Your Guide to Content Marketing and Research
May 02, 2023
10 min read
As content marketers and DTC business owners, we all are well aware of the importance of research in the creation of successful campaigns. Not only does it help us understand the audience better, but it also helps to develop insight and inform our strategies. However, one has to be honest with themselves and admit that it can indeed be one of the most time-consuming and costly steps of the process. The love-hate relationship that all business owners and marketers share with research is a common struggle. It is intangibly involved in predicting the future of your campaign, which is why the thought of avoiding research altogether and jumping into creating content is definitely a sign of having an agile mindset. One can simply not replace the time assigned to doing one’s due diligence with a hit and trial approach and guesses. It is one of the prime reasons why content marketing can completely miss the mark or come across as unoriginal and tone-deaf.
In this blog post, we'll explore why balancing short and long-term planning is essential in creating a successful content marketing strategy.
Content Marketing is a Marathon
Digital marketing has much to answer for when it comes to perpetuating a short-term tactical view. E-commerce and lead generation are often the culprits. While digital marketing has its place in the marketing toolkit, it can distract us with the overwhelming information that doesn't tell us the full story.
Behavioral data is crucial in benchmarking performance marketing or powering predictive models and personalized experiences. However, it has a limited capacity to reveal what people are thinking, why they're thinking it, what they desire or need, and how they view the category, brand, or communication.
Trusting our gut and putting something in the market to observe what happens can be tempting. However, brands aren't built in the short term. They grow over the long term with a commitment to a central idea and strategic pillars executed consistently. It's crucial to nail our position, proposition and messaging framework before investing time, effort and money into content marketing, especially if our business is ready to embrace a publishing mindset.
The W’s You Need to Win
There is a lot to unpack in the importance of long-term brand building and how it serves as the foundation of our perspective on exceptional content marketing and publishing. Thus, it is of absolute importance that we place great emphasis on thoroughly examining both sides of a situation.
The excerpt above may seem digressive, but let’s connect to the topic at hand. Research is a vital tool in powering your content marketing operations and informing your strategic planning. In fact, there are certain scenarios where conducting research is absolutely essential. These situations include:
Strategy
There are a few questions that you need to first pose to yourself and then strive to answer in every phase of content marketing and research. These are the W’s that will eventually spell out your win.
When you find yourself at the first rung of the tall ladder of content strategy, these are a few of the things you must think about.
What is your motivation behind publishing content?
What are you going to use to position your brand against the competition?
Review
There is a lot of thought that needs to go when you are reviewing the market landscape and identifying the category trends. It's important to take a thorough and thoughtful approach. This involves conducting research on the industry, analyzing consumer behavior and preferences, identifying key players in the market, and keeping an eye on emerging trends and technologies. By taking the time to do this research, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience and the competitive landscape, and develop strategies that are tailored to their specific needs and goals. This process can be complex and time-consuming, but it is a critical step in building a successful content marketing strategy that resonates with your audience and sets your brand apart from competitors.
Ask yourself,
- What is the view of the market?
- Who are you competing against?
- What is their mode of operation?
- Where do their gaps lie?
Audience
Audience research is an important aspect of any marketer’s journey, as it provides valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and needs. Personal development and customer journey mapping are important aspects.
By understanding who your target audience is, what motivates them, and how they engage with your brand throughout the buying process, you can create more effective messaging and content that resonates with their needs and interests. Persona development involves creating detailed profiles of your ideal customers, including information about their demographics, interests, pain points, and buying behaviors. Customer journey mapping, on the other hand, involves visualizing the steps customers take when interacting with your brand, from initial awareness to final purchase and beyond. By incorporating these insights into your content marketing strategy, you can create more targeted and personalized content that drives engagement, conversions, and customer loyalty.
Ask yourself;
- Who is your brand going to engage with?
- What are their needs?
- What is working and what can be improved?
- What are the obvious gaps?
