5 Proven Ways to Succeed at Content Marketing.

The sheer volume of content marketing these days is mind boggling. It seems like everyone is doing it. We are nowhere near the end of this trend, either. The amount of content marketing is going to continue to grow for many reasons, but mainly because it works. Simple as that. Customers respond to content marketing. In order to better understand how to succeed in an over-saturated content marketing world, we need to better understand just what exactly content marketing is.

Content marketing, in a nutshell, is the act of communicating with your customers without selling. You are, in essence, telling them a story using great content in order to drive them to use and be loyal to your business. So that begs the question, then: how do you succeed at content marketing? Here are 5 proven tips to succeed in this industry.

1) Stand out from the Crowd

Like I said before, it seems like everyone is doing content marketing these days. That means that there is going to be a lot of similar-themed marketing out there, and by similar I mean bad. People respond to unique, and personal content, not generic content they could read anywhere else. Make sure to stay at the cutting edge of technology and techniques in order to bring the best content to readers as possible. Go into greater detail than others, and provide more of a personal touch.

2) Attain Excellence

This sounds a bit like the first one so let me explain again. There is a lot of content out there, and most of it generic or downright bad. The better your content, the more successful you will be. Now of course that sounds obvious, so how do you do it? Attaining excellence in your content means staying at the top of your game, continuing to improve the quality of content writing, and finding new ways of bringing your customers what they want(be it videos, or reviews, infographics, or whatever else). Try to get reader feedback, and continue to adapt to new trends.

3) Define your Niche

With the gigantic, gelatinous blob that is the general public, it is important to know exactly which portion of the blob you are attempting to reach. People do not want go on the internet to see generic stuff that applies to everyone. When people log on, they want to go read(and more importantly purchase) things that apply to what interests them. Do you appeal to the music crowd? Are you a fitness or travel site? Create an effective persona for that nice that people respond to. Writing that sounds general lacks any type of power, and is completely soulless. Have you ever read writing from a large corporation or a set of rules?

4) Get Customers to Create Content for You

One of the greatest advantages of embracing outlets like social media, is that it allows your customers to create content for you. Every time they share something from your website on Twitter, write positively about on you on Facebook, or share a picture on Pinterest, it puts you in front of a huge audience for free. Not to mention that if it is from one of their friend’s mouths, they trust it far more than if it is from yours.

5) Go Mobile. Now.

If you haven’t gone mobile yet, then you are already behind the game. The amount of people with smartphones is growing every day, and this medium will only become more important as time goes by. You need to be able to reach your customers on the go, and more importantly, they need to be able to reach you. Having your app in front of their face on their phone keeps your brand in their minds, and allows them to share your content with others in the real world. Make sure you include video, and make it resizable to mobile dimensions.

In the end, like all other things, content marketing success comes down to hard work and quality. If you offer better quality, adapt to new trends, and outwork the competition, you will be successful. On top of that, if you are unique, available on mobile, well-defined, and ubiquitous on social media, then there is no way that you won’t be successful in today’s content marketing world.