What is Content Marketing? Beginner’s Guide

Content Marketing

May 30

Written By Emily

If you’ve ever written a blog, shared a post on social media, or created any content for your business…you’ve already started content marketing.

But there is a world of difference between randomly posting with no real plan and creating a strategic content marketing plan.

So, let’s take it back to basics and look at the content marketing meaning, easy content marketing tips, and my exact content marketing plan you can snag for your service business.

Content Marketing Meaning

Content marketing isn’t complicated. It’s just a specific type of digital marketing that involves creating content to share online.

So, if you’ve ever written a blog, posted on Instagram, shared a tutorial on YouTube, or created a custom graphic for your business, you’ve already dipped your toes into the shiny world of content marketing.

The goal of content marketing isn’t to promote your brand. The goal is to stimulate interest and build brand awareness by building authority, trust, and credibility.

Of course, you can’t just post randomly on your website and social media pages and expect to see results. It takes planning and some clear goals.

When done correctly, content marketing for SEO will boost sales, client inquiries, and new followers. Guaranteed.

Content Marketing Benefits

If you’re already working on social media marketing, ads, or referral marketing, why would you want to add another marketing strategy to your business plan?

Applying a strategic content marketing plan to your website has some valuable benefits.

Clients stick around longer

service provider using content marketing

If your website is just a homepage, about page, contact page, and service page, you’ll find it incredibly hard to get a consistent stream of new client inquiries.

Trust me, I’ve been there. When I first launched my website, all it had was the basic pages. It didn’t generate any traffic, and I just used it to explain my services to potential clients. What a waste.

Your website needs high-quality, valuable content that keeps visitors on your site for longer to appear in organic searches and generate thousands of visitors every month.

Imagine a steady stream of ideal clients finding your website organically every month. That’s the power of a content marketing strategy.

sale

Builds trust and brand awareness

Writing content in a specific niche establishes you as the expert on that subject. The more content you have on your website, the more trust you build with potential clients.

It’s much easier to sell to people who already know, like, and trust you. Content marketing is the channel that allows you to establish yourself as a trusted expert.

Makes social media a breeze

Ever get stuck on what to post on social media? It can feel like a never-ending conveyor belt of churning out content to stay relevant in rankings.

With a well-planned content marketing strategy, you’ll always have fresh ideas for new posts, and everything you put out will align with your services and business goals.

boosts conversion rates for your services

It takes visitors eight touch points with your brand before they’ll feel ready to buy from you.

That’s at least eight different times they need to find you online and engage with your content to build enough trust.

With a solid content marketing strategy, you’ll have plenty of content for potential clients to interact with, which means they’ll move through your funnel more effectively.

Establishes you as an expert in your niche

Content marketing is an essential strategy if you want to be known as an industry leader.

Industry experts are known for their deep insights and knowledge on specific topics. What better way to showcase that knowledge than with a website filled with blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, eBooks, and more?

Content Marketing Examples

service provider working on her content marketing

So, what can you include in your content marketing plan?

Any online content will work for a content marketing strategy. Here are some content marketing examples:

Blog Posts
Videos/Reels
Infographics
Podcasts
Newsletter Blasts
Graphics
eBooks
Digital downloads

The key is finding the type of content that you love to produce.

It takes consistent, high-value content to make a content marketing plan successful. You need something you can commit to long-term and continue to pour passion into.

If you absolutely hate writing, it’s pointless trying to build a successful business around blogging.

Likewise, if the idea of filming videos makes you cringe, don’t include video in your website content plan.

Find a content style that speaks to you as a business owner, and you’ll quickly attract a tribe of people who love what you create

For me, that’s blog writing. I love the process of writing fresh blog posts, creating graphics, and making them as valuable as I can for readers.

But I don’t have nearly the same passion for speaking, so a podcast could never work for me.

Don’t feel the need to emulate what another business owner is doing just because they’ve found success in it. The only way to build long-term success in your content marketing is to find what works for you.

Mistakes to Avoid When Using Content Marketing for SEO

Before we dive into a simple content marketing strategy you can steal for your business, let’s look at some common mistakes that could hold you back.

Lack of strategy

When you’re just starting out with content marketing, you’ll have a million different ideas and feel overwhelmed by the idea of crafting a long-term content strategy.