Audits
Content Audits are important to identify the gaps between your strategy and the desired impact you wish to have on your audience. By conducting a content audit, you can determine what content is working well, what needs improvement, and what should be removed entirely. This process can also help you ensure that your content is aligned with your brand's values and messaging. Ultimately, a content audit can improve the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts and increase your impact on your target audience.
Ask yourself;
- What are your current publishing activity and content hubs?
- What had been working well?
- Why are there gaps?
Approaches You Can Follow
For readers who are still following along, you may find yourself nodding in agreement with the philosophy of long-term brand building. However, the many questions raised could also leave them feeling overwhelmed about where to begin and the level of effort required.
Fortunately, there are some straightforward and effective ways to inform content marketing strategies without breaking the bank, although they may require an investment of time or the assistance of an agency partner.
For Brands
1. Focus Groups and Interviews
The employees of a brand possess the most intimate knowledge of its values and mission. Therefore, engaging with them is an effective way to gain insights into the brand. One-on-one conversations are valuable, but group discussions or workshops can also be useful. The main goal is to uncover the unique qualities that allow the brand to fulfill its promise and distinguish itself from competitors. This information can be utilized to develop content and story ideas, as well as to inform the design of experiences and solutions that leverage the expertise of in-house personnel or technology.
2. Social Listening
While brand tracking studies can provide valuable insights, listening tools are a more effective means of gaining unfiltered perspectives as they tap into public conversations. By calibrating the software to identify relevant mentions, it is possible to gain a better understanding of a brand's perception and diagnose any potential barriers or issues. Product review sites are also useful in this regard. However, it is important to be mindful of the fact that social media tends to capture outliers, including extremely positive and negative viewpoints.
For the Market
1. Conventional Research
Market and category research is an essential component of any content marketing strategy. One effective approach is to leverage case studies, reports, articles, and opinion pieces from reputable industry databases, global consultancies, and category leaders. These sources can provide valuable insights into the latest trends and best practices, as well as help identify opportunities for differentiation.
Networking with professional groups and membership organizations can also be fruitful, as it can offer access to individuals who are knowledgeable about the industry and willing to share their experiences and perspectives.
In addition to these methods, a simple Google search can yield a wealth of relevant news articles. However, it is important to filter the results to focus on more timely content. By combining these approaches, content marketers can stay informed and up-to-date on industry trends and best practices, allowing them to create content that resonates with their target audience.
For the Customers
1. Surveys
To gain insights into the thoughts, feelings, and needs of your target market (including both current and potential customers), one effective strategy is to conduct surveys. Surveys are a form of primary research that can be easily developed in-house, using cost-effective platforms like Typeform or powerful enterprise software like Qualtrics. When designing a survey, it is important to carefully consider the research question and any hypotheses that may inform the survey design and questions. Additionally, it is crucial to be clear about data collection and analysis methods to ensure that the survey results are reliable and accurate.
By leveraging surveys as a tool for primary research, businesses can gain valuable insights into the needs and preferences of their target audience, which can inform the development of content marketing strategies and initiatives that resonate with their customers.
2. Keyword Research (based on topics)
SEMrush and Buzzsumo are powerful tools that can help content marketers gain insights into the topics people are searching for and engaging with. By integrating Google tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, marketers can gain an even deeper understanding of their audience and the content that resonates with them. Keyword research is a critical component of a successful content marketing strategy, and it requires a balance of both art and science. For content marketers who prioritize SEO marketing, regular keyword research is essential to inform their strategy and optimize their editorial plan.
By leveraging tools like SEMrush and Buzzsumo, content marketers can gain a competitive edge by understanding their audience's needs and preferences, identifying popular topics and keywords, and developing content that resonates with their target audience while also meeting the demands of search engine algorithms.
In conclusion
Research plays a critical role in the development of successful content marketing strategies. It is important to strike a balance between short and long-term planning to avoid short-sighted tactics and develop a consistent and strategic content plan that resonates with our audience. By partnering with a trusted agency like Saffron Edge, businesses can benefit from expert research, planning, and execution to build a brand that resonates with their target audience over the long term. Contact Saffron Edge today to learn more about how we can help you develop a winning content marketing strategy.
