Once upon a time, in a world of tech companies and digital marketing, content marketers at software companies struggled to reach their potential customers. They had great software products but didn't market them to their target audience effectively, knowing how to sell to them. That was until the rise of the content marketing platform.
With the help of content marketing platforms, software companies were able to create and distribute content that resonated with their potential customers. These platforms allowed marketers to build their brands, establish thought leadership, and generate leads through valuable content. Suddenly, software companies were no longer just selling products but providing solutions to their customers' pain points. In this blog, we will explore the world of content marketing for software companies and how they can leverage this powerful tool to connect with their target audience and drive business growth.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a strategic approach to creating and distributing valuable content that attracts and retains a clearly defined audience. The ultimate goal is to drive profitable customer action, such as lead generation, customer acquisition, or brand awareness.
For software companies, content marketing can be a powerful tool to showcase your expertise and thought leadership in your industry. By creating informative, educational, or entertaining content, you can establish your company as a trusted authority and build a loyal following of potential customers. This type of content can come in many forms, including blog posts, e-books, whitepapers, webinars, videos, podcasts, and more.
However, it's important to note that content marketing is not a one-time campaign or a quick fix. It's a long-term strategy that requires consistency, patience, and a deep understanding of your audience's needs and preferences.
With the right content marketing approach, your software company can create a strong online presence, generate quality leads, and drive business growth.
Scroll down to learn content marketing in three simple steps.
But First, Try This
Pull up the latest piece of content released by your brand. It can be anything from a Facebook post to a webinar you hosted.
Below are the essential characteristics of effective content marketing. Apply your piece of content to each of the traits. Give each part a rating from 1 to 10, with consistency being the best.
Relatability – From 1 to 10, how well will my target audience relate to this material?
Value to Consumers – From 1 to 10, how much will my target audience want or value this information?
Brand Consistency – From 1 to 10, how well does it reflect my brand and mission?
Marketing Strategy Consistency—incredible – From 1 to 10, how important is this content to my overall marketing strategy? How well does it work to meet my marketing goals?
Differentiation – From 1 to 10, how well does this content set my brand apart from competitors generating similar material?
Relevance – From 1 to 10, how well does this content fit in the current world?
Now, add up your rating scores from each characteristic above to produce a total Content Marketing rating score for your brand's content.
55+
Your content's total rating score was over 55. You rock. Follow this guide to help validate your content marketing strategy and improve your process.
40-55
Your content's total rating score was between 45 and 55—an incredible effort. You must have a strong brand in place. Follow this guide to improve your content marketing strategy and ensure you utilize your firm foundation.
25-40
Your content's total rating score was between 25 and 40. The bad news is your content marketing strategy could use improvement. The good news is that it won't be difficult or time-consuming. Follow this guide to learn where and how your system can impact your brand.
Under 25
Your content's total rating score was less than 25. You probably haven't yet implemented a content marketing strategy. Don't worry; follow this guide for everything you need: a starting place, a process, and the know-how.
Quality storytelling will get you everywhere in content marketing, but one way to get 10s across the board is to hire a StoryBrand guide.
The more consumers' attention costs, the higher their expectations get.
When it comes to content creation, keep quality at the forefront. One sure way to lose potential consumers is to release content no one wants to see.
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to tackle content marketing for your business.
Step 1: Choose Your Content
Before driving down a content highway, it is essential to choose a direction. There is no template for content marketing because your content must fit your business.
If you are unsure where to start, look at similar companies. But maybe don't reference your direct competitors – we don't want to distract you in the middle of a mission!
Search for what content companies release in another region or country. Discover the content companies are publishing with similar business models yet different products. Check out the most successful companies in the world.
Once you understand what's out there, you'll see what will work for your business. If a similar company hosts a blog, does it have any comments? Are consumers engaging with the content? Do you think the strategy you see is serving your competitors' marketing needs?
