The Ultimate Guide to Paid Content Marketing

Congrats, your content marketing efforts have been implemented and you have a steady stream of content in the pipeline. Creating ideas isn’t easy, but through planning and implementation you feel okay about how you’re performing so far.

But what if I told you there’s a way to give your content marketing a little boost in views and engagement? How, you ask?

Enter: paid content marketing.

Paid content marketing is how you can artificially push your existing efforts in front of your customers’ eyes in the online spaces they frequent.

Here’s a quick brush up on content marketing and digital marketing strategy from our friends at Semrush.com:

Quick Takeaways:

  • Companies spend A LOT (even too much) on advertising at launch
  • Content marketing is a sustainable way to create new traffic to your website and draw new eyes to your new product, but you can boost your views with paid content marketing
  • Starting off strong can build your organic audience over time can be more efficient and better for your bottom dollar than exclusively using paid advertising to promote products and services

Paid content marketing only works if you already have good content marketing practices, so let’s start with why you should be using content marketing in the first place.

Why content marketing in the first place?

You need to adopt a solid content marketing strategy to maximize the eyes on your product. It’s easy to forget about in the hussle, but crucial to your short and long term sales goals for your business.

On average, it takes about 3-4 months of consistent, quality content to see larger yield. One article per week is a solid start, but getting into a daily rhythm of publishing will give you the quickest result over a shorter period of time. This process is especially beneficial for businesses that expect their prospects to seek education and information before they purchase. Creating context about why they need your item and leading them to the conclusion is key.

For example, let’s say your new product is an air purifier. Writing articles like The health benefits of having an air purifier, or Best appliances for your room will lead prospects directly to your site, right where you’re selling what they need!

Forms of paid content marketing

Paid social media promotion

How’s your social media presence? If your answer is we have none or not great, chances are your visibility is low. Being plugged into your target communities builds brand recognition and trust with prospects.

If your answer is pretty good, actually, paid social media promotion might be one of your best options when considering your paid content marketing strategy.

All of the more popular social media platforms have their own take on promotional advertising. Twitter and Instagram use advertisements that are camouflaged into user’s timelines.

While anyone paying mild attention knows the difference between an advertisement and a real post, the post still inserts itself right in the middle of their screen.

These companies have their own algorithms and targeting practices so that you know your advertisements are reaching your target audience and buyer personas. By paying your way in with your social media content you can gain followers and engagements on your posts to attract new customers.

Influencer marketing

How about a different way to advertise on social media? Influencer marketing is sending money to users with prominent follower counts to demonstrate or promote your product or service.

Source: Marketing Charts

Let’s borrow from the gaming industry for our example. When Respawn Entertainment launched their free-to-play title Apex Legends Battle Royale they targeted popular Twitch and YouTube streamers who played similar titles to play their game on opening day.

The result? 122.1 million hours of live viewership, with 657K max concurrent viewers in their first month of launch. With a little bit of advertising money they were able to get their game in front of hundreds of thousands of their target audience.

The point? People like seeing their favorite social media stars showcasing products and their favorite companies. Lately companies like Hello Fresh and BetterHelp have seen record sign-up numbers with targeting paid advertising on successful podcast channels of diverse genres.

Influencer marketing may be new to the fold but it’s definitely here to stay. How can your company utilize it?

Paid SEO

Google something. Anything. Chances are that the top 2 or 3 sites are promoted, or paid to be ranked that high. Companies in every industry often commit funds to put their sites above the competition.

Google ads sponsors their own form of an auction that you can bid on. Typically you’d bid on keywords that are relevant to your topic or business’ product or service.

Wordstream.com lists the typical list of criteria that contribute to the likelihood of your link getting promoted:

  • The relevance of your ad to the search query
  • The relevance of the keyword to your ad group
  • The relevance of your ad to its landing page
  • The historical PPC click-through rate (CTR) of the ad and its ad group
  • Overall historical account performance

This goes back to what we were saying earlier, you already need to have a solid content marketing foundation to thrive under paid promotion. Costs for this service vary, but it often depends on cost per click and keyword popularity.

Source: Wordstream.com

Depending on what kind of business you’re in and the size of your competition, this could be lighter or heavier on your budgeting wallet than you expected. This is why proper strategy and market analysis are needed when considering paid content marketing.

Wrap up

Paid content marketing is a great way to get that extra edge on your existing content marketing efforts that you’ve been looking for. But don’t forget, paid promotion works best when you’re already putting the work in. It isn’t a get out of jail free card, it’s meant to enhance great work you’ve already done!

You’re equipped with the know-how, start planning out where the best places are for your company to implement a paid content marketing strategy!

Do you want to use some of the marketing strategies seen here on MIG’s site but need some help or advice? Marketing Insider Group has a team of 35+ experienced writers ready to produce content for YOUR business. Check out our weekly blog content service or schedule a free consultation. 

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