But before you start creating content for the sake of it, think about your end goal.

What do you want to achieve with your online business? And here’s where you need to get specific:

Book 5 clients on a monthly retainer for my bespoke services.
Sell 10 spots each month on my online mastermind.
Generate my first 10K newsletter subscribers by the end of this year.
Sell 1000 copies of my eBook within 6 months.
Hit 10K monthly visitors to start making money from ad revenue.

With a clear goal in mind, you can begin crafting content that funnels people toward that goal.

And the content you create will differ depending on your goal:

If you want newsletter sign-ups, you’ll need a high-value freebie and content that promotes it.
If you want to build ad revenue, you need hundreds of high-value blog posts to generate organic traffic.
If you want to sell a course, you’ll need videos, blogs, or social media posts highlighting the value and success stories inside it.

Unclear target audience

Who are you selling to? If you’re thinking, “Everyone!” I need you to be much more specific.

For example, my content is for small business owners who want to book more clients but struggle with content marketing and SEO.

None of my content resonates with large companies or agencies, but it does attract entrepreneurs and creatives who are just starting out—and that’s exactly what I want it to do.

Too generic or low-quality content

I tell my clients to write at least 1-2 blog posts weekly to see tangible results from their content marketing strategy.

The more content you have, the more chances you have to rank for different keywords.

But that doesn’t mean you should be focusing on quantity over quality.

If you pump out dozens of low-quality, short blog posts every week, you might slip under Google’s radar and start ranking in searches, but you won’t book new clients or see results from ad revenue.

People want valuable information, in-depth insights, and expert opinions. It takes time to generate quality information, but it’s the only way you’ll see results from your content marketing strategy.

No promotion strategy

Creating content is just the first half of the puzzle. The second is your promotion tactics.

You can’t post a new blog or create a new video and expect views to come flooding in. You need to actively promote your content to drive traffic.

I like to use Pinterest to promote my blogs and Instagram to build brand awareness.

Again, find the right platforms for you and your services. This is a long-term effort, so don’t pick a platform you hate because you feel like you should be on it.

I was on TikTok for all of 5 minutes and ended up deleting the app. I hated it. I resonated more with the slow, content-rich platform Pinterest offers bloggers.

Not optimising for SEO

To show up in Google search results, your content needs to be optimised with keywords. Without them, Google won’t know what your content is about, and no one will ever find it in SERPs.

But your keyword strategy is just one piece of the SEO puzzle. There’s technical SEO, linking strategy, UX, and much more.

Clueless about SEO optimisation? You need the Ultimate SEO Playbook – the all-in-one DIY SEO guide for small business owners! This 40+ page PDF will take you through the entire process of optimising your website SEO in less than a week.

The Simple Content Marketing Plan for Beginners

To create a content marketing plan, you need to know:

What kind of content you’re going to produce.
Where you’re going to share it.
When you’re going to share it.

Once you’ve nailed all three, you can create a content calendar and start implementing it.

Here’s a sneak peek at my weekly content marketing plan—feel free to snag it and customise it for your website.

Every piece of content you share online should have a purpose. For my website, my content serves one of three purposes:

Drive sign-ups for my newsletter using my freebie: Anatomy of a High-Converting Service Page.
Onboard new clients for my Website Copy Audit Service
Sell my DIY digital products

When you have clear goals for your content marketing plan, you can craft content with a clear purpose.

As a service provider, you should have the same three goals as me:

Get sign-ups for your newsletter (subscribers are your most loyal fans and the easiest ones to sell to).
Generate new clients for your services.
Sell digital products (these are a great way to diversify your website income streams).

Now all you have to do is create valuable, informative content that helps your ideal clients. If you’re struggling to come up with blog ideas, here are 26 high-converting blog content ideas for service providers.

Want to Know if Your Content Marketing Efforts are Working?

Struggling to create content that converts visitors into excited clients? I totally get it. We can be so close to our content that it’s hard to figure out how to make it better.

Is it valuable enough? Are people engaging with it? Do potential clients understand your offers? Is it selling?

If you’re second-guessing your content, a website content audit is perfect for you! Check out what’s involved in a website content audit here.