How to Leverage Content Marketing, According to a Content Marketer

Content Marketing: The Ultimate Guide

Laura is a freelance writer specializing in small business, ecommerce and lifestyle content. As a small business owner, she is passionate about supporting other entrepreneurs and sharing information that will help them thrive. Her work has been featu.

Laura Hennigan Contributor

Laura is a freelance writer specializing in small business, ecommerce and lifestyle content. As a small business owner, she is passionate about supporting other entrepreneurs and sharing information that will help them thrive. Her work has been featu.

Written By
Laura Hennigan Contributor

Laura is a freelance writer specializing in small business, ecommerce and lifestyle content. As a small business owner, she is passionate about supporting other entrepreneurs and sharing information that will help them thrive. Her work has been featu.

Laura Hennigan Contributor

Laura is a freelance writer specializing in small business, ecommerce and lifestyle content. As a small business owner, she is passionate about supporting other entrepreneurs and sharing information that will help them thrive. Her work has been featu.

Contributor
Reviewed by
Kiran Aditham Former Staff Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK. Kiran is a former deputy editor at Forbes Advisor

Reviewed by
Kiran Aditham Former Staff Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK. Kiran is a former deputy editor at Forbes Advisor

Reviewed by
Kiran Aditham Former Staff Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK. Kiran is a former deputy editor at Forbes Advisor

Reviewed by
Kiran Aditham Former Staff Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK. Kiran is a former deputy editor at Forbes Advisor

Former Staff Editor

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors’ opinions or evaluations.

Table of Contents

• What Is Content Marketing?
• Why Is Content Marketing Important?
• What Is a Content Marketing Strategy?
• What Are the Benefits of Content Marketing?
• 6 Content Marketing Examples
• How Much Does Content Marketing Cost?
• Bottom Line
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Imagine this: you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed when an ad pops about a great sale your favorite outdoor retailer is having, complete with a picture of that kayak you had been eyeing that’s now 30% off. Content marketing is why you saw this ad, took the time to pause and absorb what it was saying, and are now making plans to buy a new kayak. In this article, Forbes Adviso breaks down what exactly content marketing is, why it works and the best ways to implement it in your business.

Content marketing is a strategy that utilizes a wide variety of channels, including social media, websites, videos, infographics, podcasts and blogs, to attract potential customers. By creating, publishing and sharing relevant content, companies are building their brand, establishing trust, increasing engagement and ultimately influencing more people to buy their products and services.

With an influx of options everywhere we turn, establishing and nurturing a strong, sustainable relationship with customers is more important than ever. Buyers need to feel not only satisfied, but also truly cared for, in order to stay loyal to a business. In addition to supporting this customer relationship, content marketing also helps make it easier for your customers to become champions of your brand and assist in boosting awareness.

Why Is Content Marketing Important?

Content marketing is important because it has the power to make your business stand out from the competition. Say you searched for “camping chairs” and saw the hundreds of results that pop up. How will you decide what links to click on first and, eventually, which to purchase from? Company A has an outdated website, low-quality graphics, no social media presence and minimal product descriptions. Company B, on the other hand, has a fast-loading website with top-quality photos, ample product information, easy-to-find reviews and an active Instagram account that advertises periodic promotions. There’s no competition: Company B is going to almost instantly establish trust, start conversations and convert more browsers into buyers.

By using content marketing as a cornerstone, businesses can create a long-term strategy to build a larger, more loyal customer base. Through producing and distributing relevant, curated content, you are offering information, transparency and reliability to repeat customers, along with people who may not be familiar with your brand.

What Is a Content Marketing Strategy?

The best way to stand out is to identify your potential customers’ needs, create valuable content that addresses those needs and distribute that content to the exact platforms that your target audience frequents. In order to be effective, your content marketing strategy must address all three of those pieces, otherwise it will fall flat.

Content marketing strategies will vary widely depending on your industry, audience and goals—there is no one-size-fits-all approach to it.

