7 Content Marketing Tactics That Still Work Wonders

By Adam Steele

7 Content Marketing Tactics That Still Work Wonders

No matter how big or small your business is, finding winning content marketing tactics offers a great way to drive new and better traffic to your website. Plus, by creating the likes of blog posts, videos, and free tools, you can give Google and other search engines plenty of reasons to give your website a boost on the search engine results pages.

In this article, I’m going to outline what content marketing tactics you can use to refresh your content marketing strategy and bag more sales in 2021. Read on to find out more. 

 

Create both timely and evergreen content

Both timely and evergreen content will have a place on your website.

Timely content should be inspired by something that’s currently happening in the news or in your industry, while evergreen content should contain information that’s always relevant, no matter the timing. 

If you’re releasing a new product line to celebrate a specific holiday, for instance, you might want to create a timely video to promote it. In contrast, you’ll be able to publish your evergreen content on any day, and it will give your prospective customers a reason to visit your website all year round.

You can take inspiration from businesses that are already using timely or evergreen content well.

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For example, Continental Message Solution is a company that specializes in helping other businesses to set up out-of-hours answering services for their phone lines. And, recently, they’ve started to offer a service that helps companies proactively screen their employees to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Business owners might not even be aware that these services exist, or that they need them, so the company has also created a guide to COVID-19 employee screening hotlines. Because this content was inspired by current events, it might not be relevant forever. But, right now, it makes sense, and it could help to drive a lot of high-quality traffic to CMS’s website.

You could also consider creating pieces of content that you’re able to update every year. So, perhaps the topic is evergreen, but the actual content will need tweaking on a regular basis.

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Best Nursing Programs is a website that focuses on helping aspiring healthcare professionals to find the right course to pursue the career that they want. So, every year, they put together round-ups of different schools and classes people might be interested in taking. Their list of the best direct entry MSN programs is a great example of this.

People will always be looking for this information, so it’s evergreen in a sense. But the details can change every year, which means the piece will need to be tweaked on a regular basis. This type of content can continue to drive high-quality traffic to your website year after year, though, so it can be well worth the upkeep.

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If you’re looking for a great example of evergreen content, InVPN’s guide to the difference between VPNs and proxy servers definitely falls into that category. The website serves tech-savvy people who want to enhance both their internet security and experience. This piece of content addresses a common question people in the online world have, and it’s going to be relevant for as long as VPNs are. This makes it a very valuable guide that could send traffic to InVPN for many years to come. 

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It’s even possible to create evergreen how-to guides if you choose the right topic. For example, Neil Patel has created a guide to A/B testing for your website, which offers tips that are going to be relevant for a wide range of businesses.

People will always want to know how they can get more out of their website, and this article will help them with this. A lot of the information will be relevant for years to come but, if a new technique does become popular, the piece can simply be updated to reflect that. It’s still an evergreen piece of content that Neil Patel could gain a lot of traffic from over a long period of time. 

 

Harness the power of video

According to Oberlo, 85% of internet users in the United States watch video content online. So, if you want your content to reach as many people as possible, you might want to consider creating a YouTube channel.

Remember that different people like to consume content in different ways. So, if you’re only publishing lengthy written guides, you’re going to keep attracting the same website visitors time and time again. With video, you can grab the attention of people who prefer to learn in a visual way, or who like to listen to advice rather than reading it. 

But, if you’re going to make videos, you have to do it properly, which means you’ll need the right tools. So, make sure you have a good camera and high-quality software that will help you to bring your vision to life. Pixpa has a great guide to the top video editing apps for 2021, which will provide you with some good places to start.

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For inspiration, take a look at Foleon’s hub of video content. They create informative video tutorials, webinars, and product demonstrations that help to show off the company’s expertise.

There are lots of benefits to creating this content. It could help the company to rank higher for relevant searches, it can build trust with prospective customers, and these videos are also very shareable, which makes them great link-building tools. 

Consider what kinds of topics you could explore with video content and get started. 

 

Assess your competitors’ content and fill the gaps

It’s always a good idea to keep your finger on the pulse of what your competitors are doing, and this should include what kinds of content they’re publishing.

Look at what they might be doing better than you, what gaps they might have left in their strategy, and how you could put your unique spin on subjects they have already covered. 

It’s also important that you look at what kinds of keywords those in your field are ranking for. At Loganix, we have an in-depth guide to conducting competitor keyword analysis, which will take you through the process. 

The Content Marketing Institute also has an article all about how you can assess the content that’s already out there and decide how you can build on it. The only way you’re going to beat your competitors is by understanding them, and analyzing the content they’re putting out there can really help with this. 

 

Create content for different segments of your audience

You need to remember that your target audience is made up of lots of different people who all have their own needs and preferences. There will be different ages, genders, and interests that you need to cater to.

