Authors get so caught up in learning about paid advertising, we often overlook a much less expensive way to capture the attention of potential readers—content marketing.
What Is Content Marketing?
Basically, content marketing is the sum total of everything you create:
- art,
- videos,
- blog posts,
- short stories,
- articles,
- podcasts,
- Instagram posts,
- Facebook posts,
- Twitter posts,
- product reviews,
- news, and
- courses.
One of my readers writes clean, contemporary romance novels. On her blog, she is doing a long series of posts about how to stay married long term; her articles are based on her experiences in a fifty-year marriage.
Marriage is a big part of her brand. Her blog has become something of a ministry, and thus, it is an excellent example of content marketing. The topic of marriage and romance helps her build her brand and connect with her readers.
Content Marketing Strategy
Consider your strategy so you leverage your time.
Tim Stoddart, at CopyBlogger.com, defines it this way:
“A content marketing strategy is a plan for building an audience by publishing, maintaining, and spreading frequent and consistent content that educates, entertains, or inspires to turn strangers into fans and fans into customers.”
The key words here are:
- frequent,
- consistent,
- educational,
- entertaining, and
- inspirational.
Other Considerations
- Where should you post your content?
Find out where your readers hang out: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, podcasts, or magazines. - What kind of content do they prefer?
Do your readers prefer text, photos, videos, or audio content? - Can you leverage one piece of content multiple ways?
Can you use your blog post to create tweets, Instagram posts, a Facebook post, a short TikTok, a brochure for download, a pin on Pinterest, a YouTube video, and/or a podcast? I mean, that is a LOT, but if you can make it serve three purposes—say, a blog post, a tweet (that you can use over and over), and an Instagram post—wouldn’t that be a good way to make one piece of work reach more people? - Later, can you collect your content to create a book?
If you concentrate on creating “evergreen” content, content that will NOT go out of date soon, then you may have the draft of a future, non-fiction book.
Resources:
- “Content Marketing: A Modern Guide”by Tim Stoddart for com.
- “Content Marketing For Book Promotion”by Joanna Penn on The Creative Penn blog.