The content marketing It is one of the digital marketing strategies that is based on offering valuable content to the reader in exchange for their time invested in reading. But how do you do content marketing when you’re losing the habit of reading?
In order to learn about this topic, I interviewed Hugo Juarez, Director of Content Marketing at Another Company, a public relations and content marketing agency. Hugo, who has a degree in Communication, has more than 15 years of experience creating and editing digital content for different audiences, he is also a specialist in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Another Company agency was founded in 2005, its clients include Mercado Libre, Prada, Burberry and Porsche.
-What is content marketing?
—Content marketing is a technique that helps us to attract people who are interested in some product or service, but in some organic way. Put very simply, it is establish a relationship of trust through content that works for you. It has to be valuable content. This will cause there to be trust between the author or sender of that message and those who are reading it (the different audiences).
The value content It can be the one that people look for to entertain themselves, provoke a smile or an emotion. Other valuable content is the one that helps to solve a problem, obtain a tip, solve a need, etc. Then through the content they meet their needs in a organic waythat people do not feel that they are being sold something or that there is a relationship of interest to achieve an exchange that matters to the brand for commercial purposes.
Content marketing is interested in creating trust and closeness. Although there is a commercial intention, at first people should not see it that way. If so, it would not be a true relationship and it would not bring the marketing results we seek.
—In what formats is this valuable content delivered?
—There are several ways, the simplest is to start by telling you how valuable content is NOT delivered and that is through advertising. We at Content Marketing do not advertise, we do not do any type of campaign, neither printed, nor in audio, nor television commercials; That’s a different branch of marketing.
Where yes? There are many different formats and depends a lot on the audience, where they are and how we want to reach them. There are some very important ones that are specialized like ebooks Y white papers (document that addresses a topic in depth). For the general public we have blogs, podcast that currently have a lot of boom, infographics. Another option is collaborations and columns in some media
To access the content, on some occasions, the reader must leave their contact information. In others, they are totally free access. It is very important that the content is free. If people have to pay, the same relationship is no longer generated.
“Although the content is free, the author is asking for something in return: the reader’s time.”
Time is the most valuable thing that we human beings have and more so in this time where we live so busy. The person who sends the message (author) must be aware that yes you are getting something in return. And that time is valuable; That is why you must create useful and valuable content, so that people think: “It was worth the minutes that I dedicated to you of my busy day and you gave me something of value.”
—How to make people read more than one paragraph on a web page?
—We have seen in different studies and surveys that we have done in Another (Another Company) that people do read, but we have to look for content that is of value. The most important question to be resolved from marketing is where are these audiences, where are they reading and why do they read what they read?
Fortunately, everyone has the freedom to choose the sources of information or the ways in which they want to be entertained… we can read a book, watch a streaming series… What makes us choose one or the other? It is right where the content that interests us is.
The first thing that the sender of the message must solve is to know what the audience wants and create the content they are looking for? Fortunately today, digital agethere are many tools that allow us to measure and learn many things about our readers and our audience… what are they reading, why do they read it, how much time do they spend reading it, when do they get bored, what things do they avoid (for example advertising)?
These are the digital tools that we can use to increase reading, to know exactly what do people like and avoid or reduce the possibility of being stopped reading.
The common denominator is the value content, as we have already mentioned. You always have to be aware that you have to leave something to the audiences who are already giving you their time.
—How do you hook the audience so that they read you again?
—You always have to have a content strategy. We at Another handle a lot of storytelling. The storytelling It consists of very basic stages that we all learn from primary or secondary school: approach, climax Y outcome. This can be applied in many ways. For example in a tutorial, when you tell a story, when you want to explain things that we already know in a new way, etc.
That causes the audiences to get hooked. You don’t give all the input information, but you go dosing. Maybe in the same text if you have approach (or beginning), climax and outcome. It is useful so that people do not feel disappointed and think that they have already invested a few minutes and did not receive the explanation, but a promise to continue with the information.
It is important that in the pieces of content (blog, podcast, infographic) a conclusion is reached. The interesting thing about content marketing is that people see that you have much more to say, that you know them and that you position yourself as an expert, making them understand that you can help them more or that you can give them more.
In content marketing you have to be constant and have a lot of patience. The results they will see each other medium and long term as in any relationship. I see it as a friendship or even a romantic relationship. Obviously from the outset you are not going to give everything and the results will be seen in the medium or long term. It won’t happen overnight.
—What is the difference between content marketing and SEO (organic positioning)?
They are two different things but they complement each other. The SEO They are a series of actions that can be done to position yourself in internet search engines, mainly in Google. One of the tools that you have to position yourself is precisely content marketing, through blogs, infographics, images.
Content marketing is not the only tool you have for SEO. In SEO it is also important what happens “behind” at the code level of websites, what people do not see, the “nuts”. What it has to do with metadata, labels, applying bold… all those things that Google takes into account. Content marketing is what people consume.
Content marketing has a lot to do with inbound marketing because it attracts audiences, unlike outbound, which is more traditional advertising such as billboards, radio or television ads.
—Is there a digital format that, according to your experience, works better to provoke reading?
-It depends on many factors. We have seen over the last few years that long content is content that people reject. You can hook people with a good story. Although there are many distractions on the internet, if it is a good story or content that is leaving something to the reader, you can captivate them.
As I mentioned before, today the podcast is booming. It is a personal experience, it is an activity that you do sometimes in moments of solitude, for example when you are in the gym, at home doing your chores, in your car. It is a format that catches people because it has their attention, people look for it to keep them company.
Infographics are also very useful because they condense the information. It is easy to consume because it has clear points. It is ideal for people who are more visual or who do not have much time or for those topics that can be complicated or cumbersome.
Another format is interactive websites, which tell a story or show graphics that are consistent with what you are reading, in some you can click to enlarge the image. They are formats that have to do with the way video games are developed, gamification.