What Is Content Marketing? Definition, Strategy, Types, and Examples

Content marketing is not an entirely new invention and also exists offline. But above all, the Internet, with its many possibilities and necessities to attract attention, has promoted this marketing tool. Find out its characteristics and goals, the forms it takes, and how to create a content marketing strategy.

What Is Content Marketing?

What is content marketing actually about? Before you read on and explore more about the subject, the following four questions give you an overview of the most important facts:

• What is content marketing?

Companies draw attention to themselves by regularly creating and distributing high-quality content with added value for users.

• What are the goals of content marketing?

Companies want to win and retain customers, present their expertise, and increase awareness of their brand.

• What are the main types of content?

The most popular types of content are advice or blog articles, videos, infographics, and online tools.

• What Is the Difference Between Advertising and Content Marketing? 

In advertising, the focus is on presenting the product or the brand; in content marketing, the benefit of the respective content for interested parties has priority.

There are good reasons why content marketing has become an essential tool in inbound marketing. Learn more about its advantages and the differences to classic advertising in the next section.

Why Is Content Marketing Important?

Good content marketing is time-consuming. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile because it complements traditional marketing methods and reaches potential customers in different ways. It is suitable for both B2C and B2B areas.

Content Marketing vs. Advertising

In contrast to advertising, content marketing is not primarily about presenting one’s products or services. Instead, high-quality information should help to solve the information needs and problems of customers and interested parties.

The content provided for free can have different formats and appeal to different senses. It’s either about providing helpful information to potential customers or entertaining them.

The content also relates to the company’s offers. However, these are not the focus. The essential requirement of the content is that it benefits the customer.

Benefits of Content Marketing

Content marketing is part of a company’s overall marketing strategy. It is not intended to replace traditional advertising but to complement it. Because it offers the following advantages:

• Helpful content is not identified as advertising by interested parties and is therefore perceived more consciously.
• Content marketing already speaks to people before they even develop the need for a particular product and when there is already an interest in buying.
• Interested parties perceive the benefits gained from the content as positive and transfer this image to the brand.
• High-quality content is also the prerequisite for search engine optimization of your website and social media marketing.

These advantages apply to both private consumers and business customers. However, the focus is somewhat different in both areas.

Content Marketing for B2C and B2B

When looking for the machines, materials, or other B2B products and services they need, buyers get very detailed information. This is why content marketing is also worthwhile in the B2B area.

However, for potential business customers, in contrast to B2C marketing, the focus is less on the entertaining aspect but more on information related to the product or the industry. This applies all the more the more complex and in need of explanation they are. Typical formats are, therefore, white papers, webinars, and case studies.

What Are the Goals of Content Marketing?

Content marketing has a short-term but also a long-term effect. Get to know the main goals and find out what exactly is involved in acquiring new customers.

The Main Goals

As with all other forms of marketing, content marketing focuses on particular goals. These are mainly the following four aspects:

• Increase in brand awareness:

The presence of the target group in everyday life, both online and offline, is a prerequisite for the perception and growth of the brand. Content marketing works particularly well in combination with SEO and social media marketing.

• Positioning as an expert:

By publishing high-quality content, a company publicly presents its expertise. That creates trust.

• Acquisition of new customers:

If you are looking for specific content, you will eventually be interested in related products. Content marketing can control this effect in a targeted manner.

• Customer loyalty:

If a company regularly publishes valuable content, it remains in its customers’ minds. These customers will also buy there in the future.

Building the brand, trust, and loyalty is more of a long-term affair. The next section describes the acquisition of new customers, which should also work in the short term.

Customer Acquisition Through Content Marketing

The acquisition of new customers through content marketing is an inbound marketing approach because potential customers find the company on their own and are not addressed directly. The following specific goals can be the focus:

• Sales:

Anyone interested in a specific topic and perhaps already intends to buy can usually find out more online. If he finds good content from a company this way and can then click through to the associated online shop, the probability of a purchase is high.

• Lead generation:

This method works in a similar way to selling through content marketing. The only thing here is collecting contact details, for example, by signing up for a newsletter. Lead generation is the focus, especially for products and services that require explanation.

• Cookie marking for remarketing:

Many websites set cookies for their visitors so that they can see appropriate advertising elsewhere. When a user visits a page with content that is of interest to him, he will later see advertisements for the company that published the content on other pages.

Content marketing can be designed in very different ways. Find out more about the possible channels and formats below.

Content Marketing Types and Channels

On the one hand, content comes in various forms; on the other hand, it can also be distributed differently. Individual variants are suitable depending on the target group and the specific purpose that content marketing is supposed to fulfill.

Content Marketing Channels

You certainly associate content marketing with online content. But there are also offline channels. These include print publications such as customer magazines or information material. Even events such as lectures or seminars can be counted among them, as content is conveyed there.

However, content marketing is much more significant in the online space. There are also several ways of publishing this, e.g.:

• Content on the company website, e.g., in the category information center, lexicon, customer reports
• A blog with regular helpful or entertaining posts 
• Guest articles on other sites
• Social media
• Newsletter

In the next section, you will learn about the different forms that informative or entertaining content can take.

Types of Content

Content can have different characteristics. This is why it is often beneficial to combine several types of content. The choice is vast, as the following examples show:

• Advice articles:

Advice articles are primarily published as blog articles. In addition to quality, regularity and keyword optimization are also important here, as they are key SEO factors.

• Stories:

In contrast to guides, these are primarily entertaining in character but are published similarly. People love stories, which is why good storytelling is often very successful.