Articles, Blogs, & e-Books
While there's no exact content marketing template for any business, published articles and website blogs are a popular place to begin if your business relies on webpage conversions (a browser that turns into a customer) or searchability. Furthermore, e-books can be an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tool if you have the writers or budget.
Social Media
Social media should be a no-brainer if your business relies on reach or simply getting in front of more people. With the ever-growing social media, you must choose the right place to focus your social media efforts.
Edu-marketing
If your marketing goals include educating consumers or building credibility, consider generating content in the form of infographics, white papers, or case studies.
Video
When you start researching and building a marketing arsenal for your business, you'll quickly realize we are all just trying to keep up with the big players. Algorithms change constantly. Currently, Google and Facebook are vying for video views. Podcasts, informative audio/video presentations, animation videos, or even question/answer interviews are all video content you should consider for your brand's marketing goals.
Email Marketing
Depending on your business size and information-gathering techniques, you may have access to your customer's email addresses or general email address leads. Consider launching a well-strategized email newsletter campaign as part of your content marketing plan.
Email newsletters will require additional care to maintain the authenticity of content marketing. For example, these emails cannot be a sales pitch. Your email campaign must be relatable, valuable, and relevant.
As you consider the options, don't forget to take notes. Record your findings and rank the types of content marketing as having value for your target audience. Be sure to develop a process around your strategy creation.
Quality must remain at the forefront of content marketing regardless of where you focus.
Step 2: Let Your Keywords Drive
Keywords: a reality we all must face. If you want your content to be discovered by your target audience, you must ensure your content marketing can be searched.
What is your customer likely to type into Google when looking for your product or service?
When you start looking into keywords, you'll see the words long tail and short tail…or long tail or longtail. Sadly, we haven't entirely decided on the written lingo yet.
Long tail keywords are more specific and targeted, often more likely to lead to website conversions. However, they may get less search traffic. Applying your overall marketing goals to your content marketing strategy is the best way to determine which keywords are your best.
Just Start
Open up a document and start typing. This is hands-down the best way to approach a strong keyword list. No one knows your customer better than you. Dig deep!
Use creative thinking techniques to master your keywords.
Yes, and?
If you think "shiny" is a strong keyword for your product, say "Yes, and?" to help discover further descriptors you may not think of right away. Shiny and sparkling.
Ping Pong
Find a friend and bounce keywords back and forth to further your ideas. You say sit; I say chill. You say comfortable; I say cozy.
Speed Not Quality
Set a timer and give yourself a minimum number of keywords to list. Even if they are terrible, get them out by the buzzer. You may be surprised how useful the terrible ones are when modifying and improving them.
The keywords you list using your knowledge and understanding of your business will likely be the best keywords in your cache.
Once you've exhausted your list, research tools are online to help you find more.
To improve your Google search ranking with content marketing, you must help Google help consumers. One way is to include as many "relevant" keywords as possible.
First, identify the right keywords. Second, expand those keywords to include relevant keywords. Pro tip: There are online research tools to help find appropriate keywords.
Pretty soon, you'll be keyworded up!
Step 3: Arrive at Your Subject
Now that you know where your content marketing is headed and what it needs to include to be effective, it's time to list content subjects.
Remember: Quality is at the forefront of all content marketing strategies. Your instinct may be to sell. If you have your business, chances are you're good at selling them. However, for a content strategy to be effective, it must contain quality content.
Now is not the time to sell; it's the time to create more value for your customers in a new way.
With Step 1 and Step 2 complete, you know where the content is going and what words it needs to include.
The subjects you publish content about should meet the following criteria:
Goal-Oriented
Topics such as reach or brand awareness must drive toward meeting your marketing goals. To increase customer engagement, highly specific email newsletters are likely better than mass-appeal blog posts.
Placement
Content topics must make sense for the placement or platform on which the content will exist. For example, don't write what may as well be a whole e-book within a Facebook post.
