Software development is no child’s play yet; there are hundreds and thousands of web and mobile app development services providers out there.

Not every software development company which is being incorporated stays longer in the race. According to failory.com, among 90% of the total startups that fail every year, 63% are in the field of information technology.

According to the Entrepreneur, one of the most prominent reasons for a startup to fail is either the founders made a mistake in finding the right market or applying the right strategy to attract that market.

There are various strategies to attract your target market or target audience. Every firm who are in the race, follow different approaches (the ones which work for them) to attract their audience. 91% of other software development companies find content marketing as one of the most promising ways to attract the target audience.

In this era of digital advertisement, applying the right content marketing strategy can not only help to increase relevant traffic to the website but also help to save the advertising revenue.

Here are the Top #5 Ways Businesses Can Create Great Content Marketing Strategy

Before creating your content marketing strategy and start publishing content to different platforms or websites, here are a few critical points to consider about your content.

• The content must be useful to the person who’s consuming it.
• One must identify the right target audience before creating the content.
• The content must be entertaining and fun to consume.
• The message and intent of the content must be crisp and clear.

Below are the top ways in which any software development company can use market their services through content.

#1 Guest Posting

Behind every excellent SEO strategy, there is an excellent link building plan. Guest posting is considered as one of the most effective strategies to build links. Link building via guest posts has a more considerable significance not only because it has great value but also because it is tough. Link building works differently for different websites and companies.

You can start building links via guest posting by following these simple steps.

1. Look for Guest Blogging Sites

Search for websites with high traffic, which allows you to put your website’s link on your target keyword. It is recommended that you have your list of keywords ready before searching for sites. Now, search for the websites who already have the blogs written on one of your targeted keywords. Doing this will help you increase “relevant” traffic to your site.

Tip: You should also consider “The sweet steal technique” while searching for guest posting websites.

2. Keep Topic Ideas in-hand

Since you’ve chosen a high traffic site, the chances are that the editors of that website will be a bit meticulous about blog titles. They won’t accept your blog, straight-away. Instead, they will ask you to send a few topic ideas and advice you to write the content only after their approval. So, before sending a stunning pitch, you might as well consider finding compelling topics.

Tip: Create unique topics and titles for different guest posting site as every website have different expectations and requirements based on their target reader group.

3. Outreach

Mostly there are three ways to contact guest blog owners. Either via the contact form, or via email, or direct uploading the content of your article.

Tip: Always send personalized messages in the email to pitch your idea. It will increase your chances of acceptance. Trust me; they’ll know if you’ll shoot the same email pitch to multiple guest blogging platform.

4. Write

While writing the guest post, it is essential that you follow all the guidelines given by the owner of the blog. Before adding the link to your website, make sure that it is placed on your target keyword. Also, make sure the number of links does not exceed the amount mentioned in the guidelines.

Tip: If you’re sending the article via email using a word document, make sure that it is adequately formatted such that the editor finds it easy to consume.

Guest posting is popular because it is more than just a link building technique. It is an opportunity to directly bring your target audience to your website and generate lead by providing them high-quality content on their favorite reading platform.

#2 Social Media Marketing

According to me, social media marketing is “The Medium for Engagement.” Having been fall into the B2B category, software development companies often overlook social media marketing while creating their content marketing strategy. But, the truth is that it helps B2B companies in a significant way.

Below are a few reasons why, along with guest blogging social media marketing, must also be one of your core content marketing strategies.

1. Allows you to Reach the Appropriate Audience

With billions of users, social media is a vast platform to connect with anyone we want. Social media is the only platform where any business owner can find their target audience, connect with them, and sell product and services to them.

2. Makes you the Best in your Service Domain

Social media helps you to rule your industry or subject matter expertise. Once you’ve identified your target audience on social media, all you have to do is share content that your customers will find informational and helpful. Moreover, you can also share a variety of content (created for other channels) on social media such as blogs, podcasts, product videos, informational videos, webinar recordings, and more.

3. Provide Advance Options to Attract your Audience

Social media offers various other options in which you can connect with your target audience, for example, ads.

Ads provide you options to choose your target audience based on their education, income, demographics, and more. It is a highly data-driven approach that’ll help you to get the list of your customers on a yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily basis.

4. Increases SEO

Social media platforms don’t directly increase your website SEO but, social sharing of your blog does. Which means higher the social sharing of your blog better will be your website SEO. Moreover, it is easier to share your content on social media using social media itself rather than using a social sharing button on your website. This is how indirectly social media platforms increase your search engine rankings.

5. Builds Reputation

Social media is one of those platforms where your customers can reach you easily, and even you can reply to their queries instantly. Social media helps you to build a reputation by allowing you to build a network with your customers, deliver high-quality and relevant content regularly, and a create a space where they can interact with you via comments and messages. Basically, social media helps you to be there for your customers all the time.

#3 Podcasts

When we hear the word “content,” we often think of it in a written or text format. But in content marketing, every content type including infographics, audio, and video, matters.

