Once upon a time, content marketing was a great way to set yourself apart from your competitors. Today, it’s an absolute necessity.
If you think content is just there to fill up your web pages, you’re mistaken! Producing consistent, high-quality content is one of the most effective ways to build your brand recognition, increase audience engagement, and drive sales.
To give your business a major boost this year, you need a killer content marketing strategy! Here’s a closer look at what content marketing really is and some of the amazing benefits it creates.
What is Content Marketing?
There’s a major difference between content marketing and advertising. In simple terms:
Advertising tells the world you’re amazing at what you do.
Content marketing shows the world you’re amazing at what you do.
This is why the quality of your content is so important. If you want real results, you must create content that is relevant to the reader and provides value. It’s also critical that you produce this content consistently. This is the best way to create trust in your brand and improve your domain authority.
Rent vs. Own
A solid social media strategy is critical to business growth. However, when you build your audience on these platforms, you’re essentially renting a space that you can use to share your message. On the other hand, when you publish quality content that drives an audience to your website, you’re creating an asset that you own. Making an investment in content marketing actually increases the value of your business.
Pull vs. Push
Traditional marketing strategies push your promotional message out across various channels like social media, print, direct mail, and even TV or radio. However, content marketing takes the opposite approach.
Instead of the in-your-face ads that say “Look how great we are!” you’re providing information that your target audience needs. When they’re actively looking for a solution to their problem, your content is there to give them exactly what they need, instantly creating the perfect connection! Even better, the person who found your information will begin to respect you as a trustworthy source of information.
6 Benefits of a Killer Content Marketing Strategy
Now that we’re clear on what content marketing is and how it works, let’s take a look at some of the top benefits of creating and implementing a content marketing strategy for your business.
1. Build Authority and Trust
When you provide quality content that helps your audience, you’re establishing a positive brand reputation before they ever start thinking about buying your product or service. If you keep it up consistently, your reputation will continue building over time. Eventually, they’ll start to see you as an industry leader and an influencer they can trust.
Before they spend their hard-earned money, buyers want to know that they’re dealing with a true expert. Not only will your content marketing strategy help you show that you’re the expert they’re looking for, but it will also continually remind them how much you know about the challenges they’re facing.
2. Generate Leads
When you have a clear strategy and quality content, you’ll pull an audience to your company’s website. This is where they’ll ultimately convert to leads, and, eventually, paying customers.
According to HubSpot, Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than small businesses without!
However, just having a blog isn’t enough to boost your business. The key to success lies in truly understanding your target audience, knowing what they want to read, and figuring out where they’re most likely to consume your content. Once you’ve got these key metrics down, you’ll be well on your way to a successful content marketing strategy.
3. Maximize Conversions
While content marketing is certainly successful for capturing the attention of potential leads, it also improves the chances that those leads will convert to customers. In addition to building trust, your content can also provide readers with the information they need to make an educated purchasing decision.
In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 61% of online consumers in the U.S. decided to make a purchase after reading recommendations in a blog.
4. Strengthen Your Customer Relationships
We all know it’s easier and less expensive to retain your current customers than it is to find new ones. The good news is, content marketing can help nurture your current client relationships as well. Creating content that is relevant to current customers will increase brand loyalty and strengthen your relationships. This gives you the opportunity for repeat sales, cross-selling, and up-selling.
To take advantage of this, consider sharing content like:
- Product or service feature guides
- Information about upgrades
- Advanced features or updates
- Case studies
- Answers to frequently asked questions
- Information about how to solve common product problems
This will help show your current customers that you understand their needs and you haven’t forgotten about them. In turn, they will continue to feel loyalty towards your brand. Not only does this make it more likely that they’ll be a repeat buyer, but they’re also more likely to recommend your business to others.
5. Improve Your SEO
Google and other search engines are regularly crawling websites to evaluate whether they provide a good value to the end-user. Adding strong content to your site will give the search engines a clear idea of what your business is all about. This makes it more likely that your site will show up higher in the search engine results.
Consistently adding content also gives the search engines a reason to re-crawl your site, which can also improve your SEO. The new Google algorithms reward sites with high-quality, up-to-date content and punish those with poor-quality content. This means that it pays to publish consistently and to occasionally update older content that has performed well in the past.
Statistics show that business websites that consistently post blog content have, on average, 434% more pages indexed by search engines than those that don’t publish at all.
The more content you have on your site, the more pages search engines can put in front of potential leads. Creating blog posts that are relevant to your target audience also gives you more chances to rank for keywords they’re searching for. If users land on your site and find a lot of quality content, it’s likely they’ll stay there for longer, which will also improve your SEO.
It’s important to remember that it can take a while to see results from your content marketing efforts, especially when it comes to SEO. However, if you stick with it and you do it correctly, you will see results.
6. Enjoy Excellent ROI
Done correctly, content marketing will drive a greater volume of quality traffic to your website. This will result in greater brand awareness, quality leads, and more sales. A strong, well-thought-out content marketing strategy helps to level the playing field. When done correctly, it enables small businesses to compete against much larger ones.
Wondering what type of return on investment (ROI) you can expect from a well-done content marketing strategy? Consider these statistics:
- Content marketing costs about 62% less than traditional marketing tactics. At the same time, it generates about 3x as many leads. (DemandMetric)
- Content marketing’s conversion rates are 6x higher than other marketing methods (ABG Essentials)
- In a recent survey, 74% of businesses say content marketing has increased their marketing leads, both in quantity and quality (Curata)
Great content can last forever online, continuing to deliver the benefits listed above for years into the future.
Create Your Content Marketing Strategy Today
While content is king, not all content is the same. If you want to get a great return on your investment, you’ll need high-quality content that is valuable to your audience. Produce this consistently and you’ll find that people are more likely to engage with your business, spend time on your website, and develop the trust you need to convert them from a visitor into a customer.
Sound like it’s easier said than done? That’s where we come in! Our content marketing service includes helping you brainstorm topics, creating a quarterly content calendar, and consistently delivering high-quality articles for your business. If you need some help laying the groundwork for your 2021 content marketing strategy, contact us. We’ll provide you with a free consultation and help you find the solution that best fits your budget and your needs!