Keywords
Content topics must make sense once they include the keywords you need. Consumers are smarter than you think. If you throw keywords in silly places, they'll notice.
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Quality at the Forefront
Content topics must be relatable, valuable, and relevant to your target audience.
With your current information, you'll be surprised by how simple it is to choose subjects likely to result in successful campaigns. The light at the end of your content tunnel is shiny and sparkling.
Content Marketing is made simple in three easy steps.
But before you go, let's try one.
Apples to Apples Scenario Pretend you own a local apple orchard, and your goal is to increase sales. You need to get new customers to visit and pick apples. You have a great website with plenty of information.
Your marketing objective is to expand your reach and build brand awareness. You feel confident if people are aware of your website, they'll visit your orchard.
Content Marketing Made Simple Step 1: Check!
You discovered through Step 1 that adding a blog to your website holds the most opportunity for you to meet your marketing objective and access your target audience. You plan to expand your content marketing into Instagram by sharing and linking (in bio) your new blog posts and committing to a regular posting schedule.
Content Marketing Made Simple Step 2: Check!
You listed keywords in Step 2 that show you need to publish content.
family・healthy・outdoor・activities・Insta-worthy・scenery・cider・pie
Content Marketing Made Simple Step 3: Test Your Knowledge.
Which of these six blog subjects will most likely be effective content marketing topics for Apples to Apple Orchard?
1. 6 Insta-worthy Excursions – list six different day trips in the region with beautiful scenery
2. Orchard Apples Make the Best Pie – write a testimonial about fresh-from-orchard apples and how they produce the best-tasting homemade pies
3. Family-Friendly Activities for Big Families – describe three fun activities that are cheap and easy for a family of five or more
4. Get Outside: A Day Away from Screens – write an interesting blog about a day without a phone, computer, or tv screen
5. Apples to Apples Best Grams – showcase ten Instagram photos of your orchard
6. 10 Local Drinks You Can't Miss – list ten different beverages in the area only available locally (include cider)
Kind of tricky, huh? Try thinking about what your audience would want to know.
In this case, 1, 3, 4, and 6 are the better subjects.
Some may want to see the best of the orchard's Instagram shots. It's also true some people may be interested in why you think orchard apples are better. Yet, many more people will search for the other four topics above.
No marketer will be successful 100% of the time with every campaign. Just like my poor retainer, there will be fire and failure.
Luckily, it is possible to try, test, win, lose, and ultimately, reach your audience with content marketing. Just make sure you keep a couple of extra ideas in the box.
Benefits of Content Marketing for Software Companies
The benefits of content marketing for software companies are numerous. By using content marketing software and marketing automation, software companies can streamline their content production processes and ensure their content reaches their potential customers at the right time in the customer journey. This can be especially useful for companies with a long sales cycle, as they can use content marketing to nurture leads and build relationships with potential customers over time.
In addition to traditional content formats like blog posts and e-books, software companies can leverage interactive content and influencer marketing to engage their audience and increase brand awareness. Interactive content, such as quizzes and surveys, can be a fun and interactive way to educate potential customers about your products or services. Meanwhile, influencer marketing can help your software company tap into new audiences and build credibility through endorsements from industry experts.
Social media marketing is another key component of software companies' successful content marketing strategy. By sharing your content on social media platforms, you can expand your reach and engage with your audience more informally and conversationally. This can be especially useful for building brand awareness and creating a community of loyal followers.
To reap the full benefits of content marketing, software companies should start with a solid content plan that aligns with their overall marketing goals and audience needs. By creating a content roadmap and regularly evaluating your content performance, you can refine your strategy and create content that truly resonates with your target audience.
Get Started with Content Marketing Today!
Whether you're just starting with content marketing or looking to take your strategy to the next level, there's no better time to get started. If you're ready to take your software company's digital marketing to the next level with content marketing, let Caffeine Marketing help you unlock its full potential.
Contact us today to learn more about our services and start your journey toward content marketing success!
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