that goal. 

Here are a few of the things you need to consider in creating content:

1) Niche

In marketing, niche refers to a concentrated topic that caters to the content needs of your target audience. This also refers to the products or services that you offer. It is the subject matter you want to focus on. You want to be mindful about this as focus builds clarity. And when there is clarity, there is success. Your goal is to specialize in this specific area and try to be an expert in such field. Choosing your niche implies focusing on a narrow topic. This should guide you in your content marketing “road map”.

2) Audience

You really have to think of your audience as you produce content. Think of it. After all, you are creating content primarily for your audience. Regardless the types of content, regardless the methods used for distributing the content, the content you create should appeal to your audience. To be clear, you need to think of the following aspects:

Ways of thinking about your audience (eMarketing Institute, 2018):

  1. Determine your target group.
  2. Think about their possible questions, problems, dilemma, and the like.
  3. Be able to predict what kind of information can help in these situations.
  4. Publish content that is relevant to your target group.
  5. Use the language our target audience can identify with.

3) Resources

The next thing that you wanna do is to determine the resources you have at hand. The resources are needed for content marketing strategy, and they have to be planned and assigned to content creation like any other strategy. Determining the resources you already have at the moment will make it even more feasible for you to construct SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bounded) objectives that will sure guide you in your content marketing effort.

4) Competitors

It is one way of keeping on track by checking what your competitors are doing. This way you can keep up with the industry trends and standards. By looking into your competitors” current content, you get to have a list of possible ideas to counter those existing content. Just see to it that you don’t fall prey into simply copying what they produce. Look for a different angle. This marks your uniqueness that contributes to your branding reputation.

If you are a small business owner in Davao city, grab this cheat sheet on 7 mistakes every business owner in Davao commit (that you can avoid).

5) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is dead without quality content. One of the major tasks of search engine optimization is particularly making your content visible. The main purpose of content optimization is to attract search engine crawlers and get the content indexed. This increases the visibility of the content and helps with increasing website ranking in the search engine results. One strategy that most SEO specialists would recommend is by submitting your website’s sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies such as this are helpful in making your content to be likely displayed on search engines’ first page.

TL;DR (The bottom line):

Creating content requires thinking of factors that are essential to making your content marketing initiative a success. Remember to keep in mind the following: (1) niche, (2) audience, (3) resources, (4) competitors, and (5) Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

What does the PICASSO Framework mean in content marketing?

PICASSO Framework in Content Marketing

P‐I‐C‐A‐S‐S‐O is an acronym for Plan, Infrastructure, Create, Amplify with Syndication plus Sharing, and Outcome. The PICASSO Framework was developed by Kudani for use with its KudaniCloud content marketing software. It is a proven content marketing blueprint that gives you the confidence to create a profitable content marketing program (Clifford, 2016). 

PLAN

Any content marketing initiative should always begin with a plan. You must start with a solid plan or you will risk going off course without even realizing it. Content marketing planning should be guided by the MASFC method. That means you:

  • Define your Mission
  • Develop your Avatar
  • Create your Style Sheet
  • Construct yur Buyer Funnel
  • Lay out your Calendar

Define your Mission

To reach your audience or target market, you need to begin with a clear mission statement. You have to ask yourself whether you are aiming for brand awareness, lead generation, engagement, sales, lead nurturing, customer retention/loyalty, customer evangelism, and upsell/cross-sell.

Develop your Avatar

Nothing is more important for you as a content marketer than understanding your customers. By understanding your ideals customers, you can develop content or make your product or service indispensable. The best way to have a clear picture of your ideal customer is by making avatars. Avatars are representations of your targeted customers. Marketers have a love‐hate relationship with them. They know that they need to create and use them, but they find avatars difficult to develop — but not you because you are a good content marketer.

You can try HubSpot’s persona maker for a start.

In using avatars, you can:

Tap into feelings and emotions in your copy.

After you understand how your buyers want to feel when they use your product, you can evoke those feelings with your content. Remember, content marketing is likely about storytelling. Appeal to their emotions. In fact, a Harvard Professor Says 95% of Purchasing Decisions Are Subconscious.

Use buying triggers in emails and real‐time messaging.

If you know your avatars’ buying triggers, send your emails and messages at the right time to catch the interest of your buyers. You can also make sure that the same content is (though crafted in a different style) on your website and anywhere else where your buyers can find you.

Directly address problems they are experiencing.

People use search engines to help them to solve their problems. Solving problems for your customers is key to generating revenue. Your content, in all appropriate formats, should focus on problem solving.

Use influencers to persuade them.

