What should content marketing for agencies and freelancers look like for it to be effective? There is often confusion surrounding the term content marketing. There are also many different definitions. In this article, I'll explain what it's all about. And which mechanisms perform best.

Definition and differentiation: What is content marketing?

For content marketing to work, you need the right basic attitude. And of course, this is only true if you know what content marketing is intended and suitable for.

The problem starts with the term. Because the more closely you look at content marketing, the clearer it becomes: The word marketing is misleading here. It's all about content. And it should not advertise or even sell anything. Instead, it should do two things above all:

• Attract the right target group to your site
• Achieve a positive change in the attitude of these people towards your company

This sounds quite harmless at first, but it is more difficult than it seems. We'll take a closer look at these points in a moment. First of all, it is important to emphasize: There are various definitions of content marketing. Some even say something like: "All marketing is content marketing."

In my view, that makes little sense. After all, the fact that you also need content for marketing is nothing new. Advertisements, catalogs, brochures: That already existed before the Internet. What is new, however, is that companies are now creating and distributing content that would previously have mainly been found in specialist and guidebook publications.

Content and the customer journey

In other words, what is new is that content marketing starts at the very beginning of the customer journey. Namely, when future customers begin to understand that they have a problem. They have just started looking for a solution. And that's when they hopefully come across your content. They should find you both competent and trustworthy enough to ultimately consider your offers.

This content is therefore planned and implemented from a journalistic perspective. The information needs of the readership are at the forefront. Your content should be useful, helpful and non-promotional. Content marketing is often compared to corporate publishing, which primarily refers to customer magazines.

One major difference, however, is that the entry threshold for content marketing is significantly lower. Another is the incomparably greater potential: outstanding content can reach considerably more people than a printed customer magazine. This is simply due to the fact that such articles can still be found and recommended months and years later - depending on the topic. After all, it's not about filling paper pages again and again. It's about creating by far the best content for the respective issue.

This is then kept fresh and up-to-date over the years instead of constantly creating new content. However, what content marketing and corporate publishing have in common is that sales and marketing are not the main focus here - and success can therefore only be measured indirectly. Let's take a closer look at this in a moment.

Addressing the right target group

Users discover new content in two main ways:

1. You can find it in a search offer (Google, YouTube, Pinterest...)
2. They get recommended (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, e-mail, Messenger...)

Are you involved in SEO? Then of course you know that, depending on the topic, it can be difficult or even impossible to get to the top of the search engines. But there are always alternative options: For example, you concentrate on a more specific question, on a particular point of view or on a highly focused target group. As a simple example: instead of optimizing your website for the keyword "WordPress" in general, you focus on "WordPress websites for real estate agents in Cologne" - because that's one of your specialties.

Ideally, SEO also starts with the research: You should be clear about the main keywords and questions that your content needs to address. If you only optimize your content for search engines like Google afterwards, you will lose a lot of potential.

This initial analysis is very important when it comes to your SEO. Read our step-by-step guides on keyword research and creating an SEO audit.

It is also important to research the competition: What does existing content already cover? How well are they done? What is missing? How can you surpass these posts, videos or graphics so that your content stands out significantly? Because only then do you have a chance of being noticed at all.

Last but not least, it is important to keep the search intention in mind. Because, as explained above, your content marketing should reach people at the very beginning of their customer journey. They may not yet have a clear idea of what they need, what is available on the market and how the individual offers differ from one another.

At the same time, not every topic should be based primarily on SEO. This is because you will naturally only be found for things that your target group is already actively searching for. This is not always the case, especially with innovative solutions.

This is another reason why it is important to consider the "shareability" of your content at the same time: In other words, it should fulfill all the requirements so that it spreads well on the social web. Or so that it can be recommended via other channels such as email and messenger.

Mass-produced goods no longer work

These basics also include ensuring that your content is relevant, interesting and good enough to be recommended in the first place. The demands on content are constantly increasing. If only because the amount of content continues to increase. Replaceable articles and videos are no longer of much use. What everyone can do, everyone is already doing.

For example, your articles and posts need an appealing headline and a nice thumbnail. Because these are the two things that users see on the social web. You should therefore avoid meaningless and random stock photos: They're better than nothing, but I really can't remember how many hand-shaking, smiling office workers I've seen in my life. More than enough, I would say!

