How to Crush Content Marketing Campaigns?

8 min readFeb 3, 2022

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When I worked full time for my company, we used content marketing to generate over 10 million visitors to our client websites. That’s not boasting. It’s the result of a lot of work by our team.

People I spoke with still don’t fully comprehend what content marketing is. They aren’t aware of how it can help them grow their business. SEO and content marketing are seen as voodoo and Ponzi schemes by business owners.

Content Marketing Examples

I will answer the question of what is content marketing in this post? You’ll learn why it’s the best way to grow your business, why most companies fail in my top tips for success. This is my area of ability. It’s what I’ve done to grow my business and other businesses as well.

Here is an example of content marketing from the customer’s point of view. If you can understand this example, you will fully understand the power of this system. It’s simple. This won’t take long.

My wife is a fan of crafts. She’s an expert. I’m into aquariums, so for years we’ve been watching YouTube shows on our respective hobbies. When I had issues with my tank going green (it’s not supposed to) I searched my library for books I’ve been using for years as a resource on aquarium maintenance.

She was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, reading through some of her old quilting manuals. Reading through my books, showed me that the fishes I now had differed from the ones in my manuals. Time to make some adjustments. I got out my phone and started searching on Amazon.

Sure enough, I found a great resource written by the same guy who wrote the one in my hand. I purchased the book in both print and ebook form at once. I also purchased upgrades needed to fix my problem.

The ebook to helped me with my aquarium issue. I had developed a trust over the years with my “fish guy” after watching his videos. I had about everything he published about aquariums and specialty fishes at this point.

I looked up at my wife, who was smiling at me. She pointed out how I demonstrated the power of online marketing. The process that I’ve been teaching and preaching about for years was illustrated in a minute. I started laughing at this because I pointed to her stack of books around her to show her she was making the same point.

There was no “comparison shopping”. Cheaper options were irrelevant to me. This book’s author was familiar to me, and I knew I could achieve the results he talked about. That’s the brand I trusted.

Creative Content Marketing

Content marketing at its most effective delivers expected results. This kind of maketing brings trust and a sense of certainty. How does it work? Marketing your business through content is content marketing. You create content, such as videos, infographics, posts, downloadable PDFs, etc., that users interact with.

Content helps people get to know your business without being intrusive; they consume it, trust you, and want to do business with you. People love to do business with those whom they trust.

Here’s the big problem with content marketing from the business owner’s perspective. It’s a slow-growth investment. There’s nothing sexy and dynamic about the process. It’s hard to convince an entrepreneur that she’s got a lot of mileage out of taking a year to develop the trust and loyalty of prospects.

Over the years, I’m sure that I’ve spent a hundred dollars on books and products that my fish guy recommended. I’m sure that the author spent a bit more than that on his content marketing campaigns. But, what most small business operators overlook when the budget for content marketing comes up is the CLV factor.

Businesses are so used to measuring results of advertising that they neglect an important aspect of marketing; customer lifetime value. If I’m worth $100 a year to a business owner, and she spends $100 to get me to be a committed fan, did she lose money?

If you judged her investment by a limited time of her expense, she at least broke even. That’s how advertising works. It gets you in the door. But what if she could make that $100 investment gain my trust and loyalty through building a relationship with me over the course of a year?

Set up Your Average Customer Lifetime Value

Business schools and marketing classes talk about customer lifetime value. Check online calculators for finding your CLV. If your products and services are complex, do your best.

The Simple CLV Formula

Calculate CLV:

Add the annual revenue from the customer.
Multiply it by the number of years that customer is working with you.
Subtract the customer acquisition cost.

Let’s suppose:

An annual profit of $1,000 is generated by the customer.

Over the course of five years of being a customer of the brand.

$2,000 is the cost to gain the customer.

This customer would have a lifetime value of:

(Annual customer profit of $1,000) X

The customer has been a customer for less than 5 years.

$2000 (acquisition cost) = $3000 (customer lifetime value).

$1,000 X 5 — $2,000 = $3,000

The investment gained her a loyal customer. The customer buys what she’s selling long after she spent the advertising money. She has the customer’s email and can send out promotional blasts that will more than get read.