Knowing whom your customers listen to and respect is an important piece of the content puzzle. It’s a great idea to reach out to influencers for endorsements in your content whenever possible.

Set the tone, style, and delivery of your content.

You can determine whether you need a formal voice or something more conversational for your audience. As for me, it is more effective if you vary your tone depending on the demographics of your audience.

Create your Style Sheet

Creating your style sheet is promoting a sense of branding. People rely on your content when they hant to know about your company. These are some of the factors you have to bear in mind as you work on your content:

  • Writing style – This should depend on your audience. Do you need to sound formal? Or sounding more casual would be fine? You need to define this writing style so that all the contributors can match the way they write for your brand.
  • Tone – This is conveyed by the choice of words and your sentence style. You may ask yourself whether or not to use figures, emotion, or the combination of the two.
  • Punctuation – You need to create a style sheet that details any specific punctuation or word usage requirements. For instance, you may not want to have exaggerated exclamation points!!!!!!!!!
  • Blog post and web layout – Make sure to provide a guide that tells staff what the layout of all owned sites should be. Just like mine, the color palette of all the layout across the sites should be consistent. Without consistency, your brand communicates an unprofessional attitude.
  • Image style – Create a style guide that details the size and requirements for all visuals.

Construct your Buyer Funnel

Funnel is a term used to describe the process of collecting visitors and sending them through a defined set of steps, from the beginning where they “meet” your brand to the end when they become a buyer.

Here’s how a prospect might go through the funnel (Clifford, 2016):

✓Top of the funnel content (TOFC): When people initially discover your business, the content they see first should be educational. They want to determine whether you’re presenting a solution to a problem they have.

✓Middle of the funnel content (MOFC): If customers believe that your product may provide a solution, they begin to think about how they might implement the solution you offer. They consider costs and comparisons with other competitors, and frequently read reviews and case studies.

✓Bottom of the funnel content (BOFC): After people become customers, you need to strengthen your bond with them to ensure that they continue to be delighted with their purchase. The final phase in the funnel involves encouraging buyers to be advocates for your business and arming them with the content that helps them socially sell your solution to their network.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Your infrastructure is critical to the success of your content marketing efforts. If your website loads so slowly or your mobile website looks so awful, you will drive visitors away before they even consider your content. One way of avoiding this is by optimizing your site. Above everything else, you have to pay attention to your site’s performance. Site optimization is primarily what you need to succeed in getting your content across your audience.

These are some of the ways to achieve this:

  • Tune up your engine – Your audience doesn’t have the time or inclination to wait for your sites to display. You need to pay attention to your site
    performance so that your prospects don’t have to. If you have not fine‐tuned your sites, you’re not paying attention to the heart of your content marketing operation.
  • Set optimization goals and loot at metrics – Consider these two optimization goals for your site: Desktop performance goal: A site should not take more than four seconds to load from a visitor’s desktop. Mobile performance goal: A mobile site should not take more than two seconds to load on your visitor’s mobile device.

You also need to track other metrics, and you use Google Analytics (or other Analytics Tools) for this type of tracking.

Metrics to watch out for include:

✓Opt‐in rate for leads: It’s important for you to know the rate at which your lead magnets are getting people to convert to prospects. Keep your eye on this measure so that if you see a low rate, you know what you need to do. Lead magnets require an opt‐in from your audience, which means that prospects volunteer to give you their personal information. Using an opt‐in with your lead magnet increases the likelihood that you are connecting with a person who is truly interested in what you have to say.

✓Time on site: How much time did your visitor spend on your site? This measurement tells you how much time your visitor spends on a specific page on your site. Obviously, you would like your visitor to spend some time on your pages.

✓Bounce rate: The bounce rate tells you how often visitors leave your site after looking at the one page they landed on. It’s calculated as a percentage. So a 50 percent bounce rate means that 50 percent of the time a visitor lands on your site, he or she doesn’t look at any other page but instead leaves your site completely.

CREATE

There are ways on how you can prepare for the creation of content for your brand:

  1. Research on the topic that gets the traffic.
  2. Diversify with content types.
  3. Write headlines that work well.
  4. Fill in your editorial calendar.

AMPLIFY

Content amplification means boosting the presence of your content so that it gets to your intended audience.

You have several types of content promotion available to you:

✓Paid media: This type of media refers to the advertising promotions that you pay for. When choosing these options, you need a budget and a conviction that you will get a return on the money you spend.

Examples: Facebook ads, promoted tweets, traditional and native advertising, print ads, paid search, mobile ads, app ads, and Amazon ads.

