Ask Fleximize: Content Marketing

How do we create quality content?

Remember, it's your customers that you're creating content for. By putting them first in your content planning, you're more likely to develop a solid foundation for a successful strategy. Ask yourself: what do they want to know? In what format do they want the content? When do they seek out content, and where do they go to find it?

Any content you develop should also comply with your content calendar, which should include content produced in line with key events that are of relevance to your customers. Often businesses publish too much content, potentially overwhelming their audience with information that might not actually be that relevant. So use your knowledge of your customers and your schedule to make sure that quality comes before quantity when you're developing your content - be it copy, video, audio or visuals.

This is just a brief look at how to create effective content. There's a lot more information out there, so don't hesitate to check out resources like the Content Marketing Association.

What are the biggest content pitfalls?

The biggest content pitfalls usually arise from not defining the aims of your content or failing to understand the needs and desires of your audience.

Content that’s too salesy, for example, is much less effective than content that recognizes and answers the problems of the consumer. Similarly, content that focuses only on the sales-end of the product cycle will fail to capitalize on the potential for establishing long-term customer relationships and retention.

Also, inconsistency in the voice and tone of content is a common pitfall, and can result in a weakening of brand identity and audience trust, and can dilute your messaging.

How do I align content with PR?

You can align your marketing content with your PR by ensuring a consistent voice, tone and style across your advertising, social media, blogs, press releases and trade articles.

A good way of achieving this is to re-purpose content across your marketing and PR activities. Not only does this maximize the utility of your content, but it also creates a more unified voice and a cohesive brand identity and maximizes the impact of the message.

If you’ve got separate content and PR teams, think about merging them, or at least co-locating them. To effectively align content with PR requires these efforts to be coordinated and managed via a single, unifying strategy.