Steps to Creating a Content Marketing Strategy

The most effective content marketing strategies are made up of four pillars: customer, cost, convenience and communication. Working together, these pillars help you to set goals, understand your audience, determine the best types of content to use and measure success. Here are the steps to creating a content marketing strategy:

1. Plan: Start by developing a content marketing plan that establishes your mission and sets specific, measurable goals.
2. Research: Next, you need to identify your target audience and research the best ways to communicate with them by using the forms of content marketing they prefer to interact with.
3. Audit: Take a look at your current content and see if it’s meeting the goals you set in the planning phase. If it’s not, improve upon or replace the parts that aren’t working.
4. Manage: This is the time to start using a customer relationship management (CRM) platform in order to collect leads, manage information and automate personalized marketing campaigns.
5. Create: Create high-quality content in the forms that your research showed will be most effective in reaching your target audience.
6. Engage: Convert your audience into customers or leads through interactive engagement with your content.
7. Analyze: Analyze your results and, when necessary, adjust your content marketing strategy accordingly.

What Are the Benefits of Content Marketing?

There are numerous benefits to content marketing, many of which are long-term advantages that will continue to increase in value over time. While there is a fair amount of upfront research, investment and implementation required, content marketing ultimately holds the possibility of reaching new audiences and building strong customer relationships. Some of the benefits of content marketing include:

Boosts Audience Retention

The most effective content marketing always starts with providing engaging, memorable experiences for an audience. What medium is used will depend on who you are trying to reach, but will likely include a few different forms of content in order to maximize both attention and retention.

Lands Higher Conversion Rates

Once you have the attention of your target audience, it’s time to convert all those leads. Content marketing is one of the most effective tools available to guide potential customers through the buyer’s journey and finalize purchases.

Increases Brand Awareness

The beauty of content marketing is that it’s an accessible strategy that any business, no matter how large or small, can implement. Using it to increase brand awareness can take many shapes, but one of the most rapid techniques is developing a strong social media presence. By examining social media statistics and trends , you can determine which platforms are the best fit for your brand.

Establishes Your Authority

Customers want to buy from a brand that knows what the heck it is doing, even if that means spending a little more. A highly effective content marketing methodology makes it clear that your business is the authority for a certain product or service, and that you have the data, reviews and online presence to back that claim up.

Creates Customer Loyalty

When your content marketing is so good that you have established a loyal customer base, the benefits won’t stop there. All those devoted buyers have family and friends who need brand recommendations from someone with a positive first-person experience. This means far-reaching perks for you, with no extra work needed.

6 Content Marketing Examples

There’s no shortage of forms of content marketing to choose from, so the sky is truly the limit in the different ways you can share your messaging with the world. It’s definitely best to take an educated approach, however, since certain types of content work best for particular audiences or industries. Knowing who you are targeting and how those people prefer to receive information can help you determine the right methods to use.
Some of the best forms of content marketing right now are:

Blogs

Blog articles can be incredibly helpful in answering questions related to a topic or product, particularly when they have been written with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. It costs very little to add a blog to an existing website and is an excellent place to share views from experts, reflect on your brand values or house an FAQ section. Once written, blog posts can be used over and over to create new content, such as infographics and videos.

Infographics

Many audiences enjoy obtaining information and learning more through bright, eye-catching infographics. This type of content is designed not only to be absorbed as-is, but also broken down into smaller snippets that are easier to digest. Infographics are a great way to dispense complex information, and make it simple to share that information with others.

Videos

Video is so versatile because there aren’t many rules when you choose to use this type of content marketing. Videos can be short or long, have speaking or music, go live or be prerecorded—the choices are totally up to you. Some audiences may want quick how-to hacks on TikTok, while others prefer longer instructional videos on YouTube. The secret to successful videos is to make them accessible to everyone.

White Papers

If your business is looking to share high-level data or research, white papers are solid content marketing options. White papers are ideal for providing details in the form of graphs and charts, as this content marketing angle seeks to share as much information as possible in a persuasive way. This marketing method can serve as a great lead generation tool, as users typically must sign up with an email address in order to access the content.