✓Earned media: This is the media that you get when other sources recognize and promote your content for you. Your brand or your content is deemed valuable and is showcased in some way or reshared.

Examples: Influencer reviews, traditional PR, and media relations.

✓Shared media: This media consists of the shares you get from others on the various social media platforms.

Examples: Shares on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and others.

✓Owned Media: This type of media is controlled by you and is becoming more and more important as time goes on. I explain why later in this chapter.

Examples: Website, blogs, emails, microsites, apps, collateral, and user‐generated content.

SYNDICATION

Content syndication is a form of syndication in which content is made available from one website to other sites. In my case, I use Medium as a content syndication platform for my brand.

Take a look at this example:

If you could notice, both have the same content, although presented in quite a different way.

SHARING

Content sharing is at the heart of content marketing. Whenever I market for a prospect, I always make use of my content to feed to their mind. This way, I do not only make myself credible for them, but I also provide them with valuable content for them to become educated customers.

BTW, there’s a share button at the end of this blog. Feel free to share this.

OUTCOME

Measuring content outcome means knowing your numbers. In other words, pay attention to your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Here’s a sample guide table for the metrics (Clifford, 2016):

Content Marketing GoalsMetrics
Increase brand
awareness		Social media shares, social media likes,
email forwards, referral links
Lead generation
Lead nurturing		Blog signups, blog comments, conversion
rate, form completions
Increase engagementComments, page depth (how many pages
consumed), downloads, page views, back
links, time on site, click‐through rate
Grow sales revenue
by X percent		Revenue influenced by content (which content
was consumed before sale), offline sales
Improve customer
retention/loyalty		Bounce rate, followers, retention rate
Encourage customer
evangelism		Social media shares, comments, follower
count, word of mouth
Increase upsells/
cross sells		Measure conversions in shopping cart and
on landing pages; number of conversions

TL;DR: The bottom line

PICASSO Framework makes it easy for content marketers to align ther goals with their course of action in their content marketing initiative. Maximize this formula in content marketing and see the results for yourself.

#Content is the KEY(word)

Lord Vincent Van Mendoza > Blog > Content Marketing

Let me ask you this: “When was the last time you Googled about something?” Was it a month ago? 2 weeks ago? Or just 1 minute ago? If it’s a yes to any of these, then this is the point of this blog. Digital marketers like me are obsessed with making it on page 1 on search engines! Take a look at this:

Lord Vincent Van Mendoza is the new top 1 in digital marketing in Davao

Strong and optimized written copy is the most critical part of any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) initiative. However, before anything else, you have to put yourself in your target audience’ shoes. Make sure to identify those keywords and key phrases your target audience is likely to use when searching for your website, articles, blog entries, or other content initiatives. For example, if they’re planning to get married, and if they’re looking for an MC for their wedlock party, they could type in “event host”. Specifically, for instance, if they reside in Davao, they could type in “Davao event host“.  Also, see to it that you do the same for individual pages or specific pieces of content within a website or blog — or whatever have you.

Overview:

In this blog, I have answered the question, “Is content marketing the key to SEO?”. I started by pulling in a screenshot showing that I’ve ranked #1 on Yahoo! search recently. I then included practical tips on how you can optimize your content in your digital marketing hustle. I have illustrated authentic examples to clearly explain my point. Lastly, I have included free SEO tools you can maximize for optimizing your content.

Keywords are the words and phrases searchers use. Perhaps you’re a digital marketer in Davao city who offers services such as social media management, content marketing, e-mail marketing, CRM, SEO, among others. The normal searcher is more likely to seek information by typing in the search box: “digital marketer in Davao city“. 


The primary step in the keyword research process is simply to brainstorm a list of the words and phrases a searcher might use to find your site or business. Again, think the way your target audience may think. The trick here is to be very specific. Forget broad terms like “events.” Focus instead on “event planning” or “wedding hosting” or “wedding MC in Davao” or “male wedding host in Davao city”. It can be helpful to ask outsiders such as your beau, friends, family, clients, or colleagues what terms come to mind.

Once you have the initial list is in hand, the next step is to determine how useful these terms really are. That’s where keyword research tools come in place. In running the list of proposed keywords through a keyword research tool, you’ll learn how many searchers are actually conducting searches for a given word or term every day, how many of those searches actually converted into sales. These tools can also make you aware of words not on the list, or synonyms (which are important, too).

What are some of the FREE keyword research tools?

