Con·tent Mar·ket·ing: noun;
A type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as social media post, videos, and blogs.) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.
There are a lot of ways to engage your audience through your content. In any case, the type of content you create is going to be different from others. Depending on your offer, some things can be applied across any niche or industry to help you stand out.Content Marketing is one of the most misunderstood tactics in present-day social media marketing. It doesn’t always have to be “organic traffic” (unpaid), nor does it need to be “Paid traffic” pushing your content.The beauty of content marketing is that it’s prepared in a way that makes the reader interested in sharing it without feeling like it’s demanded of them. I’m going to give you a crash course on content marketing, and how you can easily and effectively use it to help promote your print on demand business without coming across as needy and demanding.All channels are not created equal, nonetheless, it’s nice to have a general idea of the channels that are available for you, so we’re gonna get into that now.
Worldwide there are 2.38 billion monthly users as of March 2019 (an 8% increase from the previous quarter). With 1.56 billion people logging in to see what’s trending daily, it’s a no-brainer to share what your business has to offer with this active user base.
Instagram
Bought by Facebook in 2012, Instagram has 1 billion monthly users. Over 60% log in daily, making it the second most engaged network after Facebook. In 2013, more than 30% of the world’s brands were already using Instagram to promote their goodies. Nowadays it’s over 71%.
Youtube
Videos are a big deal. Every minute more than 300 hours of video are uploaded to the platform across 56 countries and in over 16 languages. That is a huge opportunity to tell your audience about cool content. There are a lot of channels that offer video, but Youtube is by far the one to think of when you’re considering recording a tutorial, training, or interest focus video.
Email
Not only is email great for talking with your existing audience, but it’s great for feeding them actionable content. You may have subscribers who opted in for something different than what you’re working on; it may even be similar but with enough of a difference to tell them about it. Email gives you a great chance to build an exciting story around this new topic easily.
Podcasts
A quick Google search will show you the most used podcast hosting platforms like Stitcher, Podbean, and Buzzsprout, but to see if podcasts are right for you you’ll need a bit of insight. People can’t always watch a video or read your text, this is why a lot of content consumers now go for audio.
Blogs
Social media blogging sites like Medium and Quora make it easier for your written content to be seen by an existing audience. The convenience is there for you and your audience; making sure it gets seen by those who are looking for it.
What kind of content can you share on these platforms?
Keep in mind that you don’t have to use all of the platforms listed. Over time and with proper research you’ll have a good idea of what platforms you should be spending your time on. Then focus on those areas where your audience is the most engaged with your content.
How do you ask for the sale?
A great example of “asking for the sale” in your content marketing is by the Youtube channel BeardBrand. We have no affiliation with them, but I wanted to share their strategy because it’s amazing.
Essentially they create videos showing beard trims, haircuts, and style tips- they also use their products in the videos but don’t make them the focus. No pitch and no sales BS. They just create great quality content for their audience and leave it at that. It’s not until the very end of the videos that they say something along the lines of: “If you care about your hair and beard check out some of our products, and if not that’s okay too. You can just keep watching our free content.”
They make it a point to say that you don’t have to buy their stuff because that’s not what they’re here for. They’re here to show you how to do things the right way, and will offer you the tool to do that, but only if you’re interested. Content marketing at it’s best. It’s important that you don’t pressure your audience into buying when content marketing. The content isn’t positioned as a sale, so pushing for the sale won’t align correctly.
When people know there’s an “offer” their minds go into a special place to receive the potential offer. Yet, when someone is watching something for info or entertainment the last thing they're expecting is to buy something.
This is why you have to hit them with the “What do you think of this?” angle. Make yourself an authority of knowledge, insight, or entertainment. Then once you have that position of influence you can let the people know what you’re using to help get to that position of influence; with what you’re using being your product or service.
"The best salesman is the one who doesn’t appear to be selling at all. He’s just a helpful dude that has what you need and is willing to show you how to use it." -Me
When people know there's an offer their minds go into a special place to receive the potential offer. Yet, when someone is watching something for info or entertainment the last thing their expecting is to buy something.
This is why you have to hit them with the “What do you think of this?” angle. Make yourself an authority of knowledge, insight, or entertainment. Then once you have that position of influence you can let the people know what you’re using to help get to that position of influence; with what you’re using being your product or service.
Remember, the best salesman is the one who doesn’t appear to be selling at all. He’s just a helpful dude that has what you need and is willing to show you how to use it.
Buying it? Well, that’s entirely up to you.
P.S. Now that you have the info on where to push your goodies, take a few minutes to discover how to build your brand using email. See it here: Building Your Brand With Email Marketing
