So you’ve got an amazing idea. You’ve got a team together, you’ve started a business, and built a model that works.

All of this is great, but you need to get the word out about your company – and that’s increasingly hard to do with the masses of content and ads that come out every single day.

Nailing your content marketing strategy is absolutely vital as an entrepreneur. But what exactly is it? How can it help you, and how can you stand out from other the crowd? Read on to find out.

What Is Content Marketing?

The clue is in the name: content marketing is any form of marketing that involves the creation valuable content for potential customers. This could be print ads, billboards, brochures, but also social media posts, newsletters, blog posts, etc.

Content marketing can have a wide range of uses, making it a powerful tool to integrate to your online marketing strategy. Depending on how you go about it, it can be a lead generation tool, a way to advertise your product and services, or a vehicle to increase brand awareness.

Content Ideas for Your Strategy

The key to a successful content marketing strategy is creating enticing content that will bring value to your customer. People are inundated with content every single day, so you need to produce something that really stands out.

Below we’ve listed some of the ways you can create content for your marketing strategy:

• Host a webinar. Especially if your domain is services, advisory or consulting, consider hosting a webinar on a hot topic in your industry. This gives you the opportunity to assert authority, engage with key stakeholders, and generate leads.
• Create a whitepaper. Do you have access to data or knowledge that would be valuable to other people in your industry? Produce a whitepaper on the topic and put it behind a wall, so people will have to input their contact details to download. This will position you as a thought-leader in your industry, and generate leads for your business.
• Create an infographic. If you don’t have the time or resources to write a white paper, consider condensing information into a neat and effective infographic. Additionally, these bite-sized pieces of content are great for busy people who will appreciate the efficiency of this format.
• Design a beautiful video. Put your design skills to the test and showcase your product in an eye-catching visual advertisement. Videos also have the benefit of being shareable across multiple platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
• Host a podcast. If you have an idea that could turn into a series, why not start a podcast? Come up with a premise, line up some guests and start recording. Podcasts are a great way to get in touch with key industry players, show expertise and authority, and position your company at the centre of debates.

Examples of Great Content Marketing

An effective content marketing campaign can stay in the mind of consumers for years to come. Below, we’ve listed what we think are some of the best recent campaigns.

• Innocent Drinks. The juice and smoothies producer is known for its social media content marketing. Their copy is simple and entertaining, and their visuals are consistent and recognisable from afar. You’ll have likely seen some tweets by the brand, which are written in an honest, human tone in order to engage the public.
• Shutterstock. The provider of stock images has for the last few years created an annual Creative Trends Report. These beautiful and insightful infographics contain enticing visuals and valuable data. A double whammy that has bought the brand a huge amount of traffic!
• Apple. The company doesn’t need introducing. You might remember seeing massive billboards of beautiful photos captioned “Shot on an iPhone”. This hard-hitting visual campaign went a long way to show the quality of Apple products, and was user-generated.