Bing Webmaster

SEMRush

You should then narrow down your final list of keywords. You may write these on a piece of paper and have them on a cork board, or into a spreadsheet that helps you visualize at a glance each word or phrase’s conversion rate, search volume, and competition. This list helps narrow your focus and concentrates on the most important terms for your content. Don’t completely eliminate broad terms such as “marketing” because these give searchers a taste of an apple for what you’re offering. However, it’s the specific, targeted terms like “digital marketer in Davao city” that attract the targeted traffic at the bottom of the purchase or conversion funnel.

What are the characteristics of the best keywords (Que Publishing, 2012)?

  • Strong relevance — terms for which you have content to support.
  • Relatively high search volume—terms people actually search for.
  • Relatively low competition—terms with a small number of search results, that is other pages on the Internet that search engines have indexed as containing a specific word or phrase.

When I started my SEO initiative, I really had in mind to be very specific so that I can gain authority and dominion on a certain keyword. Hence, instead of driving into the bandwagon of using “digital marketing in Davao city”, I first started with keywords “Davao event host & content marketer”. After some time, I’ve noticed that I’m relatively ranking on search engines (but not really on the very top back then). Over time, as I have grown my knowledge in digital marketing, I began to push landing pages or funnel pages with different keywords like “Davao affiliate marketer” and “CRM specialist in Davao city”.

After you’ve determined which keywords to target — both for an overall content marketing initiative as well as for very specific — that’s the time to build content around those terms. If you’ve been following my blogs, I keep on curating what Seth Godin said, “Content marketing is the only marketing left”.  Remember this: Search engines favor high-quality and original content, so don’t fall prey on just copying and pasting content that is made available on the internet. Anyhow, content aggregation is fine and can really be relevant. It can be regularly supplemented with well written and researched original content. (Please don’t forget to attribute sources. Give credit to whom it is due.) 

A major way that search engine algorithms to determine quality content is by examining how many links there are to specific pieces of content. (Please note that this algorithm rues may change from time to time.) Links are somewhat considered “votes” vouching for quality content. One strategy for getting people to link to you is, of course, to link to them. Another way is to follow relevant sites, blogs, online video channels, and social networking presences in your particular vertical and to comment on them, with appropriate and relevant links back to your own content. Quora is one good example where you can answer to questions related to your industry and then provide useful content answer linked to your own. Internal links are also highly valuable because links are what search engine spiders follow to find content in the first place. Guest blogging for third-party sites is also a valuable link strategy as most of which have an “about the author” blurb that creates a link back to your own site or blog.

Sharing your content across various social media platforms is another valuable link-building strategy. It’s why so many sites contain those small icons encouraging visitors to “share on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn”. This has mutual benefits on my end and on the end of my link-building affiliates as I also do backlinks for them.

While most people believe that “content is king”. We should never underestimate the power of community. Building a community through a Facebook Group or Messenger Group can be a great way to have a support system who will help you gain more shares and traffic.

Content marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) both promote mutualism in digital marketing. Content is what people look for; SEO is what makes content a priority on search engines. Put your best foot forward for these 2 powerful and amazing pillars in online marketing.

Interested to join a content marketing masterclass?

Join in my Digital Lourd Bootcamp for FREE this month! See you on board!

What is content marketing?

Overview:

In this blog, I have answered the question, “What is content marketing?”. I started by pulling in a screenshot with a question from one of my FB friends. I then included definitions of content marketing from other content marketers. I have illustrated authentic examples to clearly explain my point. Lastly, I have presented statistical figures showing why content marketing is a growing trend.

Content marketing and its timely relevance

You must have heard about content marketing a lot! Yet, it isn’t so clear to you. Congratulations! This blog is for you. But first, let me tell you an anecdote. I once posted on my Facebook account that a client discovered through my content marketing effort. One of my friends asked in our local lingo, “Unsa diay ng content marketing, sir?” (What is content marketing, sir?)

I would like to present first how other content marketers define content marketing:


Here’s one from Forbes (2014) by Josh Steimle:



Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

And here’s another from Content Marketing Institute (2010):

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

There is common denominator between the two definitions, right? Now, it’s my turn. To me, content marketing is the means of attracting audiences by providing them with valuable “content” before they become customers and, eventually, your brand ambassadors. Technically, I am referring to the top of the funnel (awareness stage).

What is content?

Content is the information, the idea or the experience you publish online. It is anything that you produce and publish for the purpose of offering it to your audience (or visitor). Content may come in the form of a text, but it can also be visual, audio, or video. 

