Marketing can be a bit of a juggling act. As professional marketers, we need to focus on so many aspects of our trade that it is little wonder the occasional ball gets dropped.

If you find yourself torn between maintaining a strong, top-of-funnel lead flow and (at the other end) retaining and growing your existing client base to deliver enhanced customer lifetime value (and everything in between), then you are not delivering an optimized marketing service to your organization. This could be the reason why your sales manager and/or your accountant look so glum every time you enter the room.

What is needed is a holistic approach to marketing. This would be a strategy that covers all areas of marketing, from the bread and butter of lead generation to the final conversion, alongside the equally important tasks of qualification, retention and the creation of upsell opportunities. Oh yeah, and this has to be delivered on time and on budget.

Content marketing fills this requirement very neatly.

Delivered via a series of channels, content (focusing on best practices, customer success stories and wider industry-related news) can be positioned and optimized so that it reaches the right audience at the right time, helping your business enhance its reputation, drive leads and ultimately sell more.

Content Marketing Strategies to Acquire, Nurture, Retain and Grow

  • Blogging: The central hub of any content marketing strategy. Your blog should power your social media activity, enhance your SEO efforts, help you build your email marketing lists, engage with your clients and prospects through comments and act as a central repository for all of your other content marketing or thought leadership materials.
  • Email Marketing: Once you’ve attracted new customers or prospects, you’ll want to give them a great reason to return. Email marketing is the #1 marketing technique for driving repeat business and keeping your customers and prospects informed. Keep your emails relevant, timely and engaging, and you’ll not find a better or more lucrative marketing opportunity anywhere.
  • Online News Releases: Extend your reach beyond your email subscriber lists or social network. Online news release services like PRWeb will help you distribute your message to numerous journalists and bloggers as well as help position your content with the major search engines.
  • Social Media: Think of social media as a content marketing and customer engagement enabler. Having great content (on your blog, in your email newsletters and in the wider media) will be far more efficient than posting random comments and links to other people’s comments. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, etc., are invaluable tools for recruiting brand ambassadors to socialize your message via their personal social networks and beyond, potentially helping your content go viral. Social media can even be used to turn a traditional retention marketing channel like email into an acquisition channel.
  • White Papers: A white paper is a detailed thought leadership document that can be downloaded in PDF format in exchange for contact information and so help grow your email marketing lists. For the widest penetration, you should promote your white paper via your blog, email marketing newsletters, social media activity and online news releases.
  • Webinars: Getting in front of people is the best way to build business, but that is not always possible. Webinars provide a low-cost opportunity to present your business ideas or deliver training to a live audience. The real beauty of webinars is the instant feedback you get from attendees. Questions presented during webinars can often lead to the creation of new content.
  • Online Video: The search engines love video content. It’ll help you climb the search rankings and is eagerly consumed and shared via social networks. Keep your videos short and to the point, and always include a call to action at the end.

How are you promoting your business with content marketing? Share your success stories in the box below.

This blog first appeared on the iContact Blog.