10 Most Effective Ways to Supercharge Your DTC Strategy
Direct-to-Customer (or D2C) marketing has gained significant momentum in the digital space. The COVID pandemic has launched its popularity to the top. Still, the change in patterns could be observed even before the global pandemic when large and small companies began shifting to this mode and expelling all intermediaries to establish a direct connection with the customers. D2C marketing has especially become the norm as it provides a lot of control and supervision over the entirety of the process. It helps a business achieve the desired goals and conversion. Along with this, DTC also helps in cutting costs down significantly while providing you with great insights that shall help you in adjusting your sales and DTC Performance marketing styles. Digital marketing, by itself, gives you great avenues when it comes to tracking progress. DTC enhances this and helps your efforts to get even more streamlined, resulting in great profits and a general boom in the business. But first, let’s understand DTC growth potential a little better. Direct-to-consumer marketing stays true to its name and lets you reach out to the consumers without needing an intermediary. Otherwise, brands using intermediaries or go-betweens is a common practice. Under DTC, the brand controls the entire trajectory of their product, from creating awareness to final purchase and then building up brand loyalty among their customer. 10 Most Effective Ways to Supercharge your DTC Strategy Brand Personality The Internet makes things easier while simultaneously making them difficult. And its duality lies in the paradox of its accessibility. It is accessible to everyone, making the market an even and leveled ground for all. One product never stays unique and shall always have competitors. So what shall make you special? What makes customers connect with your product? The answer is your Brand. Customers nowadays seek the experience just as much as they seek the product and services you offer. So building up an authentic and fitting brand personality to moonlight as your online presence is just as important as the product/service itself. Social Media Marketing Social Media has slowly had the entire world in a chokehold. Utilizing it in the best ways possible can guarantee great results for you. Owing to its popularity and accessibility, it is a great, if not, one of the primary tools in your arsenal if you’re aiming to establish a direct relationship with your customer. When it comes to Social Media Marketing, consistency is key. It is generic advice, but that doesn't make it any less true. Unique and consistent content works very well to keep the interest of the followers/potential customers. It keeps them engaged. Emailers Email Marketing has become an essential technique in direct-to-customer marketing. After social media, it is one of the most important ways of forming a connection in the digital world. Working to amplify your email list can be a tedious uphill journey, but it is just as rewarding. The conversion of an email subscriber to a customer is slow, but it provides you long-term results. Automated emails make the process a lot more personal to Enhance Customer Retention, which is the eventual goal of DTC. It makes the shopper’s experience personalized, which may increase the chances of repurchasing and further word-of-mouth. Customer Testimonials User-generated content (UGC) is one of the best strategies to imply as it not only boosts your brand but also makes it more relatable and trustable to the potential market. UGC focuses on the highly personal experience of one said customer and helps to encourage a potential customer to approach the product in a different and much more pleasing light. And even before, UGC customer testimonials have always been the way to build faith in the label. Influencer Marketing When it comes to establishing a brand, it is important to paint a picture, and authenticity is one of the most important aspects of it to a customer. However, this is easier said than done, as it is difficult to establish a positive brand image. This is where influencer marketing becomes a viable option in the DTC sphere. It helps you leverage an existing figure’s trustability and authenticity for your brand. Influencers become key to your brand imaging, so it is essential that you find the ones that best align with your product and its ideation. Because with these boxes ticked, you will already have an audience that will have the need for your product. Basically, you will be paying for results rather than impressions. Customization Ready-made products dominate the market, which makes custom products a unique experience that also ends up catering to an individual in the best way possible. Nowadays, more and more customers want personalization in their products which is breeding a market for them. Working according to your audience’s needs is probably one of the few ways to promise results in a generally dynamic and unpredictable market. Online Ad Campaigns Virality and Memeability are two very important aspects of running an online ad campaign because they situate the products in a customer’s head while also generating a great and lasting impact. The famous and almost iconic campaign run by Old Spice with the tagline “the Man Your Man could Smell like” is one such example. Of