Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
- Content marketing costs less than outbound methods and brings in more leads.
- It’s vital to conduct thorough research into your audience and USP before you begin planning your content marketing strategy.
- Remember to use SEO and social media to help boost your content.
Online content is a powerful marketing tool that can boost your presence in the flexible workspace arena.
There are plenty of stats that demonstrate the effectiveness of content marketing. Research reveals content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. Small businesses with blogs also get 126% more lead growth compared to those without a blog, and 77% of internet user read blogs.
A content marketing strategy involves using different types of content to build brand awareness of your space. It can take many forms, including offers, regular blogs, infographics and any other method that engages with your target audience.
But where do you start? The content marketing world can seem like a confusing space. But, in the increasingly crowded flexible workspace arena, it’s a vital tool to help you stand out from the competition.
1. Work out your audience
Before you put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard), you need to evaluate what works with your current audience and build your strategy from there. Some companies may find it useful to develop customer personas to identify their target audience.
A big part of this is working out your USP (unique selling point). What makes you different from other spaces? It could be your location, involvement in your community, your target industry or a specific service. Find the factors that set your space apart from your competition, and find the target audience that needs those services.
2. Get some online space
Nearly every piece of content you create should reside on a domain you control. Placing your online content on a third-party platform such as Facebook or LinkedIn is a dangerous strategy where everything could disappear if the platform closes down or is suddenly unavailable.
If you don’t already have a blog, then platforms such as WordPress offer plenty of features and simple content management systems to help you get started. There are plenty of blog platforms to choose from – remember to find one that fits with your business.
3. Write good stuff
Good copy is hard to write. From a content marketing perspective, you need to provide copy that adds real value to your target audience.
Don’t use it as a space to sell. Instead use the space to address wider trends and news, and provide your own unique insights to give users something different and build your reputation as an industry expert in your chosen field.
Here are 20 ideas for flexible workspace blogs.
Your members are a great source of information and content. Not only can they provide you with valuable insights into their industry, but they can also provide quotes, articles and contacts to make your content really stand out from the crowd.
More stories for you
The Freelancer’s Union and Trello are great examples of blogs that don’t just sell; they also offer content that’s useful to their target demographics.
Both blogs are also accessible and easy to read. Remember, no one will be impressed by long words or complex and convoluted concepts – keep your content simple and clear.
There are also many different ways to assess the effectiveness of your copy. Social media shares and likes are good indicators, and analytics platforms (like Google Analytics) can help you further understand why readers may not engage with your work.
4. Embrace SEO and social media
Social media sites are useful to nurture customer relationships and promote your content. Incorporating SEO-focused keywords and phrases in the right way into your copy may also help you rise in search engine rankings.
In fact, research reveals websites with blog content receive over 400% more search engine-indexed pages than business sites that don’t publish such content.
Both SEO and social media are complex topics. If you’d like to read more about either strategy from a content marketing perspective, then this post on SEO and this one on social media are good places to start.
Also, remember to leverage your online connections by asking them to share your content. You could even consider accepting guest posts on your blog where influencers share their insights with your wider audience
5. In conclusion
Content marketing is a disparate and diverse space. It can be difficult to get started with but, with a little practice, it’s a highly cost-effective strategy to pull more people to your space.
If you’d like more content marketing tips going forward, check out this article from AllWork.Space contributor Cat Johnson.