In the realm of the digital world, eMarketing Institute states that content should be:

• useful
• easy to consume
• shareable
• original
• relevant
• compelling
• timely
• personalized
• authentic
• engaging
• educational
• entertaining
• insightful
• conveying a story
• contextual

As for business, content is a tool that you can use to directly connect with your target audience. The main purpose of content in the context of business communication is to encourage their interest to the products or services offered.

Content has become a fundamental part of any digital marketing strategy. It is a pillar supporting all your efforts and attempts to position your brand on the market and achieve your business goals. No longer can a business be successful and establish a relationship with the target group without some type of content involved (eMarketing Institute, 2018).

Content has to be well-planned and carefully designed; thus, it is a goal-driven ‘adventure’. This does not only involve creativity, but it also involves skillfulness in crafting a piece that is valuable to your audience.

What is content marketing?

Here’s how you can simply explain content marketing:


When you are asked by your family members, “What are the benefits of the products that you sell?” Your initial way of figuring it out is perhaps consulting Mr. Google. In the search box, you may type in there, “benefits of hair stimulating shampoo”. After which, what do you get? You get content. Yeah, that’s right. Basically, content marketing is about educating people.

However, contrary to what I just said, content marketing is not limited to awareness campaigns because you can still (and must) do content marketing even in the middle and bottom of the funnel.

In content marketing, you can do blogs, social media updates, infographics, photographs, quizzes or surveys, and a lot more!

Here’s a sampler of what I did. Take this “Andam Na Ba Kang Kaslon?” quiz.

In English, are you ready to get married?
In English, are you ready to get married?

Check What kind of content should you push for each part of the marketing funnel? to learn more!

Technically, content marketing is a type of marketing focused on creation and distribution of online materials that directly or indirectly promote a brand. Direct promotion refers to the creation of promotional materials and content used for advertising purposes. This type of content is usually
used in paid ads (SEM) or affiliate links (affiliate marketing). On the other hand, content marketing is frequently void of any direct promotion. The purpose of this kind of content is simply to increase interest in your products or services. This way, content marketing indirectly attracts and acquires leads and customers (eMarketing Institute, 2018).

Is content marketing a growing trend?

Content marketing has positively affected business over the years. That’s probably the reason why digital marketers cannot neglect content marketing per se. These are some amazing statistical figures that would tell us how to make our content relevant content marketing is in any business strategy:


• 2 million blog posts are written every day (MarketingProfs).

• 60% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority (HubSpot).

• 37% of marketers said visual marketing was the most important form of content for their business, second only to blogging (38%) (Social Media Examiner).

• Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got about 4.5X more leads than companies that published 0-4 monthly posts (HubSpot).

• The length of the average blog post is up 19%…about 1050 words. Shorties are on the decline: the percentage of posts that are 500 words or less is half what is was two years ago. Big posts are on the rise: the percentage of posts that are 2000+ words long has doubled every year (Orbit Media).

• 41% of B2B marketers say their organization is clear on what content marketing success or effectiveness looks like; 59% are unclear or unsure (Content Marketing Institute).

• Most marketers attribute increase in success to content creation which includes higher quality and more efficient content creation (Content Marketing Institute).

• Email, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are top 4 channels used by B2B business for content marketing distribution (Content Marketing Institute).

• 83% of B2B marketers use email newsletters for content marketing (Content Marketing Institute).

• Lead generation and brand awareness, in that order, are the two most important content marketing goals of most B2B marketers (Content Marketing Institute).

• Business to Business (B2B) marketers cite website traffic, sales lead quality, and sales as the top 3 most important metrics (Content Marketing Institute).

• Most B2B marketers state producing engaging content is the biggest challenge they face (60%), followed by measuring content effectiveness (57%) and producing content consistently (57%) (Content Marketing Institute).

• 72% of marketers say creating more engaging content is top priority for them. (Content Marketing Institute)

• Marketers plan to increase their use of videos (73%), visuals (71%), blogging (66%), live video (39%), and podcasting (26%), in that order (Social Media Examiner).

• We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65% (BrainRules).

• 76% of people use their Facebook feed to find interesting content (HubSpot).


These have provided evidences that (1) companies that use content marketing have better results; (2) lead generation is the most important content marketing goal; (3) visual aspect boosts the performance of content; (4)video and visual content will gain even more importance; (5) email and social networks are the most important channels for content distribution; (6) longer posts usually perform better; (7) producing engaging content and (8) producing content consistently are some of the most common challenges for marketers. Yet, these are the top priorities for most
marketers because this is the road that brings success with content marketing strategy and digital marketing at a broader sense.

