How to use Content Marketing to Grow your Business

What is Content Marketing? How do I use it?

How do attract a steady stream of new users on my site?

How do I go about creating the kind of content that will attract users?

How do I use podcasts and videos to attract users?

Whether you are a big business owner, a start-up or an owner of blog you are trying to get off the ground, consider Content Marketing. As a personal owner of the site Clean Cut Media and a lover small business marketing tactics, I wanted to share a bit about Content Marketing.

This article below will help explain what content marketing is and how it could be a great strategy to grow your user base. It will also give a little preview of a new content marketing summit that is conveniently all-online and very cheap to attend. Let’s dig in.

Good Content will attract the users you want:

Today, businesses of all sizes are using content marketing to slay the competition, attract large followings of loyal customers and explode their business’ growth.

But when tiny Magnolia Hi-Fi started using content, the Internet wasn’t even around. Did that stop them? Heck no!

Magnolia used content marketing to grow from a small audio store to an $87 million brand.

Back then, they had just transitioned from a neighborhood greeting card and photography store to an audio specialty store. Competition was fierce and they didn’t even have a marketing plan. So they hired a salesman (who knew a lot about educating prospects with great information) to develop a solid profitable marketing plan.

The plan was to give prospective buyers something to focus on other than price – content.

They created a series of stereo buyer’s guides, which offered educational content that answered prospects’ questions about buying audio equipment. These were distributed as newspaper inserts (remember there was no Internet at the time!).

But the guides were quarterly and Magnolia needed to nurture their audience by keeping the story alive throughout the year. So they invested in weekly distribution channels and different content formats. As resources grew, they scaled content velocity to achieve broader distribution and broadcast frequency.

Within 18 months, the small, out-of-the-way store was joined by a huge store in Seattle’s high-traffic University District, followed by two more stores and finally expanding to Washington, Oregon and California.

In 2000, the father-son business sold to Best Buy for $87 million! Today, there are over 350 Magnolia Home Theater Locations in Best Buy stores throughout the U.S.

Here’s a question for you. You have all the advantages of the Internet, right? What’s stopping you from growing your business?

Content marketing is simply creating and sharing information that solves buyers’ problems or makes their lives easier. The result is that you build a platform that draws in ideal customers, increases your exposure and achieves sales growth for your business.

Content Marketing Statistics

Want to know how successful B2B marketers are using content marketing?

Here’s some research from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs with the latest findings:

  • 91% of B2B marketers are now using content marketing
  • 79% use content marketing for brand awareness, 74% for customer acquisition and 71% for lead generation
  • On average, B2B marketers are spending 33% of their marketing budgets on content marketing, which is up from 26% last year
  • 54% plan to increase their content marketing spending in 2013
  • Large companies use an average of 18 content marketing tactics while small companies use an average of 11 tactics

These numbers demonstrate the huge investment marketers are making in content marketing.

Don’t you think you should invest a little to learn more about content marketing this coming year?

Are you interested in learning how to create awesome blogs, podcasts, video, webinars and other forms of content to keep customers focused on your brand?

Social Media Examiner’s Content Success Summit 2013

Content Marketing Conference 2013One of the biggest challenges marketers face is not knowing if their tactics are effective (according to Content Marketing Institute).

In response to this challenge, Social Media Examiner is bringing together 22 of the world’s leading content marketing experts to present at the first-annual online Content Success Summit 2013.

It’s an online conference spread over an entire month to meet your busy schedule.

This conference is designed to help you build your own platformmarket your products and grow your business.

Content is what makes social work, and it is at the core of all that we do here at Social Media Examiner,” says Michael Stelzner, CEO and founder of Social Media Examiner. “We have one of the largest business blogs in the world and a successful podcast. This summit is about teaching people how to do exactly what Social Media Examiner has always been doing.”

Why a Content Marketing Summit Conference?