User-generated Content

These days anyone with a smartphone can be a brand ambassador or influencer. Many customers enjoy consuming content created by other people whom they view as “real,” as opposed to picture-perfect marketing put out by companies with unlimited budgets. User-generated content has the potential to reach audiences who may have no interest in reading a blog article or deciphering an infographic, but can absolutely be persuaded to buy a product that is trending on social media.

Reviews and Testimonials

Along the same lines of user-generated content, customers are also influenced by others’ reviews of products and services, making positive testimonials a powerful content marketing tool. They can help sway potential buyers into actual ones by addressing concerns, confirming or disproving assumptions and providing real-life examples of performance.

Podcasts

Some people prefer to listen to their content, instead of reading or watching it. Podcasts have opened a new avenue to content marketing, helping to increase brand awareness by reaching an audience through authentic conversations. From expert interviews to offering unique engagement opportunities, podcasts make it easy for brands to share information and establish authority.

How to Leverage Content Marketing, According to a Content Marketer

Discover how to create a successful content marketing strategy to help you reach your audience and boost conversions.

Written by: Kristen Baker

FREE EDITORIAL CALENDAR TEMPLATE

Plan and optimize your marketing content with these free calendar templates.

Chapters

1. What is content marketing?
2. Content Marketing Statistics
3. Types of Content Marketing
4. Content Marketing and SEO
5. Content Marketing and Social Media
6. How does content marketing work?
7. Content Marketing Strategy
8. Content Marketing Examples
9. Traits of Effective Content Marketing
10. Best Content Marketing Resources
11. Best Content Marketers to Follow on LinkedIn and X

What is content marketing?

The definition of content marketing is simple.

Content marketing is the publishing of written and visual material online with the purpose of attracting more leads to your business.

These materials can include blog posts, ebooks, infographics, videos, web pages, and more.

However, content marketing is not the publishing of a thin piece of content that offers little value. The focus is on making valuable materials your audience can discover themselves while they browse.

Today, outbound marketing strategies (marketing tactics that interrupt your audience) aren’t as effective at resonating with and converting audiences. This is where inbound, the opposite of outbound, shines.

A common way of using inbound is by creating a narrative for your content — or telling a story. In doing so, your content will feel more authentic, engaging, and tailored to your audience.

So, what defines content marketing anyway?

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the planning, creating, distributing, sharing, and publishing of content via channels such as social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, apps, press releases, print publications, and more. The goal is to reach your target audience and increase brand awareness, sales, engagement, and loyalty.

Why is content marketing important?

Let’s explore some reasons companies do this.

Content Marketing Planning Templates

Plan your content strategically with these handy templates.

• Editorial Calendar Template
• Buyer Persona Templates
• SWOT Analysis Templates
• SMART Goal Template

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Content Marketing and Social Media

Beyond SEO, social media is another channel brands use to distribute their content. Data from our 2024 State of Marketing Report shows:

• Social media shopping tools (e.g., Instagram Shops) drive 16% ROI.
• 14% of marketers want to sell directly on social media.
• Facebook (29%), Instagram (29%), YouTube (26%), and TikTok (24%) have the strongest ROI.

Like blogging, social media is easy to set up. Unfortunately, many brands go about it the wrong way.

Here are a few tips to help you nail your social media marketing game.

Don’t use social media for overt product promotion only.

Smart marketers use social media to interact with their audience. They also use it to build an online community around their brand.

Whatever your goal is, remember to stick to the basics of content marketing. Prioritize helpful educational content over intrusive promotional content.

Focus on a few high-impact channels.

From text-based platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook to video-based platforms like YouTube and TikTok, there are over a dozen social media platforms in the market.

And it’s tempting to focus on all of them. But this approach will prove ineffective unless you have a huge budget and team.

Alternatively, research the social media platforms that your target audience uses frequently. Then, focus on about three of them.

Infuse humor and personality.

Audiences crave funny content.

According to our State of Consumer Trends Report, it’s the number one type of content they want the most from the brands they patronize.

It’s difficult to inject humor into long-form articles while maintaining professionalism. However, it’s easier to achieve this on social media. Here’s an example from our social media team:

Next, let’s talk about how content marketing works and look at some content marketing examples.