• Whitepapers:

Whitepapers are more extensive summaries of information about specific products or solutions, especially in the technical and IT areas. They are mostly offered for download.

• Videos:

Videos appeal to multiple senses and are very popular with many users. Explanatory but also entertaining videos are suitable for content marketing. Tutorials are an excellent example of this.

• Podcasts:

Podcasts are convenient to listen to, e.g., during sports or on the way to work. They are therefore popular and can, for example, contain thematic information or interviews.

• Infographics:

With infographics, many facts can be presented very clearly. They are often part of specialist articles.

• Case studies:

These show, for example, how a company’s product helped solve a problem. The content form is also widespread in the B2B area.

• E-books:

Downloading a free e-book is an excellent way to generate leads. The topic should fit the company but still be of general interest.

• Online tools:

Whether as a comparison calculator or product configurator, useful tools help customers make their decisions.

• Webinars:

In addition to conveying information, webinars offer the opportunity to exchange ideas. They are also common in the B2B sector.

• User-Generated Content:

This is content that is created by users, e.g., as experience reports or photos. This content is considered particularly authentic.

• Games:

Small games are popular with users. They are motivated to deal with the brand actively.

The selection of suitable content forms also depends on the respective goals and is part of the strategy for content marketing.

Content Marketing Strategy: Step-by-Step

Successful content marketing cannot be done on the side but requires a good strategy. This includes the following steps:

Goal Definition

What do you mainly want to achieve with content marketing? Is the focus on direct sales promotion, or is it more about long-term goals such as branding or customer loyalty?

Target Group Definition

Define properties of your target group, e.g., age, interests, and purchasing power. Your entire content strategy should be based on the needs of your target group. 

Choosing the Type of Content

Think about which types of content will best reach your target group. For example, a company that sells fabrics and sewing materials can publish simple patterns, instructions, and video tutorials.

Finding Topics 

Topics your content covers must be helpful for your target audience. The focus could be on providing advice, solving problems, offering inspiration, or entertaining the audience. 

Keyword Research

Keyword research not only provides you with suggestions for topics. It is essential for search engine optimization so that your content can be found.

Content Planning

Your content marketing needs a coherent overall concept. Especially for long-term goals, regularity is also essential. You should therefore plan your content and publications in advance.

Content Creation

Would you like to do the writing yourself, or would you prefer to commission it? Also, plan the costs for it.

Publishing

You may need to set up channels first, e.g., a particular category on your website or a social media profile. Then you can publish the content regularly.

Content Seeding

Spread your content on as many channels as possible; if you have, for example, published an advisory article on your website, share it on your social networks and include the link in the newsletter.

Monitoring

Check the success of your content marketing using relevant metrics such as sales, leads, or page views. Change your measures if you do not see success.

The most important thing in content marketing is the quality of the content. The following section explains what is essential for success.

7 Tips for Creating Quality Content

High-quality content is the most critical success factor for content marketing. You can only achieve the desired effects if you can inspire your users. Pay attention to the following requirements:

• Create unique content:

Do not copy anything from other sites. Even when you cover the same topic, you can include other aspects or consider it from different perspectives.

• Offer high added value:

The content must be helpful to your customers. It should either provide information or entertain them. 

• Focus on customer benefit:

The presentation of your offers should be secondary. It is primarily about what the customer is looking for, e.g., the solution to a specific problem.

• Focus on the target group:

Base your approach on the content formats, style, and tone that your target group prefers. Seniors should, for example, be addressed differently than young adults.

• Combine different types of content:

Above all, add images, infographics, and videos to text content. This offers variety, appeals to several senses, and increases intelligibility.

• Note suitability for mobile devices:

More and more Internet users access content with smartphones or tablets. Ensure that the site works properly and that, for example, an infographic remains easily recognizable on the smartphone.

• Implement corporate communication:

Your corporate communication should convey a uniform image, especially in address and style. Avoid, for example, addressing your readers with “you” in blog posts but with “you” in videos.

In addition to these tips, SEO aspects are also important because your users should find the content via Google or other search engines.

Content Marketing and SEO

Content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) are mutually dependent. On the one hand, a good position on the search results pages is crucial for people to find your content. On the other hand, regularly published and, above all, high-quality content is an important factor for a good ranking.

SEO involves several measures. One of the most important measures for content creation is keyword research. This enables you to analyze the search terms that interested parties use to find your offers and how much the competition is already using them.

It has proven beneficial to optimize a page for a good keyword or keyword combination in order to achieve a good ranking. You can analyze which one you choose best for your site with tools such as the Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest. This enables you to see how high the search volume of individual search terms is and to what extent the keywords are already being used. This increases your chances of achieving a good position on the search results page.

Even more complex is a WDF*IDF analysis, which also takes the context of the keywords into account and suggests additional terms that should appear in the text. 

Content Seeding: How to Distribute and Share Content

You have already achieved a lot with high-quality content and a good ranking. Nevertheless, you should also actively share your content. This is important because not every user finds the articles on your website via Google. Social media and newsletters have proven their worth in particular for sharing.

A higher reach also increases the likelihood of receiving backlinks, i.e., that other pages link to your posts. This is not only a critical SEO factor; it also strengthens your brand in the long term.

When creating content, consider working with influencers in relevant campaigns. You will generally incur costs for these collaborations, but you benefit from the wide range of these multipliers.

Conclusion

With content marketing, you can sustainably strengthen your brand and retain customers but also win new customers. It is an excellent addition to traditional advertising that will help you get attention in other ways.

With all the content you create for it, focus on the benefit for the customer. Don’t forget about search engine optimization and seeding for a high reach of your content.