If you would like to know why I am so in love with content marketing, the answer is so simple: I am a teacher. Hence, I really love to teach in any way I can through any means. That’s why, of all disciplines of digital marketing, content marketing is my favorite! It’s usually organic — but it’s the most powerful!

Lastly, let me say just this:

Content marketing is the only marketing that matters most in this generation. Why? Godin (2015) says, “content marketing is the only marketing left”. I will leave that to you and thank me later! Content marketing will stay. Content will make you infinite in the digital space.

TL;DR (The bottom line):

Content marketing is a growing trend anyone who’s inclined into business and freelancing should learn. In essence, content marketing delivers valuable material that will primarily drive awareness to an audience. In fact, businesses have experienced significant improvement in their venture with the help of content marketing. Content marketing is therefore a success indicator in business. 

Editor’s note:

This post was originally published on February 6, 2021 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Test yourself!

Why does your business need content marketing?

3 reasons why your business needs content marketing

Companies have to acknowledge the importance of providing valuable content to customers that are easy to consume and enjoyable. In this article, I will present to you 3 reasons why content marketing is necessary.

As I was starting to learn about digital marketing, I had been researching on platforms that can help me in my marketing journey. I happened to bump into some great blogs from HubSpot. As time goes by, I am beginning to consider using its platforms. That’s it. I give up. They got me. That’s the power of content marketing.

In brief, there are 3 reasons why your business needs content marketing:

  1. You can get attention through content marketing.
  2. You can generate, engage, and nurture leads.
  3. You can retain customer loyalty and promote customer evangelism.
  • You can get attention through content marketing.

It’s a common thing among marketers to desperately seek for their prospects’ attention — and, as time flies, competition for attention has been so tough. Unlike the old age, it was a piece of cake. All we had to do was just send materials and then call.

That was then. It isn’t anymore true these days. This is because we can now connect with prospects virtually. The more we produce content, the higher the chance we have in getting discovered by our target market.

Take a look at this example:

If you are to search on Google “digital marketer in Davao“, you can find my website on top.

 Say, there’s a business owner planning to hire a digital marketer for his or her business locally (in Davao as for my case), there is a tendency that I get picked or recommended by a friend — especially if she or he knows me. If not, that somebody owes me something cognitively as I have shared something really helpful about the importance of investing in online marketing.

  • You can generate, engage, and nurture leads.

In whichever form of your content, the secret to generating leads is by including any lead magnet. This may come in the form of giving away FREE cheat sheet in exchange of your audience’ contact details. Technically, we call this gated offer — also referred to as “ethical bribe”. It’s a win-win situation because while they get something valuable from you, you get the chance to reach out to them — considering that you have been given something in return.

As a fine example, you will sure consider this. Just so you know, I blog often. And, for you to get updated by receiving my latest feeds, why don’t you gimme your details below, huh? Just kidding — although I’m begging. (lol)

  • You can retain customer loyalty and promote evangelism.

As a business owner, please bear in mind that after-sales support is so crucial in maintaining your customer trust and loyalty. This implies that you need to continually provide your customers with content so that your business will always ring a bell in their memories. 

Some good ideas are asking for a feedback after the sales, creating a community for loyal customers, eliciting customer stories  — and the like.

BONUS: You can get the opportunity to cross-sell and upsell.

Just like what I’m about to offer to you  — well, hey! I have a regular class for CRM, landing pages and funnels.

If you’re interested, you may click the following links below to get listed:

LANDING PAGE & SALES FUNNEL CLASS
CRM BOOTCAMP

If you just wanna focus on your business, it would be good if you are going to hire a certified content marketer in Davao just like me. If you think I’m a good fit, you may ring me up at +639760030342 or e-mail me at [email protected] .

3 types of content you should consider in your content marketing

Lord Vincent Van Mendoza > Blog > Content Marketing

What are the 3 types of content?

Most business owners do not pay much attention to driving content for their brands — which is supposed to be the very heart of marketing.

Seth Godin puts it, “Content marketing is the only marketing left”. I highly agree with this because this is one of the best ways to establish your edge among your competitions.

The three (3) types of content according to style are:

  1. Original content
  2. Curated content
  3. Repurposed content

Original content

Original content is what sets the bar higher for your brand. This is your authority. This speaks of your unique branding position in the market. Content is in fact what delivers your value to your customers. This content carries the power to cater to your customers’ needs.

It includes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — these are questions which you think your customers will most likely ask. While it is named as questions, it would be good if you could provide answers for them.

Another kind of original content is the “Should ask” questions. This isn’t really common. This encourages your audience to think about this before they spend money as a solution to their problem. Make sure that the answers will lead you to become your audience’s choice.

