Content marketing is a marketing approach that focuses on creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract and retain a defined audience. Content marketing has been viral in the last decade but making money through a campaign is often challenging. If you want to generate revenue, you’ll want to make sure you do your research carefully. Here are ten ways you can make money from content marketing.
- Advertising or sponsorship
This is a popular way to gain direct revenue from content marketing. In this scenario, a company will pay you directly for access to your audience. These days, you’ll see YouTubers and Instagram influencers utilize these opportunities frequently. The benefits of sponsorship for a brand include brand awareness and creating leads. However, it is imperative that you market genuinely for the individual or company that is marketing on behalf of the brand. Otherwise, you could lose a portion of your audience because they feel that you’re using your platform to sell them something.
- Conference and events
If you create events – whether small or large – you can generate revenue through paid registration to the event or sponsorships. Roughly 70 percent of enterprises develop and manage their events, which means this is a fairly common way to make direct revenue. One example of this is Minecon, an official event for the multi-player building game by Microsoft. It’s an annual event with the latest gaming technology and merchandising. The tickets typically sell out in minutes and generate revenue.
- Premium content
Creating “premium” content for your brand could mean a lot of things. The direction is yours to choose from direct-for-sales products to funded content purchased on-demand to syndicated content opportunities! For example, you could create products that tie to your content as Buzzfeed did. They became famous for their time-lapsed cooking videos that have billions of views. They then launched Tasty: The Cookbook, which can be customized with recipes according to the buyer. These easy extensions of the free content they’re already creating takes users who love their range and entices them to “upgrade.” The customer benefits, and you profit!
- Donations
This can be tricky depending on your organization’s cause. However, there are organizations that generate revenue through donations in a way that doesn’t harm their brand’s image. For instance, Pro Publica is a nonprofit organization that uses its funding to develop investigative journalism that it deems essential for the public to hear. They accept donations from anyone who supports their cause. While this can be a risky move, it will generate direct revenue if you market in the right way.
- Subscriptions
Subscriptions are similar to premium content, but they differ because, instead of a one-time product or service, the consumer pays for the product or service over a period of time. For example, some podcasters have created a second podcast in addition to their free weekly recording on Patreon, which allows them to gain subscriptions. Popular online newspapers such as The New York Times and Washington Post also do this now. This has enabled them to stop losing money since print advertising is no longer profitable and so much content is online.
- Content marketing for products and services
You can make money from content marketing by focusing on pushing your product sales through. This is often seen on blogs. All of the content is based on supplemental and educational content that enables the customer to use the product better. While the blog’s purpose is to drive product sales, the customer also gets the added benefit of access to helpful information.
- Email marketing
Email is still the most widely used mechanism for sharing information between small groups. If you use email marketing effectively, you can leverage your content to make money. However, be sure that each email you send has a strong call to action so your customers know exactly what they should act on once they finish reading. Are you trying to sell a product or service? Are you looking for a donation? Are you trying to get more subscribers? A well-written email can go a long way!
- Keep revenue
Learning how to keep revenue and create loyal customers is crucially important. Fortunately, content marketing has been a critical way to do this since the beginning. For example, LEGO Club Magazine is geared explicitly at customers to keep them engaged. It’s one of the biggest and most widespread member club in the world because it allows them to receive targeted content that’s in a fun and portable format. Through content marketing, you can create a new way to garner subscriptions and a way to keep revenue you already have through customer loyalty.
- Grow revenue via yield increase
Furthermore, once you have a customer, you should continue to deliver targeted content towards their demographic. Doing this will allow you to create better customers over time, which means they’ll ultimately engage with your product or service more. And guessed what this leads to? That’s right! A growth in your revenues.
- Grow revenue via cross-sales
Once you have a base, you can use your platform to become a spokesperson for a number of brands. Whether you sell their products or put on a workshop, these cross-sales can help grow your revenue in ways that you didn’t expect. As long as your viewers share an interest and you can continue to target them correctly, you’ll continue to be successful.
Final thoughts
There you have it! Ten ways that you can make money from content marketing. The most successful organizations are leveraging a number of these techniques to boost their revenue. This is often the most effective way to increase sales. Happy marketing!
By Titu Sarder, President & CEO, LLTV, Inc