You had a hint from your competitor’s insider on how they spend on online advertisements. You decide to spend more than the amount your competitor has invested. Yes, you want to grab a higher market share. Yet, you see less engagement with your content, hence lower revenue. What could be the cause of the unfortunate situation? A big factor of this challenge is the content. The difference between you and your competitor is the content. In this article we will discover two things;
What is content marketing and what are its benefits?
How do you increase revenue through content marketing?
Set clear business goals
Build a content strategy framework
Tell a business story
Tap into emotions
Be consistent
Be clear and concise
Use Content Management System tools

What is content marketing and what are its benefits?
According to Forbes, content marketing is “a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience”. It is the process of creating and distributing content that your target audience can relate to. Thus, creating an alignment between your customers and your business.

From our little explanation, can already guess the benefits of conducting high-quality content marketing.

Good content marketing connects you with your audience by answering their questions, addresses their challenges or needs. Lead generation, authenticity building and most importantly, increase in revenue are a few of the benefits every business gains from good content marketing. Therefore a strategy well implemented helps you meet your 3 goals for online marketing.
Let’s move on to the main business of this article;

Increasing revenue through content marketing
These are the strategies you should follow.

Set Clear Business Goals
The 3 goals for online marketing; Brand Awareness, Engagement and Conversion. You may have one, two or all as your monthly, quarterly or yearly goals. Setting out goals will guide you with content selection, processing and distribution. Having every team member know your periodic goals puts you all on track. This enables the team to come up with the best content for positive results.

Build a Content Creation Framework
These are the strategies you put in place to create relevant content for different buyer personas. Each buyer persona may be at a different stage of the marketing funnel. Buyers at the consideration could be given free trials. In building a content creation framework, put down frequently asked questions about your products and services. Get a content calendar (link) that will be in line with your goals. Break down work into details and identify who does what in the team. Take note of projects you will outsource, copywriters, content strategists, web developers, and designers. Get resources in place afterwards. Be sure to review and edit every content before it goes out there. You don’t want to jeopardize your reputation with grammar and low-resolution visuals. Lastly, organize and store content.

Tell a Business Story
What are your Why’s and How’s? One error that many marketers and entrepreneurs often commit is to market the What’s; the products and services they offer. It’s good to showcase your products and services but it is better to allow your prospects to have a feel of what they are yet to purchase. Every business has an identified problem that it seeks to solve- this is your Why. Your How? This is how your product or service will help your audience with the identified problem. This is what makes you stand out.

Tap Into Emotions
Don’t just say you are the best. Rather, show what best thing your prospects can gain from you. Content marketing is not about being rational. Be emotional. Let’s take two pillow ads with the same content. The first ad poster comes with a pillow with the copy; The Best Pillows for Comfort. The second ad poster displays a lady comfortably sleeping on a pillow with the copy Your Comfort at its peak. Trust me, the second ad will have more engagement as compared to the first ad. The audience relates to the second ad since they can picture themselves in the lady’s position. Emotions work better than rationality.

Be Consistent
Consistency excludes relevance and authenticity. It helps your brand awareness (link). Saying one thing today and the opposite tomorrow will put your audience off. What you need to do is to tell a captivating truth and provide an experience. There’s no need to show or say what you are not just to get the numbers. Instead, show what you are no matter how small it is. It may be relevant to a few audiences, the rest will leave you but the ones who stay will remain loyal and will become advocates of your brand.

Be Clear and Concise
A lot of talk ..give a quote. Too much talk confuses your audience and even you. They may end up misunderstanding what you want to bring out. If it’s a blog post, be sure to cut down a lengthy story. Use simples words your customers and prospects will understand. Using industry jargon would not gain you more accolades from your audience. For social media posters, use few words and visuals that communicate effectively.

Use Content Management System Tools
Tools are important in your content marketing strategy. They create a smooth workflow thereby saving time. You may use CMS tools like Hubspot and WordPress for creating, editing and publishing content. Google Analytics tools allow you to understand the impact of the current content on your business and to identify opportunities for improvement. Google Drive and Trello are good tools that assist you to organize, plan and communicate with other team members.
Content marketing is a broad topic. We hope to treat more aspects of it.