You’re a designer and not a writer. But you still need to market content in order to position yourself as an expert in your field. Rather than overload you with information on the subject, we have quickly streamlined just what you need to know to get started! Here’s how to do this simply and effectively.
What is Content Marketing?
Content Marketing: 97 Tips For Better Ideas, Strategies & Results
Let’s start off by talking about what content marketing is. In a nutshell, it is the creation and distribution of content that is either interesting or useful. That content can be videos, blogs, or just about anything that you have created (or friends or colleagues that helped you out), as long as it is engaging, useful, and attractive to your targeted audience. It is the hope then that this targeted audience will go one step further and either become solid leads or sales-boosting consumers.
Content marketing is so important because it ensures that your message gets out there to the people that matter, the people that you want to reach, and the people that would benefit or enjoy from what you have to offer – this is how a site obtains the best ranking and engagement that it can.
Distributing content marketing is generally done in the following ways: email, social media channels, newsletters, and onsite.
How Do I Do It?
Finding Your Niche: A Guide To Running A Successful Blog
Telling a web designer that content is important is a little like getting a writer to deal with numbers; neither of them really like it. However, it’s definitely doable, just follow these simple tips:
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Create a blog and post useful and original information about the industry, topic, or business you are involved or passionate in. Hire a professional blogger to write the content if possible, but if you are passionate about what you are talking about, you will actually learn to enjoy writing it yourself (and it will turn out better too, after practice of course). Be sure to familiarize yourself with SEO (the basics at the very least), and include SEO (search engine optimization) content to improve ranking results and in turn increasing the exposure opportunity of your content which you have worked so hard on.
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You’ll also want to post photos with tags and keywords associated with them, which will also boost the site’s rank in image searches such as you would typically find in Google Images. Videos are also popular on almost every website, especially if they are high-quality and entertaining or informative. Break out your camera and speak your mind – or put your video skills to work to dazzle the audience!
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Offer downloadable white pages and articles to anyone who signs up for an email list or newsletter. This call-to-action tactic helps grow a website’s following. Be sure to offer value.
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Be passionate about what you put out there, market yourself in a way that attracts the type of work or customer that you want. If you put out a bunch of junk, then guess what kind of clients and work you will attract?
A good content marketing plan can mean the difference between being a nobody (literally, your future customers could literally not ever hear of you if you don’t put yourself out there and market a little) and the somebody that you want to become.
More Content Marketing Tips
Need more tips to get your content marketing strategy rolling? Check out these awesome resources to represent yourself or your brand like a professional marketer!
19 Biggest Content Marketing Trends and Tips from #CMWorld 2013
28 Amazing Content Marketing Ideas You Can Use Now
10 Easy Content Marketing Ideas That Don’t Require a Blog, Or A Writing Degree
Content Marketing: Is your design killing your content?
Do you have any marketing tips for fellow designers? Or perhaps you are a writer, or even a developer or scientists or something completely unrelated to marketing – share your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for reading!