course, not every ad campaign can make it big as the algorithm that lets things trend is still dynamic and largely unpredictable, but it is still important to try and get your creative juices running. Acting on Feedback Establishing a closer relationship with the customers means seeking their valuable insights. Your customer testimonials will only do so much good. You, as a brand, need to act on constructive criticism and suggestions to make your brand the one that listens and cares. Acting on feedback is a way to build brand loyalty among the audience. It helps in repurchases. Activism As mentioned earlier, brand imaging is the key when it comes to SEO Marketing Guide for your DTC Brand. One method to add to that is aligning yourself with a social cause that is relevant to your products and ideology. It helps the younger generation, which is a major percentage of the online traffic, align with your brand better. Data-Based Marketing Data now has greater power than ever before. Retailers may now gather and analyze more consumer data than ever before, thanks to technological technologies, which help to produce insightful information for efficient retention marketing. Utilizing data to target particular segments of your market with deals that are very pertinent to them is among the most efficient marketing strategies. Consider promotions such as free trial periods, complimentary products, and discount codes. In Conclusion DTC marketing is a great space that is thriving with potential. It has shown its magic for several brands. We, at Saffron Edge, guarantee you this and more. Our services are unparalleled and can help you establish the brand you have been after. We provide effective digital strategies and services that make the competitive digital space an easy one to conquer for you. Reach out today for the Edge! ...
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84% of shares happen via dark social - Did you check your metrics in 2020?
Among all the major trends that have emerged in the past 12–18 months on the online platform, the dark social media tops the list. When you hear the word dark social for the first time, it sounds like some illegal activity on the digital platform but in reality, it is a golden opportunity for all the online marketers out there since many people are not aware of the details of dark social media, they are not able to capitalize on it. With dark social giving multiple opportunities for digital marketers and with 84% of outbound share happening through dark social media, you should never overlook it and make it work in favour of your company. What is Dark Social? In layman language, dark social is the entire sharing that can never be tracked or we can say the stuff that web analytics platforms fail to pick. For example, you saw a post on a social media site with the title ‘Gain 10 kgs in just three weeks’ and you thought that it will be useful for your friend Daniel. You will then share the link of the article through Whatsapp and then Daniel will share the same link in his family group. Well, all the people involved in this type of sharing are unknowingly participating in the dark social media practice. The Use Of Dark Social Is Increasing Millions of people are practising the same type of sharing activity on an everyday basis and that’s why it is only going to grow in the future. If you will include all the top five messaging apps then they will account for almost 5 billion active users and that too, every month. This type of gigantic number has provided practices like dark social to thrive in the best possible way. This number will become more enticing for dark social media when you consider the fact that around 63% of the consumers from all around the world prefer sharing information through private messaging platforms. The numbers will become more interesting when you will look at the drop in the interactions of Facebook as they went down from 30 billion during the 1st quarter of 2017 to below 13 billion dollars during the 2nd quarter of 2018. And there is no doubt where the missing interaction is going as the portion of dark share in the overall sharing is increasing. But since this type of sharing is completely private, it becomes hard for any type of web analytics platform to track it. This is the main reason why no social media platform knows how big the dark social media coverage is in the overall social media sharing. What’s the reason behind people making a shift to dark social? There is no simple answer to this question but when we will go through the recent trends then the shift of people to dark social and its rise will start making sense. The presidential election incident of 2016 One of the biggest reasons is people in 2020 trust social sharing less in comparison to dark social. The presidential election of the US in the year 2016 witnessed an influx of ‘fake news’ and because of this, people started losing trust on social networks. There was also an article published on BBC with the title ‘Fake news becomes the news’ during the US presidential election 2016. From US elections being rigged to Vox calling Facebook for taking responsibility for the fake news, there were many incidents that made people lose trust on social networks. A $5 billion lawsuit for tracking users in incognito by Google Just when people thought that incognito mode is the safest mode to