Blogging and Content Marketing: What is the Relationship?

Usually setting up the blog is easy; with so many website builders out there that make the web design a breeze, and so many all-inclusive hosting options that make the task of finding a great package that works for you hassle free, the startup really is the easy part. The hard section comes in maintaining your blog after you have launched it. Not only do you need to find a way to beat procrastination and write productively, so that you can stick to a consistent publishing schedule, but you also need to find ways to stay relevant and offer valuable content that people actually want to engage with. Enter content marketing.

What Exactly is Content Marketing?

Simply put, content marketing is really the art of producing content that is relevant and valuable that people actually seek out. Instead of pushing content out into the blogosphere that can either engage a readership or fall flat, it is more strategically planned and specifically targeted. The only way to create specific content that your market will find valuable is to know your audience! Blogging is no longer the published rants of someone sitting in a room putting their ideas out into the world for anyone who may want to read them. On the contrary, blogs are now integral parts of a successful business marketing strategy. In order to reach the correct audience for that business brand, they need to first identify that niche and then what people in that niche are engaged with.

How to Create This Valuable Content

This leads us into the next aspect of the puzzle, how to create content that this niche audience will find interesting and valuable. First and foremost is figuring out who they are and what they want; mostly thinking about the types of questions they are asking which has lead them to your blog or company in the first place, and then attempting to answer them. By offering them insightful answers to the types of questions that they are asking, you are fulfilling a certain need that they have. If your content is able to fulfill a need, then it is valuable.

See here for some content marketing ideas to get you started. This is the type of content that they are actively searching for, not passively expecting to consume. The majority of people do not have time for anything else absorbing their day then exactly what they are looking for. Think of it like coming into a store five minutes before it closes, you are there to get in, buy milk, and get out. That means that you are here for a targeted purpose, you want to fulfill that purpose, and you want to get on with your day. So make sure that your content fulfills a purpose.