According to Hubspot Marketing Statistics, 17% of the marketers plan to add podcasts in their content marketing strategy in the upcoming year.

Below are a few reasons why podcasts should be a part of your content marketing strategy.

1. It is a Simple Way to Create Content

A podcast is something which every leader can and should do. Because it is not as tedious and time taking as writing high-quality content. If you’re a leader, you must be having a lot of connections and contacts with other leaders of your industry. Ask them to take 15-20 mins from their schedule and have a conversation with them on any topic that relates with your target audience. Record the conversation and ta-da! Your podcast is ready.

2. Easy to Edit

Using tools like GarageBand and Audacity, you can easily edit any audio content. Edit your podcast, save it in the MP3 file format and upload it on your website as well as third-party sites such as SoundCloud, iTunes, Overcast, Spotify, etc.

3. Easy to Reach your Audience

Being a mobile app development company, your target audience might be other businesses. And they have a busy life too. Podcasts are a simple way to connect with the audience who don’t have enough time to consume your content in written format. They might not be able to read everything you write, but they can certainly hear your podcast while driving, or having lunch or dinner.

A Great Example:

The CEO of VaynerMedia Gary Vaynerchuk runs a show entitled as the #AskGaryVee show. Started initially from YouTube the show is now reformatted and repurposed for audio-only consumption. Gary is now getting huge attention of audiences across the world through his podcast series, which is also increasing the brand value of VaynerMedia and his other ventures.

#4 Videos

According to Forbes Insights, 59% of the senior executives would prefer watching a video rather than reading the text.

Similar to podcasts, videos are a great way to engage your audience. The main aim to publish video content is branding and generating leads.

Here are a few ways video marketing can help you to generate leads.

1. Increase on-site time and earn backlinks

Creating videos on third-party platforms like YouTube can help you kill two birds with one stone. Embedding video in your blog will increase the reader’s engagement and hence increase the on-page time. Putting the link of your blog in the video’s description area will help you a backlink.

So, one video will help you create a backlink as well as increase time spent by a visitor on your blog and hence, on your website.

2. Explanatory video to motivate customers

After putting all the efforts in content marketing if a visitor comes to your service offering page and leaves without thoroughly reading it, then all your efforts will go in vain.

Putting a small 2-3 mins informative video in the middle or at the beginning of the page will motivate visitors to read your complete service offerings and generate lead.

3. Earn the trust of your customers by video testimonials

Almost every other company is creating fake testimonials to increase its credibility among customers. As senior executives don’t have time to check the authenticity of a testimonial, even though the testimonial “written” on your website is genuine chances are they might not consider it as a value addition to your services.

Video testimonials, on the other hand, provide authenticity to a customer visiting your website. In case of a video, the testimonial is driven by emotions and not merely words.

4. Engage more by educating your customers

Customers looking to develop a mobile app are often looking for educational content to prepare themselves before they come to you and sell their idea.

If you want to engage more with your customers, create videos that educate your customers by providing them the information they are looking for, such as How-to guides, recent trends in technology, etc.

Speaking of education, you can also conduct webinars to educate your customers. Webinars are a great way to generate and measure leads. Read further to know more.

#5 Live Webinars

Webinars are known as one of the most effective content marketing strategies for B2B companies. Even though you don’t feel it, but your target audience wants to talk to you in person quite eagerly. If you haven’t yet thought of making webinars as one of your core content marketing strategies, here are the five benefits of the webinar that’ll make you do.

1. Reach a Wider Audience

Although in-person events and seminars are a more effective way to market than a webinar, they come with a limitation of geography. You can only reach a limited audience with seminars. But webinars can work beyond borders and geographics. Through webinars, you’ll be able to connect with more number of potential customers and hence, generate more qualified leads.

2. Nurture Existing Relationships

Webinars are not just to generate new leads but also to retain existing customers. In the software development business, it is challenging to retain customers but not impossible. Webinars are a great way to nurture relationships with your existing clients.

3. Exhibit your Subject Matter Expertise

Although your website clearly states that your company is a subject matter expert, proving the same in webinars leaves a lasting effect in the mind of your customers. Webinars provide an environment to demonstrate your subject matter expertise to your customers while presenting informational and educational content.

4. Anytime Available Content

A webinar can be easily recorded and used to nurture or generate a lead. If not live webinars, you can also create a webinar series, for example, a weekly Q&A series and upload it to your YouTube channel and website to engage the target audience.

5. It’s Affordable

Webinars are much more affordable yet equally effective as in-person events or workshops. Platforms such as Adobe Connect, GoToWebinar, and WebEx provide an easy and affordable way to conduct webinars. From an infrastructure point of view, all you need is a headset, microphone, and a few cables.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, every business, whether it is B2C or B2B, must invest in content marketing if they want to create a stunning online footprint. Content marketing is vital because Google likes content, it puts sales on autopilot, lets you control the communication, magnifies your brand awareness & credibility, provides compounding ROI, and is THE best long-term investment in marketing.