Content Success Summit is the first virtual conference created to help marketers figure out exactly how to build their platform. By attending this conference you will:

  • See how successful content producers operate and how you can achieve similar results
  • Learn how to grow a loyal following via blogging, video, podcasting, email marketing and webinars
  • Discover how to sell your products and services using content
  • Gain a leg up on your competitors, helping you stand out
  • Pick up new content marketing strategies that will bring you more exposure
  • Download the Content Marketing Summit 2013 Schedule

Designed to accommodate your schedule, the conference will be conveniently spread over a four-week period starting February 5, 2013.

You will receive recordings and transcripts of all live sessions. And because it is fully online, you can attend right from your home or office, thus eliminating long-distance travel expenses and hotel bills.

Content Marketing Presenters

Content Marketing Conference Speakers
I know, I know. Most of you are thinking, who in the world are these people! HA! They are awesome marketing professionals. Just trust me.

Our first Content Success Summit features the most experienced leaders in the industry. Many of them have written a book about content marketing or are founders of successful businesses fueled by content. Among them are:

  • Joe Pulizzi – founder of Content Marketing Institute and co-author of Get Content Get Customers
  • Ann Handley – chief content officer of MarketingProfs and co-author of Content Rules
  • Michael Hyatt – chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
  • Michael Stelzner – founder of Social Media Examiner and author of Launch
  • Amy Porterfield – co-author ofFacebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies
  • David Siteman Garland – founder of Rise to the Top and author of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper
  • Gini Dietrich – co-author of Marketing in the Round
  • Heidi Cohen – president of Riverside Marketing Strategies
  • Pat Flynn – founder of Smart Passive Income
  • Marcus Sheridan – founder of the popular blog, The Sales Lion
  • Mark Schaefer – author of Return on Influence
  • And many others!

Is This Content Conference Right for You?

Perhaps you’ve been focusing a lot on social media, but not much on content marketing. You’re wondering if you could learn something new that might be a game-changer for your business. Ask yourself the following:

  • Do I have a content marketing plan for 2013?
  • Are there some content tactics that I’m not aware of that could be useful for my business?
  • Could I use some advice to build my platform, market my products and grow my business using content?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, then sign up and learn from the leading content marketing authorities in the industry.

Content Marketing Seminars & Workshops Samples:

  • How to Create Social Videos that drive Traffic & Leads
  • 5 Tips for Creating Epic Content that Breaks through the Noise
  • Turning your Passions into Profits: How to Create Quality Courses that Sell
  • How to Grow a Loyal Audience of Listeners
  • How to Create Compelling Content with Expert Interviews
  • How to Start and Grow a Successful Podcast Show
  • 13 Insider Tips to Get Your Blog on Track to Succeed

Want to Save Money?

If you reserve your spot right now, you will save 50% ($300). Click here for details.
Also there is a 100% Money Back Guarantee so there is no risk. Awesome. Very important.

Content Marketing Summit 2013 Conference
Click on the Image Above to Get the Details. 100% Money Back Guarantee so no risk.

Over to You. Are you interested in learning how to create a content platform that will successfully grow your business? Please share your thoughts and comments in the box below.

UPDATE: HA! forgot to mention. Use this CONTENT MARKETING SUMMIT LINK and get $300 off. $297 for the entire summit! All that raving and no link!

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4 Comments

  1. If the past one year or so has taught us anything, its that content marketing is the new SEO. I read this great little piece by neil from quicksprout, on why content marketing has now taken precedence over other forms of seo and I’ve got to agree with him!

    Impressive roster for the Content Success Summit! Some of the names really stood out and I might just join so thanks for the link.

    1. agreed. Content marketing may be a bit time consuming, but it’s fun and very effective if done right. I’ve attended some of their past online summits and I just love the flexibility of it being online and of course the price. pls use our link of you decide to join 🙂

      thanks for your comments jeff, always appreciate them.

  2. Thanks for sharing! I really love the content marketing because it is the cheaper and effective ways in increase more website traffic, subscribers, and selling. If we done the right with content marketing, it will nothing to worry about cannot become successful

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