CONTENT MARKETING

Content is king

Once content has been created it needs to be promoted. We are experts in content marketing and strategy driving return on investment (ROI) for your business.

You’ve created some wonderful videos and put together your best words on the page. Now it’s time to get the message out and put this content right in front of your target audience.

Content marketing is all about putting eyeballs on that hard crafted creative work and of course driving return on investment. It’s about getting your message out to the masses and telling your story.

What is Content?

Text and keywords convey information, convince users, sell products and attract searchers in from Google. Quality images and graphics set the tone of a website. Let’s start by asking the question ‘what is content’? Content is words. Content is images. Content is video. Content is animation and motion graphics. Content is sound and audio. Content can be for campaigns or for blogs or for social media.

You’ve heard the phrase ‘content is king’. Well this still holds true. Unique , high quality content, that tells a story, is what gets your customers interested in your products and services. It provides the evidence of business expertise. It has to persuade and convince. In all its forms, content drives engagement and attention. It is the fuel of conversion. Without it no one would be enquiring about your services or buying your products.

Content Marketing Strategy

Of course, there has to be a strategy. A content strategy is planned out well before any content is created. Why is this content being created? What is the purpose? On which marketing channels will the content be promoted? How can we build a deeper relationship between customer and brand? These are all questions that will affect the type of content created, its style, its length and its overall tone of voice.

A powerful mix of text, visual and audio content to empower your brand.

Multichannel – Multidiscipline – Intelligent and Authentic

To be successful, content needs to be all these things.

Multichannel: a content strategy needs to embrace all digital mediums with each building and feeding off each other.

Multidiscipline: a range of creative professionals will be involved in a campaign from writers, motionographers, designers to social media placement experts and researchers. Even data analysts for large campaigns.

Intelligent: this is a bit of a no brainer. Content will not illuminate and build relationships without being intelligent.

Authentic: Research and customer feedback helps build campaigns that address real issues and customer pain points.

Elasticated Content

Here at Elastic we place great emphasis on content planning, whether it’s for a campaign or for a new website or another digital project. Research and brainstorming come first. This lets us really get our heads round what’s required and the purpose of the content.
At this stage we’re thinking about the full customer journey and experience, what success looks like for the business and which channels will deliver. We’re defining the marketing mix and doing some serious content planning! We’re researching what people are searching for online and making sure that content matches with the most searched for phrases and words.

Once our creative team has an overview, we begin storyboarding, site-mapping, wire framing and creating content guides. The next step is to craft and create that content. At Elastic we are expert at writing sharp and engaging text, persuasive, flowing and unique video content plus cutting edge photography, graphics and design. All content created will be refined and optimised before being made live or plugged into campaigns

Business to Business Marketing

Content for business to business marketing (b2b) follows a similar path to that for business to consumer (b2c) marketing. The mix will be different but the outcome the same. Captivating content perfectly placed for the customer, at the right time and on the right device (mobile, a tablet or a desktop computer) raising brand awareness, driving sales or new business enquiries.

Data Driven, Bi Directional, Automated and Multinational

The ability to know your consumer or customer and serve them with relevant content on the right channel at the right time is what drives successful brand experiences. This relationship should be a two-way conversation; not only on social media but also feeding back into content creation. Automation works where relevant and in a global marketing landscape, the need for translated multi-national content is essential. Elastic have strong experience in all these areas.

Facebook or LinkedIn…Google Ads? Google Search?

So, it’s down to the actual channels that might receive content. As part of a marketing strategy, content can be placed on a number of competing platforms. Each one is different and performs a unique role along our marketing funnel.

  • Social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Messenger

All these channels are excellent for driving brand awareness and widening the marketing funnel. They can attract, drive conversions and also play a part in retention and re-marketing.

  • Google Video
  • Google Display

Google video and display are all about driving brand awareness.

  • Google Adwords
  • Google Organic Search

Google Adwords (now called Google Ads) and Google Search work to capture people who have an active need for something. These are the work horses of digital marketing. Someone, in  the market, for your service or product and actively searching is the kind of traffic you want to attract! It’s also highly likely to convert once on your site. Ignore these channels at your peril!

  • Website

A website and the rich content that lies within works to convince and persuade. It provides those hooks that cause ‘add to cart’ buttons to be clicked and new business enquiry forms to be filled

  • Programmatic

Programmatic advertising can place your content on a wide range of channels, outside social media, in a highly targeted and cost-effective way. It’s worth including in your marketing mix.

  • Email

Email marketing is traditionally part of the loyalty and re-marketing stategy. Within e-commerce it’s excellent for automated marketing and product news

Interested in what we can do for you – Get in touch today