Insight

By James Colvin KILLER CONTENT-MARKETING HEALTHCARE MARKETERS CAN'T SIMPLY PUT A "BUY NOW " BUTTON FOR A HIP REPL ACEMENT ON THEIR WEBSITE, SO TO INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR AND CREATE DESIRE AMONG CONSUMERS, CONTENT MARKETING IS AN INCREASINGLY NECESSARY MARKETING TOOL . T H E P U R P O S E O F content marketing is to create articles, graphics, videos, and other forms of content that provide consumers with relevant, interesting information that ultimately drives them to take action and purchase healthcare services. Content marketing isn't focused around convincing someone to make a decision after seeing one infographic or article—it's about building trust among consumers, becoming known as the authority on a topic, and establishing yourself as the go-to organization for your service lines. INFLUENCING THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS During any purchasing decision, consumers spend much of their time searching for information, and this is where content marketing comes into play. By creating relevant and compelling marketing content, you can provide the answers to your customers' questions, influencing their decision-making process in your favor. STEP 1: DO YOUR HOMEWORK Your content should speak to people's interests, fears, problems, or desires, and by using the right research tools, you don't have to guess as to what those are. Here are four tools that enable you to glean what your audience is looking for: 1. Google AdWords Keyword Planner—Optimize your content by seeing how many searches are being performed for different words and phrases. 2. Tagboard—Think of it as Google AdWords for Twitter™ hashtags. 3. BuzzSumo—Find out what content gets shared the most. 4. SEMrush—Plan what content to provide or avoid based on what your competitors are doing. STEP 2: LET YOUR CREATIVE JUICES FLOW Create a mix of content styles to keep content fresh and interesting to as many consumers as possible. Popular examples include: » LIST ARTICLES—popular because they're so skimmable and shareable » STATISTICS AND FACTS—easy to read and educational » HOW-TO POSTS—help solve consumers' problems directly » INFOGRAPHICS—can make information more accessible and provide context » POLLS/SURVEYS—allow people to engage with content and share their opinions STEP 3: DON'T BE SCARED OF SOCIAL Having your content perform well on social media has a dual benefit: You get more people viewing it from the shares directly, and Google and Bing consider social activity when determining their rankings. As few as 70 Facebook® shares and 50 likes can increase your SEO ranking by nearly 7 percent, and as few as 50 tweets can improve it by nearly 3 percent. If you find good content from other sources, share it, and remember social media isn't a one-way street: If people comment on your activity, make an effort to reply in a timely manner and engage your followers. CONTENT MARKETING IS A COMMITMENT A solid content-marketing strategy doesn't happen overnight. It takes a lot of forethought, careful consideration, and constant refining to achieve your desired result. Revising your content strategy? Find more best practices at truenorthcustom.com/blog. 3 STEPS TO A STRATEGY 10 INSIGHT V11N4 TRUENORTHCUSTOM.COM insight into CONTENT MARKETING

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