browse information, Google was accused of tracking users’ data in the incognito mode of Chrome and a lawsuit of $5 billion was filed on June 11, 2020. According to the reports of the New York Times, Google tracked the browsing history of its users even when they turned incognito in Chrome. Even this incident will lead to the shift of people from social networking sharing to dark social. Cambridge Analytica Case The Cambridge Analytica data leak case was among one of the biggest unauthorized data sharing by Facebook and it shook the whole world in the year 2018. In this incident, the private information of millions of users was compromised and this led to several changes in the privacy policy of all the websites out there on the online platform. All these incidents combined will start making sense for the increase in dark social media and people turning to dark social marketing. There is nothing in saying that private is the new trend when it comes to sharing information in the digital world. Dark social is omnipresent From the past 1.5 years, a large chunk of response to dark social shares is coming from smartphones only. This shows that dark social is not limited to only one or two devices, rather, it can be considered omnipresent on all the devices. The rise in the response to dark social media from mobile phones can be estimated from the data published by RadiumOne. It shows that the click backs coming from mobile devices have increased from 53 percent in August 2014 to 62 percent in February 2016. And the remaining 38 percent of click backs are coming from desktops. What does it mean for marketers? By using the easy process of deduction, digital marketers practicing social media marketing can track campaigns as dark social. By spending time and effort on Google Analytics, you will need to consider the total direct traffic and then you will have to take the deduction. By going to the bottom of your overall data, you will get the real opportunity created by dark social. And by making the deductions, you will be able to see whether your most valuable content is being shared through dark social media or not, and then you can work accordingly. If you will have proper knowledge of which type of content is being shared on dark social then you will be able to optimize your content strategy accordingly and get expected results from your efforts. But you will need to make sure that this strategy is properly incorporated in both your dark social marketing and overall social media marketing strategy. With private becoming the new trend while sharing and with incidents making people lose trust in social networks, the current conditions are perfect for the proliferation of dark social networks. Instead of being surprised because of people flocking to dark social, you should better be prepared for it and make things work in favour of your overall marketing strategy. We have a dedicated team that consists of experienced content creators, social media strategist, social community managers will help your social profile go viral. Contact Us! ...
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The Ultimate Guide to HubSpot Email Marketing Automation To Maximize Business Growth
The Ultimate Guide to HubSpot Email Marketing Automation To Maximize Business Growth As the market evolves, so do the marketing processes. Manually executing marketing operations is exhausting and prone to errors. Fortunately, marketing automation services have simplified marketers' jobs. A study by Oracle reveals that marketing automation can elevate lead generation by up to 80% and increase sales productivity by 14%. In this blog, we’ll explore how HubSpot’s email marketing automation works, its features, and its benefits. What is HubSpot email marketing automation? HubSpot Email Marketing Automation is a feature within HubSpot’s marketing platform that allows businesses to create, schedule, and manage email campaigns with ease. It combines automation and personalization to streamline marketing efforts and enhance customer engagement. With HubSpot’s email marketing automation, users can: Create personalized email sequences triggered by user actions, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading a resource. Use drag-and-drop tools to design professional emails without coding skills. Leverage workflows to nurture leads through the buyer's journey automatically. Analyze campaign performance with detailed analytics, optimizing emails for better open rates and conversions. Integrate with other HubSpot tools for a seamless marketing, sales, and customer service experience. This tool is ideal for businesses looking to save time, improve email targeting, and foster stronger customer relationships. Why should you use HubSpot for email marketing automation? Here are some reasons why HubSpot is ideal for email marketing automation: Seamless Integration with CRM: HubSpot allows you to use the data from its CRM to create targeted, personalized emails. This ensures that relevant content reaches the right audience at the right time. Powerful Workflow Automation: HubSpot’s visual editor lets you build workflows that automate actions based on specific triggers, such as a form submission or website visit. You can create complex workflows without any coding knowledge, making it accessible to both marketers and developers. Detailed Analytics: HubSpot gives detailed reports on email performance, user engagement, and conversion rates. You can consistently improve your email campaigns by using open rates, click-through rates, and other metrics. Key features of HubSpot email marketing automation HubSpot provides a variety of features that simplify and enhance email marketing automation. Let’s look at the key features you can leverage: 1. Workflows to Automate Campaigns Workflows in HubSpot allow you to set up conditions and actions for different customer journey stages. For example, if a lead signs up for a webinar, HubSpot can automatically trigger follow-up emails based on their engagement. Workflows help you engage prospects at various touchpoints, nurturing them until they’re ready to convert. 