Curated content

Another type of content is curated content. Simply put, content curation is delivering what’s already there. And, you are the host. Just like in a show! Yeah, seriously, that’s how it plays.

What do you need for that? Your own introduction. Yep, so that you have your own tone. You also need the copy of the content from your source. Don’t take too much from it. You don’t wanna bore your readers, do you? After that, don’t forget to cite the source of your content. Then, wrap it up. Plus, include some pictures that go well with your copy. And, of course, don’t forget the title!

There is but one simple way to do content curation — sharing. Yeah, I’m freaking serious. Do not limit your marketing to yourself. Try to share another brand’s work. That’s social content curation. Just like this: when you share this blog, it’s social content curation! Congrats!

Repurposed content

From the word itself, repurposing means spreading others’ ideas in different formats while updating past knowledge if there is a need to do so. This could also mean your original content — in a different form (from a blog to an infographic, poster with a how-to steps into a vlog, etc.).

As an example, I wrote a blog on decoy effect in marketing psychology. After sometime, I made an infographic image encapsulating its content. Soon, I will make a podcast out of this piece. That’s how you do content repurposing.

How is that even possible? You can repurpose a blog into an infographic. Or vice versa. You can even repurpose a video tutorial into pictures with step-by-step guides.

Never underestimate content marketing as this is the bridge between your business and your customers. If you need a content marketing strategist for your brand, give me a call at +639760030342 .

What kind of content should you push for each part of the marketing funnel?

Kinds of Content to Publish in each Level of the Marketing Funnel

Ever wonder what type of content you should publish for each level of the marketing funnel? Here’s a guide on which kind of content you should craft and produce for your brand.

1) Content for the Top-of-the-Funnel (TOFU) Marketing

For Top-of-the-Funnel (TOFU) marketing, your goal is to spread brand awareness about products and/or services to generate leads that will hopefully, eventually, become customers and even brand ambassadors.

At this stage, you can use the following types of content:

  • blogs
  • social media updates
  • infographics
  • digital magazines
  • books
  • audio podcast
  • video/ video podcasts
  • microsite
  • print magazine
  • newsletters
  • primary research

Blogs

Nowadays, blogging has become a commonly consumed content on the internet. It has become mainstream since the early 2000s. People read blog posts every day. According to  Hosting Tribunal, these are the figures that they’ve got:

  • More than a third of all websites are blogs.
  • Tumblr hosts the vast majority of blogs with 516 million.
  • WordPress, for all its fame and widespread adoption, is a distant second with 60 million.
  • More than 2 million posts go live every day, on average.
  • Despite this opulence, the people who profit from blogging are few – less than 10% of all bloggers generate some income.

Social Media Updates

Updating daily content on your social media pages is a way to constantly engage with your audience. I wanna share with you this daily content idea you may wish to apply in your social media marketing initiative. You may have #MotivationalMonday, #TriviaTuesday, #WonderfulWednesday, #ThrillingThursday, #FunFriday, #SavvySaturday, and #SpiritualSunday. You can be very creative in your own ways. You may want to consider this guide on what should you post on different social media platforms.

Infographics

Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. Elearningindustry.com explains that infographics have the power to make broad or complex ideas more distilled and simplified. Rather than sifting through large amounts of information, you can get all of the data, stats, and highlights you need in one colorful, creative, and engaging infographic.

2) Content for the Middle-of-the-Funnel (MOFU) Marketing

According to UplandSoftware.com, Middle-of-the-funnel content refers to assets that reach leads who are already in your database, engaging with your brand. Marketers publish and distribute content at this stage to align a buyer’s needs to relevant products or features, gauge a prospect’s readiness to buy, and move the right people closer to purchase.

At this stage, you can use the following kinds of content:

3) Content for the Bottom-of-the-Funnel (BOFU) Marketing

At the Bottom-of-the-Funnel (BOFU) content, on the other hand, we talk about assets that help persuade a prospect to purchase from your company. This content is often used by the sales team. Generally, these materials highlight products and/or services more directly, versus high-level content used to build trust (UplandSoftare, n.d.).


At this stage, you can use the following kinds of content:

  • demo/free trial
  • customer story
  • comparison
  • spec sheet
  • webinar/event
  • mini class

From top to bottom, be sure to produce the right kind of content so that you will not only get customers — but also brand ambassadors.

FREE Blogging platforms you should try in 2021

Lord Vincent Van Mendoza > Blog > Content Marketing

Start blogging this 2021 by using blogging platforms where you can monetize your blogs! Plus, you can connect your custom domain!

