Does your agency have a content marketing strategy?
If not, you could be missing out on one of the most important pieces of online marketing. That’s why this post covers all things content creation and marketing, as well as how your agency can use it to your advantage.
Your content spreads across your social media platforms, website, emails, sales funnels, and much more to establish trust, build and engage your audience, and of course, to improve your sales and marketing efforts. For this discussion, special guests, Chris Greene and Tyler Ramer, join us to share how your agency can kill it with a solid content marketing strategy.
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What is Content?
We all talk about content, but what is it really?
While the word in itself is rather broad, it’s essentially anything you post that is viewable by your audience. It can be your Facebook post, a meme, a blog post, or a video.
As an agency, part of your content strategy involves understanding what you want your audience to digest. Whatever you’re putting in front of them will shape their view of your agency. That means it also plays an essential role in building your brand.
Your content should also be consistent, valuable, and relevant to your audience. It could contain answers to common questions they have or address issues they are currently experiencing but aren’t sure of where to seek guidance. When you can provide these types of answers, you present yourself as an authority figure, which helps people to stay engaged with you, your content, and your business.
Why is a Content Marketing Strategy Important?
It should be no surprise that a solid content marketing strategy starts with good content. Unlike networking, running ads, or cold calling, your content is a permanent fixture for your business. Whether your content is on your site or a social media platform, it’s there for all to see at any time. The more people see it, the more you can build your authority.
By creating a content marketing strategy that’s focused on your audience, you can take steps to address specific questions or local issues. While the bigger, well-known companies are creating content that’s more generalized, this is your opportunity to stand out and get noticed. And, of course, the more content you produce, the more visible you will be.
When someone likes your content, the chances of them coming back for more are good. That’s why it’s important to create content that incorporates humor or other tactics that make it memorable. People will also be more likely to share your content with others if it makes them feel good.
How to Create Content
So, all of this sounds great, but what happens if creating content isn’t your favorite thing to do? And no, this is not the time to copy content from other agents or do what everyone else is doing. Even though a lot of agents are guilty of this, following this practice makes you invisible because you’d simply blend in with everyone else.
But not to worry! There are a few easy ways to create content to help you get started.
Sourcing Content
Feedly is a news app that we use to gather relevant news and trends. It’s an app where you can pick out a bunch of different news sources and articles that you can pull in based on designated topics. You can sort through the items and choose those that are most interesting to you and post them. Leave it as is or use it to start a conversation with your audience.
Another resource is Answer the Public, where you can search on a topic and find out every single question people are asking about it on Google. Not only can this help you address the most common questions out there, but it can help you expand on existing content with relevant information.
You can also take content from other places and put your own original twist to it. If you’re really clever, this can help people engage with you more. However, at the end of the day, your own original content is your best bet.
For some agents, this can cause concerns with staying compliant. One way to make this easy is to stay away from making promises or guarantees. You would also want to stay away from trademarked items or actual brand or company names. In that case, you could focus more on your own personal brand for your content.
If you do decide to create content based on someone else’s work, be sure to give credit to the original source. You will also want to avoid using copyrighted images. There are plenty of places where you can grab good quality stock photos without violating copyright law.
Proven Strategies for Leveraging Your Content
Now, it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room.
You have an agency to run, so when the heck are you going to have time to produce all this content?
We’re glad you asked!
How to Make the Most Out of Your Content
The good news is that you can generate a lot of content just from one piece. And not all of it has to be a super-long piece. You can easily take one piece that can be used in many different ways, which means that you really do have the potential for a ton of content that can just come from taking the time to produce one piece.
Let’s say you have a podcast. The podcast is available as content in audio form. You can also turn the conversation or part of it into a blog post or an email. If you film the podcast, then you also have a video that you can leverage in a social media post, email, or blog.
Or, let’s say you just do blog posts. You can take snippets of that content to record videos or use them as social media posts. You may even use the post as a script or outline to create a podcast. You can also take your blog posts and turn them into a guide or ebook.
So many options are out there simply by producing one piece of content. And don’t worry, there’s no such thing as too much content – unless it’s not providing value. If you’re providing garbage just to get it out there, you’ll only end up hurting your brand.
Stay Consistent with Your Content
Chris Greene, who was part of this conversation, recorded 365 flood education videos every day for a year! He decided to create his own flood content that was missing from the market to generate his own leads. By providing high-quality content, he built a massive library where prospective and current clients can easily find it. And it’s made a significant impact on the success of his agency!
It also proves the point that if your content is published on a social platform, you’re going to want to be in front of that audience on a continuous basis. After time, the pesky algorithms get in the way, and then your content gets pushed down in the feeds. But when you have a year’s worth of material, there’s a slim chance of that happening.
Don’t Overthink It
One thing to keep in mind if trying to create all this content makes you want to run screaming from the building is that you shouldn’t worry about being a perfectionist. Trying to make your content perfect before anyone sees it means that no one will ever see it. Don’t spend so much time working on something when it’s probably fine the way it is.
Remember, your content marketing strategy is a great way to build trust and connection with your audience. If they think you’re fake, putting on a show, or trying to convince them that you know something you don’t, you’ve lost them. People will see that. They won’t fall for it, and if they do, it won’t be for long. In the end, people buy from people. They don’t look for the company; they look for the person.
Content Resources We Love
If you’d like additional help with creating content on social media, you may want to check out Tyler Ramer’s Organic Social Media Course. It can help you get more referrals without wasting money on ads or boosted posts. Click here for more information.
You might also want to consider the Made You Look Video Marketing Course by Nicholas Ayers. This course will help you create video ads that generate consistent leads. Click here to sign up today.
Or, if you’re looking for additional resources that can help you boost your content marketing strategy, feel free to reach out to the Jumpstart Go team here for more information.