In the first in our series of articles on the state of content marketing going into 2013, we examine why conversion is king in the world of content.
Content marketing is growing. In 2013, we can expect to see a big increase spending and greater focus on the discipline as a driver of marketing strategies.
In the first in a series of looks at the state of content marketing heading into 2013, we examine why conversion is the name of the game.
It might seem like a backwards way of tackling this; surely the first stage is thinking about content and creating it? True, that is the first stage of the execution.
But the first stage of the development has to begin with the end, and your goals, firmly in mind. And by the end, we mean conversion. Whatever conversions you want to use as your marker, be it sales or Facebook likes, you must keep these at the forefront throughout.
It's so easy to get lost in creating wonderful content that you forget why you are doing and how to maximise your return on investment.
And indeed it is certainly not all about sales. Brand building and awareness are just as, if not more, important. Take a look at the '2013 benchmarks on B2B content marketing' reportfrom the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.
In the first in a series of looks at the state of content marketing heading into 2013, we examine why conversion is the name of the game.
It might seem like a backwards way of tackling this; surely the first stage is thinking about content and creating it? True, that is the first stage of the execution.
But the first stage of the development has to begin with the end, and your goals, firmly in mind. And by the end, we mean conversion. Whatever conversions you want to use as your marker, be it sales or Facebook likes, you must keep these at the forefront throughout.
It's so easy to get lost in creating wonderful content that you forget why you are doing and how to maximise your return on investment.
And indeed it is certainly not all about sales. Brand building and awareness are just as, if not more, important. Take a look at the '2013 benchmarks on B2B content marketing' reportfrom the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.
The top three goals for content marketing in this benchmark were brand awareness (79%), customer acquisition (74%) and lead generation (71%). Sales came in at a lowly 43%. The point of this is that it doesn't matter what your goals are, you just need to keep them firmly in mind throughout. Calls to action are a must to drive conversion – don't fail to include them in your content. After all, what else is content for? See how you can improve conversion rates with Snappy Content Writing |