Currently, thanks to the democratization of the internet and the popularization of smartphones, a greater number of people have included access to the web in their routine, which proves that the internet is increasingly fertile ground for your company to invest in marketing.
By having more information available and less free time, consumers filter the materials that reach them. Therefore, companies have been betting on content marketing.
Today, the possibilities are many when companies think about marketing actions. In addition, professionals in the field are increasingly challenged to use creativity and think outside the box.
In the world of technology companies, taking advantage of the benefits of Inbound Marketing to gain and retain customers is essential. And this is where content marketing presents its value and importance for achieving the organization's results and expectations.
Why use content marketing in your IT company's strategies?
In recent years, many services and resources have had to be transferred from the physical world to the virtual environment. Among the monitored changes we can mention:
- Several organizations started to conduct webinars;
- There has been an increase in content production for social media;
- Expansion of actions via email marketing;
- More ads on LinkedIn.
In this scenario, the consumption of content and information on digital channels, such as social media and blogs, has increased a lot. This becomes an opportunity for all companies, but it also represents a challenge. After all, competition increases. Therefore, investing in content marketing is the best option to grow your business. This strategy involves creating, selecting, distributing and expanding the quantity and quality of content relevant to your target audience.
To work with content marketing, the professional must be or become a storyteller, because he will need to narrate something that is useful and that will hold the consumer's attention.
What makes content marketing more attractive is the fact that it is accessed through consumer demand and not companies, it is customers who choose to consume what, when and where they want. If people don't find your product attractive, they won't waste time reading or watching.
It takes a mindset shift to using digital marketing as your team will sometimes need to create materials that will not directly increase your sales, yet will be helpful in creating deeper connections between the brand and the consumer.
Today, content marketing has gained popularity and is being heralded as the present and future of advertising in the digital economy.
We'll show you some steps for your company to use content marketing:
Set goals:
First, define your goals and what are the goals expected from this process. Goals can generally be classified into two categories:
- Generation of Leads, sales effectiveness, cross-selling (takes a product that complements your initial purchase), Up selling (the customer takes a more expensive product than he intended to buy) and sales by referral from other customers.
Related to the brand:
- Brand awareness;
- Brand association;
- Loyalty and brand defense.
If your goal is related to selling, you need to align your content with the sales channels, but if your goal is linked to the issue of metrics, you need to ensure that the content is consistent with the personality of the brand.
Map your audience:
Which audience do you want to impact with your content?
Define a specific subset of your target audience, this will help you create something relevant and deep, put yourself in your consumer's shoes and think about your anxieties and fears.
Plan your content:
Don't elaborate your content loosely, there must be a connection between all the material you are going to produce. For, the combination of pertinent themes together with suitable formats ensures a successful content marketing campaign. So, think about what material will be really useful to your audience.
Creation:
Content creation requires an investment of time and budget. If the content isn't of high quality, it's just a waste of time to produce it. Content often doesn't drive the purchase, but it will create an affinity between the brand and the consumer. Make your content original, something different from what the consumer would find in other web searches.
Distribution:
If they don't reach the ideal audience, good content is thrown away. With so much information available on the networks, it is normal for some content to disappear. So, be careful to post on the right channel, the social networks have immense power, find out which one best relates to your business.
Enlargement:
The key to strong media distribution is a good content expansion strategy. When your content reaches the key influencers this content is more likely to go viral. Then identify who the influencers in your industry are.
Assessment:
Assess whether engagement and sales have increased after sharing your content. Note that the metrics of the 5 As have been achieved in a positive way.
Improvement:
After analyzing the results coming from content marketing, identify the changes to be made. Remember, periodic improvements are critical.
Use different content for each objective
A content marketing strategy can be applied for different purposes. And depending on your goal, the content produced has different characteristics.
Therefore, the Amplifica Digital listed some of the main purposes for which your IT company can provide content:
Contents to attract opportunities:
They are the ones who deliver the most to the persona. In this case, one suggestion is to leave them tied to landing pages and convert visitors and followers into leads. A good content for this is the infographic, as it is light, visual, informative and easy to consume on any device. Also, people are consuming more lives, so another idea is to do a live stream on a hot topic. Suddenly, it's even worth a partnership with another brand for a co-marketing action.
Contents to strengthen the relationship
Maintaining a healthy relationship with your leads and customers is essential. And this must be done through quality content that meets your pains and desires. At this stage, the best content is a weekly newsletter to maintain the relationship with your base. If you don't have a high volume of content production, consider a monthly periodicity. The important thing is to always send your content to leads.
Attracting and retaining talents
Produce relevant content for suppliers and partners, show that your company is there to help them. Social media can be your best ally right now.
New feature releases
Your technology company needs to be constantly on the move. When launching new products and features that will make your customers' daily lives easier, use content marketing to spread the word. Videos, infographics and tutorials for these releases help capture the attention and interest of your customers and prospects.
Lead generation and conversion
Webinars, e-books, infographics, whitepapers, customer testimonials and videos, among many other formats, are contents that value your investment. Campaign to promote these materials to increase the number of leads.
With the content marketing tips for IT companies above, you will be able to boost your business and gain more customers every day.
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