It’s impossible to create a single piece of content that appeals to absolutely everyone. So, instead, you should define different segments of your audience and create separate pieces of content with these in mind. For instance, a younger audience might prefer to watch video content, while those who are older might like to read lengthy written guides, so plan your content accordingly.

If you don’t yet understand your audience properly, Omniconvert has a Shopify app that can help. Their Reveal tool allows you to segment your audience based on their buying behaviors, value, and more. Having quality audience data on hand can help you to really tailor your content to the people you’re creating it for.

MarketingLand also has a guide to learning more about your audience, which talks you through conducting surveys, monitoring your social media comments, and more. The more information you have about your customers, the better you’ll be able to target them with your content. 

 

Produce plenty of engaging visual content 

There’s so much content being published online that it can be difficult to stand out. Fortunately, visual content can help you break through the noise.

If you’re not already creating infographics, GIFs, illustrations, or imagery to publish on your website and social media profiles, you need to start. According to statistics from Venngage, 49% of marketers already consider visual content to be a very important element of their marketing strategies. So, if you don’t start creating engaging visual content, you could struggle to compete for your target customers’ attention.

People are busy, so they like eye-catching content that teaches them something or provides them with an important message. So, try to incorporate more visuals into your content marketing strategy.

There are lots of affordable — and even free — editing and graphic design tools that you can use to create the visuals you need. Appy Pie and Canva are both great choices that will help you to get off to a great start.

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Provide free tools and templates that will address your customers’ pain points

Are there any common issues your customers face that you could help them with? For instance, is there a tool they would find useful, or a template they might be looking for? 

Thinking about this can help you to come up with some great content ideas. And providing free tools or resources that are relevant to your business can really help to drive high-quality traffic to your site, which could lead to you securing more sales. 

Take a look at how True Blue Life Insurance provides a calculator for their potential customers. Instead of having a huge article explaining how their target customers can figure out their life insurance needs, they have a simple calculator where people can quickly and easily fill out their own information. 

If someone has a positive experience of using this tool, they’ll be far more likely to enlist the help of the life insurance provider when they’re ready to take out a policy, too. 

content-marketing-calculator

Similarly, HubSpot has an advertising ROI calculator. Website visitors can play with the numbers, inputting a monthly budget, targeted conversion rate, expected sale price, and average CPC in order to figure out how much money they could make on a particular ad campaign.

content-marketing-roi-calculator

This can eliminate confusion and give HubSpot’s prospective customers a bigger sense of control over their spending! Because the company targets small businesses and content marketers, people who come across this calculator are likely to be interested in their other resources, as well, which could lead to sales.

 

Repurpose your content to get the most out of it

As I’ve covered, different people prefer to consume content in different ways, so it’s worth considering how you can present the same information in various formats. Not only can this help you to cater to more people, but it can also save you time as repurposing content is a lot easier than creating it from scratch.

It’s also worth noting that Google recently confirmed you won’t be penalized for duplicate content if you present identical information in different ways. So, you don’t have to worry about this tactic having a detrimental impact on your SEO.

If you would like some inspiration for how to do this, Instapages has a great guide to repurposing your content that includes plenty of tips you can use. 

 

Create content based on common customer queries

If you get a lot of the same questions from your customers, consider creating content to address them. Not only will this save your customer service team time, but answering these FAQs on your website could also be great for your SEO. Plus, this strategy can provide you with content ideas that you might not find through keyword research, but that are still very relevant to your business and customers. 

To collect as many common customer queries as possible, you should provide plenty of ways for people to get in touch. You might already be encouraging your customers to contact you by phone or email, but it’s also worth letting them know that you’ll answer social media queries.

If you really take your customer service seriously, adding a live chat feature to your landing pages can also be a great move. Tools like Acquire will allow you to set up automated responses, see your customers’ history as you chat, and tag in team members who can help with a particular query. People are used to instant messaging and a live chat feature will allow you to cater to your customers’ expectations of quick replies.

When it comes to social media, it’s easy for customer messages and replies to get lost, but a social media management tool can help you to stay on top of things. HootSuite is one of the most popular platforms out there, and with good reason — it’s easy to use and will help you to ensure no customer message goes unanswered. 

Ask your team to make notes of any questions that come up on a regular basis, and that could be addressed with a piece of content, whether that’s a comprehensive guide, a video tutorial, or an infographic. The more you tailor your content to your customers, the more engaged they’ll be. 

 

Summary

There are so many tried-and-tested ways to utilize content marketing, but different tactics might work for different companies, so it’s worth trying a variety to see what you like and what works best. 

Creating visual content, videos, evergreen and timely content, and conducting competitive research are all great ways to get started, but you’re never going to know what works until you give it a shot yourself. So, go and get started!

Adam Steele

Adam Steele is the Founder and COO at Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner for agencies and marketers. We build easy-to-use SEO services that help businesses scale.

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