You read it right. You don’t have to spend a penny. These are absolutely FREE blogging platforms that let you connect your branded domain.

I have shortlisted 3 best blogging platforms any aspiring bloggers should give a try this 2021!

1. Blogger

Blogger is undoubtedly the most common blogging platform for writers. Publishing has been made so easy with Blogger.

As easy as 1, 2, 3, you can publish your blog in just a minute! You can choose your own font style and font size. You can also add pictures or videos that go along with you write-up. Connecting your own domain is what I like most about Blogger.


Check out my Blogger sample here!

2. Medium

As per experience, I’d say that Medium gets you on top on searches. I have been using medium for a couple of months already — and I can say that for a certain keyword, my blogs get the most attention on search engines.

Medium gives you the ease of writing blogs. Not only is it so user-friendly as it also lets you embed contents from other platforms. Medium evens gives you a more customized sharing experience. You may change the social preview image and you get the most of its SEO tools. Believe me. Most blogs published on Medium are highly indexed by Google.

Check out my Medium sample here!

3. Hashnode

If you are a developer, Hashnode is everything you need to start blogging. It allows you to connect your custom domain by just adding an A or CNAME record in your DNS.

You need to have your own domain ready so that you get the best experience with Hashnode. Another feature that I like with this platform is that you could import your blogs from Medium by simply using the link of your Medium blog.

Check my Hashnode sample here!

I wish you well in your blogging journey! Tell me what you can say about these platforms in the comment section.

Editor’s note:

This post was originally published on January 1, 2021 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Person Holding Turned-on Silver Laptop Computer

Headline Formula for Your Blogs

Lord Vincent Van Mendoza > Blog > Content Marketing

Formula in writing a blog post title

This is probably what most bloggers ignore. A post title or headline is the element that first entices your audience to get through your article. This is your chance to persuade them to give their time to read your blog.

You can achieve this by following a formula. There are quite a number of formula out there — but Desiss and Henneberry’s is I think the best for every blogger.

Tap into your audience’ self-interest.

The question to ask for this formula is, “What is this for me?”. In as much as you can, be direct and speak about the specific benefit they can get out of your blog.

Here are some examples you should check:

11 Steps to Create a Content Marketing Strategy to Grow Your Business

12 Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing Strategy in the Next 60 Days

The best 10 Wedding Planners in Davao City

Pique curiosity.

This can be achieved by not giving too much information. When you write your headline by not giving everything that your blog can give, this leads to a higher number of clicks. This makes it so hard for readers to resist reading the blog post. Just do not fall into the temptation of misleading your reader. You should be able to serve the purpose of your headline. It shouldn’t promote false marketing.

Here are some examples you should check:

25 Things You Didn’t Know Your iPhone Could Do

Is Raw Milk Safe To Drink? The Facts About Raw Milk

Questions To Ask Each Other Before The Wedding

Employ urgency and scarcity.

This is the formula that gets results fast! So, you have consider this NOW! Don’t think much. You only have a second to employ this strategy. Yeah, seriously. Do not miss this! 

Here are some examples you should check:

TODAY: Last chance for Open Enrollment in Nevada Health Link insurance programs

Limited Time Offer: How To Write a Discount Offer For Limited Time Only

Avail Now – Fits 5! Family Room with a View

Issue a WARNING!

If it’s anything that can cause pain to your audience, they are more likely to take an action. This appears to them to that you can protect them from any harm if they would follow your lead.



Here are some examples you should check:

5 Lies Social Media Influencers Tell You (And What to Do Instead)

7 Warning Signs Your Content Marketing Sucks

5 situations that can damage your brand—and how to respond

Borrow authority.

Social authority is what makes us look up to whenever we are to make a decision. You can borrow from the words of famous personalities in your field or business niche to do this best.

Here are some examples you should check:

Why Neil Patel Pays $30,000 for Content & Gives it Away For Free (& MUCH More)

The Top Three Things I Learned From Russell Brunson

Small is the new big according to Seth Godin

Reveal the new.

Strive to keep your audience informed about new developments on what you write about. Believe that latest information matters to your followers.
Keep your articles fresh. If you need to update old posts, do it so.

Here are some examples you should check:


Newly Discovered Planet May Be First Truly Habitable Exoplanet

8 Modern Tips for Marketing to Millennials

3 Strategies for Adapting Your Business to the New Normal

Remember: Frequently use this formula if you want to drive content that generates better results for your marketing.

Reference:

Deiss. Digital Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)). 2nd ed., For Dummies, 2020.