2. Personalization at Scale One of the most important advantages of HubSpot automation services is the capability to personalize emails for large audiences. Using CRM data, you can dynamically insert contact information, send personalized offers, and tailor content based on user preferences and behavior. This leads to higher open rates and more meaningful engagement with your audience. 3. Lead Scoring and Segmentation HubSpot’s lead scoring allows you to prioritize leads based on their actions. For example, a lead that downloads multiple resources from your website or opens several emails might receive a higher score, indicating they’re ready for sales outreach. Segmentation helps you categorize your contacts based on demographics, behavior, or engagement level, ensuring your emails are highly targeted. 4. Automated Drip Campaigns Drip campaigns are essential for nurturing leads and pushing them further down the sales funnel. With HubSpot, you can automate these campaigns based on triggers such as form submissions, page visits, or interactions with previous emails. By keeping your brand top-of-mind, you can build trust with your leads over time and guide them toward conversion. 5. Advanced Reporting and Analytics HubSpot’s robust reporting capabilities give you insights into your email marketing performance. You can measure key metrics like open, click-through, and conversion rates. The platform also facilitates A/B testing of subject lines, call-to-actions, and content, helping you to identify what works best with your audience. Close More Deals With Email Automation Get Started How does HubSpot email marketing automation work? HubSpot email marketing automation is based on workflows, enabling you to set up automated sequences of tasks triggered by user actions. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how it works: 1. Create and Customize Workflows The HubSpot visual editor allows easy workflow creation by dragging and dropping elements like triggers, conditions, and actions. You can build simple follow-up sequences or complex campaigns with multiple branches, ensuring that each contact receives relevant content based on their behavior. 2. Set Up Triggers and Actions Triggers are events that initiate a workflow, including a user completing a form or clicking on a particular email link. Once a trigger is activated, you can set up actions such as sending an email, updating a lead score, or assigning a contact to a sales rep. 3. Utilize CRM Data Integrating your CRM data with your email campaigns ensures that your messages are highly personalized and relevant. For example, if a contact’s status changes from “lead” to “customer,” HubSpot can automatically enroll them in a new workflow to deliver onboarding content. 4. Track and Optimize Performance HubSpot’s automation tools allow you to track the performance of your workflows in real time. You can see how many contacts are moving through each stage of the funnel, which emails drive the most engagement, and where there might be drop-offs. This helps you optimize your strategy for better results. Advantages of using HubSpot for email marketing automation HubSpot provides several key benefits that can help you scale your marketing efforts: Improved Efficiency: Automating tasks like sending follow-up emails, segmenting leads, and scoring prospects allows your team to spend more time on important tasks. Enhanced Personalization: Personalizing emails using CRM data makes messaging more relevant and effective, leading to better engagement and higher conversion rates. Seamless Integration: HubSpot’s all-in-one platform integrates with your CRM, simplifying tracking customer journeys, engaging leads, and guiding them through the sales funnel. Data-Driven Insights: The platform’s advanced analytics allow you to enhance your campaigns based on real-time data, guaranteeing continuous improvement in your efforts. Conclusion HubSpot's email marketing automation provides an effective option for companies seeking to simplify their marketing strategies, cultivate leads, and increase interaction. By leveraging its robust features, such as automated workflows, lead scoring, and advanced segmentation, you can create personalized email campaigns that drive results while saving time and resources. At Saffron Edge, we specialize in HubSpot automation services to optimize your marketing strategies. Our dedicated teams ensure the seamless setup of your email campaigns, from crafting personalized workflows to optimizing automation strategies for outstanding results. ...
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