Content marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing that very few startups give enough attention to. Traditional marketing is becoming less effective on a daily basis. If you want to stay ahead of your competitors and make an impact on your target audience, you need to think a little differently.
Research-based content marketing is a strategic marketing approach. It involves creating and distributing highly valuable and relevant content in a consistent way. The content is designed to appeal to, attract, and keep hold of a clearly defined audience, with the overall goal of generating profitable customer action.
According to Robert Paul Kersbergen, who empowers tech through research-based content marketing, innovative content marketing is one of the most powerful tools startups can leverage to put themselves ahead of the competition and make sure they stay there.
Robert Paul Kersbergen helps startups leverage research-based content marketing to boost website traffic, brand awareness, and income.
Why it works
Brands you
Branding is one of the most important things when launching a new business and research-based content marketing can help you stick in the minds of your target audience. By providing them with the content they’re craving and being consistent with quality and frequency, you can increase your trustworthiness and develop a loyal fanbase.
Affordable
Keeping costs down is essential if your startup is going to be successful. Thankfully, smart content marketing is a remarkably low-cost way to get in front of your target audience. Overheads are minimal and the content that you create can be recycled countless times.
Promotes agility
One of the advantages that startups have over Fortune 500s is that they can try and test different things without having to commit. Research-based content marketing lets startups be agile by trying various types of content and numerous content platforms. If something doesn’t work, they can change their strategy and move forward.
Build connections
Creative content marketing allows you to reach people and build genuine connections in a way no other method allows. Wherever your target audience hangs out, you can get in front of their eyes and build a relationship based on common goals and interests. This is just as true for stakeholders as it is for clients.
Multiple platforms
When you create effective, engaging content, you can use it across multiple platforms to reach a wider audience. A single keyword can be used to create blog posts, adverts, TikTok videos, LinkedIn articles, Facebook updates, Instagram images, and more.
The proof of Robert’s unique approach to research-based content marketing can be seen in his 100% job success rate, his stellar five-star reviews, and the remarkable results he achieves for his clients. In just one example, Robert succeeded in boosting organic growth from 0 visitors and 500k funding to 25,000+ monthly relevant organic traffic and 2.5M funding.
Robert’s specialist method is highly successful because he moves in a different direction from other content marketers. By being innovative and forward-thinking, his distinct method makes the content he suggests and provides more effective, engaging, and appealing than his competition.
Research-based content marketing
Here’s a sneak peek into Robert’s one-of-a-kind content marketing method. Follow his steps and you’ll soon be creating engaging content your target audience can’t get enough of.
- Gather a huge initial list of keywords from seven different sources:
- Competitor harvesting: Keywords that the startup’s competitors use
- Keywords startup currently uses: Keywords that the startup successfully or unsuccessfully ranks for
- Google autocomplete: Google’s suggestions that appear in the search bar after typing in keywords
- Google keyword planner: A list of Google-generated keywords related to other keywords already collected
- Google search suggestions: Terms other people search for that are related to various keywords
- Synonym search: Keywords discovered after searching for synonymous terms
- SEMrush: A specialist tool that takes into consideration a number of factors to generate accurate keywords
- Research search volume. This creates a general idea of how many people per month search for various keywords, helping to determine how popular and in demand they are.
- Research how many competing web pages are using the same keywords. This is another way of finding out how popular the keyword is and also how competitive it is.
- Calculate the keyword difficulty index. This takes your competitors’ web pages into consideration and shows you how difficult each keyword currently is to rank for.
- Generate a keyword plan. This includes various keyword groups, marketing opportunities, and SEO opportunities.
Why it works
Robert’s research-based content marketing method works because it reveals the demand vs. supply for keyword terms within a startup’s niche. It gives an in-depth view of the type of content a target audience is searching for, as well as an idea of how difficult it will be to successfully outrank competitors for it.
This fine-tuned method creates a solid foundation upon which you can build a powerful content and SEO strategy. This information can be used to create all kinds of different content across a variety of platforms, including:
- Social media content
- Guest posts
- New services and products
- Service and product improvement
- Branding
- Advertising
How it looks in action
Robert’s unique approach provides you with everything you need to create and put into action a winning content marketing plan. When you follow the steps detailed in his method, you’ll end up with a collection of keywords that both fit the terms your target audience is looking for and are possible for you to rank for, taking into account your competition.
With these keywords, you can create a stellar content plan that focuses on highly-targeted, valuable, and useful information that your audience will love.
It doesn’t stop there. If your target audience is interested in these terms in website content, there’s a great chance they’re interested in the same content on other platforms. Don’t limit yourself to creating blog posts and other website content based on the keywords generated. Use them to create social media content, guest posts, and adverts to reach even more people.
When you’ve got a list of content you want to create, it’s time to put a content team together or brief your current team. It’s a good idea to create a style guide for everyone to follow so all the content is on-brand and everyone understands the goal.
Finally, it’s time for one of the most important parts of Robert’s research-based content marketing — analyzing and measuring. It’s a waste of time to simply churn out content and never look into how it’s doing. You need to dive into your analytics and search console data to discover what’s working and what isn’t. With this information, you can tweak your approach for better results.
Doing it right
Smart content marketing is undoubtedly something you should focus on as a startup, whatever stage you’re in. But doing it without the right motivation, knowledge, or sufficient time to dedicate to it isn’t going to get you the results you’re looking for.
You can make the effort to learn how to do effective research-based content marketing or train someone else in your startup, but this will use a lot of time, money, and resources that could be better spent elsewhere. It’s cheaper, faster, and more efficient to hire an expert with a proven track record, like Robert.