Content Marketing Is: Definition, Forms, and Skills Required

Basically content is anything that can convey information or messages to people who see it. Today, content marketing is a very effective marketing strategy because of the ease of use of the internet and media.

But how to use it? How can content marketing benefit your business? In this article, we not only discuss what content marketing is, but also provide examples of content marketing, its uses and benefits for your business. Read it to the end! 

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a marketing strategy that produces content as a communication and sales tool. Therefore, it is very important for you to create valuable, relevant and consistent content to keep your audience interested in what you have to offer.

Moreover, the goal of content marketing is to build a strong long-term relationship with the audience. Therefore, your content must also be relevant and consistent. This creates an emotional connection between the brand and the audience. 

Forms of Content Marketing

Still not sure what format to create content in? Maybe the following five examples of content can provide additional inspiration for you.

1. Infographics

Many people are hungry for information, but sometimes they have difficulty reading data presented in long studies or papers. 

Infographic trends that are currently widely used by the media can be a solution. Infographics can present complex data in an easy-to-understand format.

Yes, one of the advantages of infographics is the combination of images and text, but the information conveyed is still important.

2. Websites or Blogs

If you don't have a place to create content, maybe you can use a website or blog.

Websites and blogs allow you to create articles that are relevant to your target audience. Apart from creating articles that suit your audience, you also need to pay attention to search engine optimization.

SEO cannot be separated from content marketing. The reason is, a good SEO strategy will definitely bring a lot of traffic to your website or blog.

Also, make sure your website or blog is visually appealing on smartphones. This is because the majority of internet users in Indonesia access content via smartphones. 

3. Podcast

Trends that are more hits must be utilized as best as possible. For example, podcasts that are currently hits in Indonesia. 

Some content creators or brands also use this opportunity to raise awareness. The theme can also be changed according to the audience you want to target. Podcast is one smart container that will replace radio.

Audiences can enjoy your content anywhere, anytime while doing other things. Don't forget that podcast content must always be relevant to engage your audience with your product.

4. Video

Video continues to be a powerful tool in content marketing, especially via YouTube. Why? This is because Indonesian people still demand user friendliness from YouTube.

In addition, content in the form of videos is easier to understand and enjoy. Create useful videos for your audience.

Don't let the videos you make only attract clicks because they convey sensations or controversies that can damage your brand image. 

5. Book

If your target audience is more serious, you can take advantage of this by pouring ideas or information into a book. Content marketers publish books, they just don't want to increase their money.

There are books that can be tools in a product marketing strategy, you know! The purpose of writing or publishing this book is to convey to readers what kind of company or brand is being built.

Books are one way to make people aware of the products being sold. In addition, the publication of a book can be used as proof of brand trust. 

What Are Company Goals When Using Content Marketing?

The main goal of companies using content marketing is advertising. Interesting information contained in the content is expected to inspire people to buy the proposed product.

In addition, the company's goals in implementing incremental content marketing are as follows:

1. Reach many customers

Many customers are the main target of the company when creating content. Therefore, the created content is shared on many popular platforms, such as social media. Even big companies like Shopee, Tokopedia, Gojek and there are many more who do just that.

2. Long term investment

Content creation is not just a moment. Especially if you share content through blogs or YouTube videos. With this platform, your audience can find your content whenever they need information about the content you create.

3. Audience trust is earned faster

Building public trust is not easy. It won't take long for the public to believe in your brand. One thing you can do is provide them with reliable information about your product through educational content.

4. Build brand awareness

The next goal of content marketing is to increase brand awareness. Especially for beginners, content is the best strategy for building branding, starting from colors, logos, images, etc.

You can add these product images to any content you create to help your audience get to know your business. 

5. Expand the network 

Most companies try to generate a lot of traffic on their website or other communication platforms through content marketing.

The reason is high traffic, therefore your content is trusted and prioritized by various platforms. For example, for blog content, search engines prioritize the number of content visitors. 

Skills Required in Content Marketing

Interested in jumping right into the world of content marketing? Therefore, it is better to improve the skills and abilities needed by a content marketer. These are explained below:

1. Communication

Communication skills are very important in any job. However, in content marketing, one must be able to improve their communication skills both verbally and in writing (verbal and non-verbal).

Then why? In this job you know a lot of people. The content created must be able to touch many people.

It's not just about content and audience, you also work as a team, so good communication must be maintained to avoid misunderstandings. Learning to communicate can even be started by sending emails to clients or colleagues, you know!

2. Write

One form of content marketing is writing. Writing can be in the form of articles, copywriting, social media statuses or video scripts. You must be adaptable to write in different styles to suit your audience.

To practice writing, you need to read a lot from various sources and research which style suits your product.

If you practice writing without reading other sources, your skills will stagnate. Look for as much inspiration as possible so that you are always full of ideas and work. 

3. Storytelling

Podcasts or videos are a form of content that can be tried in content marketing. So, to always have an audience watching videos or listening to podcasts requires good storytelling skills.

If you have, or want to improve, skills and abilities in this area, take public speaking or radio lessons.

You also need to listen a lot to radio, watch videos, or listen to other podcasts to know how to entertain your audience without visual content. 

4. Sensitive

You should always feel the current trend. Always up to date with what's going on or what's popular with lots of people so your content doesn't look out of date.

You also have to be creative in seeing current trends. Choose carefully which trends you can and cannot use to increase awareness of your product. 

That was the information about content marketing that we can share. Hope it is useful!