Money spent on an ad campaign results in a percent of the people buying products. But, the ad didn’t build any trust or faith in the business. It basically brought the product or service to the attention of the prospect. That’s OK.

The job of content marketing is to build that trust and faith in the company, or at least the individuals who offer their ability to the audience. We have verified studies that show how content marketing strengthens CLV.

Customers who become fans are more to extend the time they stay with a brand. Increased brand loyalty means greater profits. These customers are also more to recommend your brand to their friends and families. Large companies like Coke, Dove and others invest billions in content marketing, collectively.

Financial Benefits of Content Marketing

What are the advantages of content marketing efforts on the Internet? Anyone can create and share content on the Internet. Content created by your company can generate attention and sales. Email marketing allows you to connect with your audience directly.

Not can you get feedback on your products and services from customers, you can generate powerful marketing surveys from them. Your satisfied customers can help you develop more services and products that they will pay for.

Tailor campaigns to match your target audience with the products and services you offer. Conversions are even higher than you can get from any form of advertising. The more your content is trusted and associated with authority, the more effective you are in eliminating your competitors.

There’s no need for your customers to check every single product on the market. You become unbeatable from a marketing perspective when people genuinely want to work with you because they trust you — period. It doesn’t matter what the price is anymore.

In the long run, content marketing outperforms advertising dollar for dollar. While ads have their place, content marketing offers more value for the money. How does it work? Your content marketing strategy outlines how you will reach specific audiences with your messages.

Content Marketing Important for Small Business

Marketing is figuring out what in the world you’re going to talk about. Branding is determining who you are and what you believe in. This requires some serious examination and research. You can take the time to build campaigns based on the needs of a specific segment of the consumer market.

My fish guy did that for years. He would cover types of fishes and how to take care of them in his videos. Hid collection of tanks were homes for Cichlids, Plecostomus, Bettas, Guppies and other fresh and saltwater fishes. He could take the time to discuss our needs and answer questions.

Your content should focus on all the questions your customers ask before they buy your product and the problems they are facing. You are developing content to discuss their needs.

I encourage business owners to take charge of their content creation even if they don’t create it themselves. Consider the reason why you started the company. Take a brainstorming session to clarify your essential message. Hire a consultant if you need to.

Write down all the difficulties your products solve. Catalog the benefits. List all the pain points your customers may have that might motivate them to use your product or service.

As the subject matter expert, be involved in the content strategy. Let your customers hear from you. Your content speaks for your brand. You don’t have to create all your content.

Example of Content Marketing Types

Develop a plan of action. Use a calendar to plot out your publication strategy. List the types of media you will use to get your messages out there. You don’t have to use them all, but consider this list of options:

Blogging.
Checklists.
Courses.
Ebooks.
Email.
Free apps.
Infographics.
Lead magnets.
Podcasting.
Quizzes/tools.
Slide decks.
Slideshare presentations.
Social media posts.
Video.
Visual content.
Webinars.
Whitepapers.

Now it’s time to promote your content. That’s right. You’re going to have to promote your content to get the most mileage from your efforts. Facebook and Google ads are suitable examples. Use social media and search advertising to promote your content at the beginning. Your blog and YouTube channel will get more traffic as a result.

This traffic can be leveraged to get people to sign up for your email list or to read more valuable content. You can rely less on advertising to grow your brand when you have lots of email subscribers and social media followers.

How Does Content Marketing Work So Well?

Blogs, e-books, and social media posts created by your company work for you long after they are created. Advertising cannot compare to building relationships with prospects. Content marketing may take longer to gain traction, but in the long run, much more affordable than traditional advertising.

Those are my biggest tips for leveraging content marketing to grow your business. Let’s sum it up. What is content marketing all about? It’s the act of marketing your business through relevant information to a specific audience. Some basic goals include building brand loyalty, increasing sales, creating advocates, and improving CLV.

You can get started using content marketing by first determining your brand story. Develop quality content that is geared to a specific market segment. Add value at every stage of your presentation. Make sure that people see your content to learn more about the value of your service.

Now that you know how to get started with content marketing, there’s one thing left for you to do: take action. Let’s get to it! I have more to say about content marketing at my website. Stop by http://contentmarketingmagic.co/blog.