A content hub serves as an important point of contact for your content - whether as a freelancer, agency or for other websites. This can be a simple landing page or an elaborate corporate magazine. See Jan's tips on the content hub.

Invest a few extra minutes here to find something that stands out from the usual monotony. Remember that your content only has a few seconds (or fractions of a second) to trigger the hoped-for click. And: these thumbnails must still be effective even when viewed in postage stamp format on a smartphone.

Further tips to increase the shareability of your content:

• Actively encourage people to share content on your website. Share buttons can be implemented in compliance with data protection regulations, for example with the Shariff plugin for WordPress.
• Highlight interesting quotes and statements that can be sent directly as a tweet.
• Include graphics that you would like to post and recommend on Pinterest.

This list could go on and on. The important thing is: The first step is to make the right people aware of you, your social profiles and your page. To do this, you must

1. Know your target group well
2. Then develop the appropriate content
3. Finally, implement these optimally as described

Once you've done that, it's time for the next step in the content marketing process.

Create a positive change

It sounds unspectacular, but your painstakingly created and distributed content should really "only" bring about a positive change in the target group. This is how Robert Rose, among others, describes it in his provocative article for the Content Marketing Institute. Provocative because he calls for an end to measuring the success of content.

But that is only half the truth: Of course we want to measure how successful the content is. However, this is not done using typical measurement figures such as page impressions or clicks. Because at the end of the day, what does it mean for a company if its newsletter has reached 5,000 readers? First of all, nothing at all. Instead, the question is: how do these newsletter subscribers behave differently from other users? What does the ideal behavior of a user actually look like?

Generally speaking, content in content marketing is the beginning of a hopefully longer sequence of actions and further changes in the target group. Content strategist Mirko Lange also sees it this way. He has summarized his findings in this interesting presentation. It's a long way from "We produce content" to "We make more sales and profit". There are rarely shortcuts. Rather, it takes patience to create the desired changes in the thinking and behavior of the target group.

First of all, contact is established - and attention is created. The aim is to strengthen brand confidence. At the same time, you want to ensure that potential customers think of your company first. Ideally, they will then develop a brand preference over time. And only this will ultimately contribute to the company's success and be reflected in higher sales.

Keep readers instead of just gaining them

This sequence also shows that it is not enough to bring the target group to your site once. Once you've done that, you want to keep them. You can do this with the aforementioned newsletter, for example. It may be an old-fashioned tool, but it still works really well in many areas. And you have the great advantage that you own your email distribution list (which you have of course set up in compliance with data protection regulations). No algorithm interferes with your emails. No one is telling you how, when and how often you can reach your prospects.

However, if email is not suitable because your target group prefers other communication channels, for example, then of course you respond to this. The important thing is that your content at the start of the customer journey keeps you in their minds. This can also be achieved via useful downloads or a helpful email series.

For many companies, agencies and freelancers, it is initially a strange idea that they should invest resources in something that does not directly generate revenue. However, this should not be completely unfamiliar to you. After all, customer service has a similar status: its impact can often only be determined indirectly, for example through surveys.

A landing page or product page has it easier: it has a clear purpose that you can measure comparatively easily. A useful, non-promotional guide article, on the other hand, is a different story. How many euros in sales does it generate in the end? When have you achieved the return on investment? That's not so easy to say. In a separate article, I will explain in more detail how the success of content can be measured.

How does your target group decide?

But it is really important that you reach your target group at such an early stage. Otherwise, your potential customers may end up at your competitors first - and ultimately be convinced by their offers and products. Remember: decisions are not made as rationally as we humans like to believe.

• How well looked after does a prospective customer feel?
• How much does this person trust a company?
• How much does she feel understood?

All of this plays a role in the decision.

Content marketing is a lot like a first date: you get to know each other and maybe you arrange a second date. A marriage proposal doesn't usually come after the first few minutes. But that's how some companies behave: No sooner have I arrived on the website than they want me to buy something. This makes no sense, especially with more complex products and offers.

Don't get me wrong: I'm an entrepreneur myself. I know that I have to earn money at the end of the day. But it must also be clear that only some of your own activities contribute directly to sales. Many others don't do that. They have other tasks that are at least as important.