Content marketing allows a website or business to create content that communicates their exact value propositions, in the exact format that they would like. That content can additionally be used for other purposes across their website, social media accounts, print materials, etc. Content marketing typically covers all or most of the marketing funnel, from brand building, education and awareness to purchase decision-making and post-purchase activity. The relatively low cost, broad scope and flexibility of content marketing make it an effective and efficient online advertising strategy.

Content marketing can be performed using your website, blog posts, online articles and guides, infographics, videos, podcasts and other online materials. All that’s needed are digital assets that can be showcased to new and existing customers, and ideally provide them with some type of value. While this content is a great place to speak to your business and your value proposition, it’s recommended that the majority of the content focus on educating the user or providing other value, so that the user can refer to and rely on the content in future rather than only seeing it as a marketing tool.

Content marketing can be utilized across your website, social media, email lists, and other online channels and platforms. There’s no limit to where and how often you can showcase your best digital material to educate and engage users. A content marketing strategy is strongly recommended so that users are exposed to your content in a logical and increasingly beneficial way. Consider as an example a dental office that uses social media channels to showcase its new website with online booking functionality, emails its existing customer base an online discount code that applies to appointments booked online, and follows up with each customer who books an online appointment with a confirmation email and reminder text message a few days before their appointment.

By utilizing a content marketing strategy and relevant tracking code and analytics, websites and businesses can track their content marketing performance in granular detail. Analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager can offer insights into whether a particular goal was achieved, like the click of a button on your website or a visit to a particular page on your website, while email marketing tools like MailChimp and SendGrid provide insights like email open rates and click-through rates, and much more.

Some of the limitations of content marketing apply to the content that’s created, and some limitations exist within the tracking and analytics tools used to monitor content marketing activities. While online content can certainly encourage further action, without an attached incentive like a discount or sale, and without follow up communication, users are more likely to simply continue browsing online. Within certain tracking and analytics tools, the creation and monitoring of specific goals and actions can be technically challenging and tedious. Finally, complex online content creation and development, such as video development or the creation of a new website can be more costly than traditional online blogs and articles.