How does content marketing work?

Content marketers attract an audience with compelling stories and by sharing valuable information. They also use content channels to build community.

So, content marketing for business isn’t just a technique or strategy but a unique form of communication. With that in mind, people have different needs at different stages in the buying process.

To make sure your content meets a need at every stage, you’ll want to think about your conversion funnel.

Top of the Funnel (TOFU)

The top of the funnel is to build awareness with your content.

At this stage, your target audience might know they have a problem, but they aren’t sure how to solve it. As such, you can focus on broad pain points and common questions.

TOFU content should pull potential customers in to help them better understand a specific problem. This gives you a relevant opportunity to introduce them to your solution.

Common challenges for TOFU content include competition, balancing educational and promotional content, and tracking ROI.

To address these issues, create a content strategy that grabs the attention of a specific audience. Your strategy will also help you create a plan that aligns content topics and formats with business goals.

Then, create a list of KPIs to track your content performance.

Useful content types at the top of the funnel include:

• Blog posts.
• Social media posts.
• Short-form video.
• Podcasts.
• Infographics.
• Checklists.
• Ebooks.
• Webinars.
• Video ads.

Middle of the Funnel (MOFU)

Once a prospect passes to the middle of the funnel, they’re considering your product. They may have visited your site more than once, or they’re engaging with your social media accounts. They might have signed up for your email newsletter.

MOFU content should build a relationship with that person. At this point, they understand their problem and are comparing possible solutions.

So, your content should educate them on the specifics of your solution and show how it meets their unique needs.

This is also an important moment to build trust. A prospect might not be ready to buy, so pay attention to changes in user behavior.

It can be tempting to make assumptions or go for a quick conversion, but that can damage the relationship. Instead, offer in-depth information and value to nurture your lead.

Great middle-of-funnel content types include:

• Email newsletters.
• Product demos.
• Landing pages.
• White papers.
• Case studies.
• Longer-form videos.
• Blog posts.
• Interactive content.
• Webinars.

You may have heard that social media is just top-of-funnel content.

However, more users are making purchases on social media, and it’s also a popular channel for customer service and support.

So, be sure to create MOFU social posts and let prospects know you’re ready to help them on this channel.

Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU)

Bottom-of-funnel content helps your prospect decide and, ideally, convert.

This stage focuses on conversion. BOFU content should make it easy to test a product, understand pricing, and make a purchase.

Content that converts should drive action and create a sense of urgency. Prepare to respond to common objections and other blockers that can impact sales with your content.

Personalization can add to the impact of your content at this stage. Creating powerful CTAs is also important.

Bottom-of-funnel content types include:

• Personalized emails.
• User-generated content, like customer testimonials.
• Case studies.
• Pricing pages.
• Competitor comparison blog posts.
• Video demos.
• White papers.
• Remarketing campaigns.

Now, let’s cover your content marketing strategy.

Implementing your strategy makes your content marketing efforts impactful. The result? You reach your target audience, convert leads, and generate sales.

Content Marketing Strategy (How to Get Started with Content Marketing)

1. Find your target audience.
2. Set SMART goals.
3. Determine your KPIs.
4. Decide on the type of content and content formats.
5. Choose your content channels.
6. Set a budget.
7. Create a content publishing schedule.
8. Create and distribute the content.
9. Analyze and measure results.

Let’s dive into the steps you’ll want to work through in order to develop an effective content strategy.

1. Find your target audience.

Creating content for a broad audience sounds like a good idea. But it’s hard to stand out with content that appeals to everyone.

Instead, focus on a niche of people with specific interests and needs. This can help you build a community with your content. To get started, look at your buyer personas.

Then, answer the following questions about your target audience to help you narrow down the right content for them:

• What do they need from you?
• What challenges are they looking to overcome?
• Why do they need your product or service?
• How can you help them succeed?
• Where do they spend their time?

Content Marketing Planning Templates

Plan your content strategically with these handy templates.

• Editorial Calendar Template
• Buyer Persona Templates
• SWOT Analysis Templates
• SMART Goal Template

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/content-marketing/

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-marketing