Content marketing is an important part of a digital marketing campaign and can yield significant results if done correctly. It can help increase your rankings on google and your online brand. Here a few tips for excellent content marketing and one pitfall MSPs sometimes fall into.
Quality content
When doing content marketing, the focus should always be on quality. High-quality content that engages your audience, answers their questions, and solves problems will always garner the most readers and shares on social media. It can also get you backlinks from other sites, which will help your SEO.
Creating quality content usually starts with a topic. Select topics to write about that provide utility to your target audience. Once you have a topic in mind, pick a relevant keyword. This keyword should be in the title of your article and organically sprinkled throughout. That helps Google rank your content on the top for the keyword you’re targeting.
The length of your content matters as well. Generally, quality content blog posts are between 500-1000 words long. There can be an argument to write longer pieces where you have a topic that you want to discuss in more depth — choose to break that down into multiple blog articles instead of publishing a long essay.
Related reading: How long should content be? What the statistics show.
Visual elements draw attention as well as allow you to brand your content better. Use pictures to complement the story you’re trying to tell.
Every article should have at least one outbound link to relevant resources when possible and where necessary.
Stay customer-focused
Many MSPs make the mistake of using their blog to give in-depth descriptions of their products or services. Their content is all about them, their capabilities, and what they can do. It is not the right way to think about content marketing.
You should be asking yourself what your customer’s questions, concerns, or pain points are. They should be the topics of your blog.
Write with the intention to be useful to your audience and pull back the curtain on how an MSP typically solves their problems. Some business owners hesitate to do this because they don’t want to give away their “secret sauce”. However, when they see the solution, most readers will determine for themselves that they need your help.
Variety — blog, video, infographics, and more
There are different types of content that can answer your reader’s questions and provide value. Blogs are the classic delivery method. They give you a simple way to cover a topic in as much depth as you like and provide relevant links and data.
Video is a great medium to get your messages across. Keep your videos brief, and laser-focused on the topic at hand. It can also be a great way to record a panel discussion with industry experts or share a conversation with your audience.
Infographics can provide data visually and catch your audience’s attention. A quality infographic is also a great way to generate backlinks that can help your SEO.
Podcasts, webinars, and guest blogging are other ways to get your message out there to your audience. Again, seek to answer their questions and provide value in the content you create. A good mix of content allows you to appeal to the largest audience.
Social media promotion
Social media is a useful tool for promoting all the content you’re creating. If you have a new blog post, you should also post on social media about that content. Describe the questions the article answers and the value provided. Don’t forget to provide a link.
Cross-promotion across various social media channels allows you to reach a larger audience and get the most views. It can also help position you as an expert in your industry.
Pitfalls to avoid
Many MSPs go wrong with content marketing by hiring a company to do content marketing on their behalf and not vetting them thoroughly. Some content marketing agencies will produce industry-specific content and then market it to everyone in the industry. It is sometimes called syndicated content.
It can be a big problem because while it can be well written and on topic, they sell the same content to hundreds of other MSPs and publish it across all their blogs. Duplicate content can get you penalized by Google and end up hurting rather than helping.
If you engage with a content marketing company, ensure that your content is 100% original. It should also only be posted on your blog and nowhere else. If they are reselling the same content over and over, you should run in the other direction.
Conclusion
Content marketing can be a challenge for a lot of MSPs. However, when properly done following these guidelines, it can produce high-quality evergreen content that will help your rankings on Google and improve your online presence and brand.
Mike Herrington is VP of Sales and Marketing at i.t.NOW. He has over 13 years of experience working in Managed Services. Over his 10-year tenure at i.t.NOW he has grown the business from under $750,000 in revenue to over $7.5 Million in revenue today and growing. He has experience in digital marketing, SEO, PPC, email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing as well as direct sales. He knows what it takes to grow an MSP and is excited to share some of the lessons of his experience here on superops.ai. Mike holds a BA in Communications from Brigham Young University in Provo UT.
