Content Marketing, What It Is And Why You Need It

Everyday digital marketers are having to come up with creative ways to grab the attention of prospective customers. Let’s face it, there is a lot of noise out there. Now more then ever consumers are seeking out ways to cut out the clutter by using ad free options. Satellite radio, PVR recorders for television, ad blockers and spam blockers are just a few of the ways we manage to cut out the crap. You and I both want to customize what’s being shown to us and we most certainly don’t want to be sold a sales pitch at every corner.

Content marketing allows a business to avoid getting ignored. Internet users are getting smarter, we know when we’re being sold to and if that’s all you’re doing your visitors are going to get sick of it pretty quickly. Businesses who provide information on the niche they’re in will engage and capture a consumers attention. It’s important to understand today, more then ever, that your message should be about becoming a valued expert in your industry. We want answers, not to be interrupted.

Ultimately the goal in all this is to entice your customer to do business with you. Content marketing provides an opportunity for your business to answer questions by consistently creating and distributing valuable information that’s relevant to consumers in your target audience.

Truth be told, it’s tough and you’re probably sitting there thinking to yourself, “I’m not a writer!”. I won’t BS you, if you can’t complete a 500 word article then you need to find someone in your business that can or hire someone who will. No matter what the industry, whether you fix computers or build homes, content marketing provides the ability to attract and retain customers locally and globally.

Here are a few of the facts as to why content marketing works.

1. Boosting awareness about your business and brand.

Your goal is to build brand recognition. Having a consistent strategy in place to constantly publish fresh content creates opportunities for customers to see your company’s name. Good content eventually leads to familiarity and soon consumers will head directly to your website the next time they need your services. How many times have you thought of something you needed and one name pops in your head?

2. It’s proven to work.

How serious are you about your business? The fact remains that content marketing works. I can blow statistics at you like:

• 50% of users say content marketing has a positive impact on purchasing decisions
• 90% of consumers find content useful
• 61% of users feel more comfortable with a company that has a blog

All you need to do though is think to yourself when was the last time you used Google to search for information on a product or service you we’re going to buy?

3. Helps encourage your customers to take action

As mentioned above it’s natural to take time to procrastinate over a service or product. Ultimately, when a consumer finds the answers they’re looking for or hears a story related to the product or service they need there’s a good chance they’ll be motivated to make a purchase. Effective content marketing can help your visitors/consumers on their journey which results in more sales for your business.

4. Going Viral

I believe anyone who owns a content marketing should set a goal to go viral. Really the only way for this to happen is to produce content. Viral content will drive traffic to your website which ultimately results in more phone calls and sales. Without content the chance to go viral is non-existent and being viral will lead to the generation of social sharing and backlinks which leads me to:

5. Google Loves It

If you’re building any digital marketing strategy chances are you’ve heard about search engine optimization. Unless you’re using shady tactics for link building chances are you won’t get any without providing useful resources people actually want to link to. White hat link building is the art of using your content to send an outreach to potential bloggers and businesses who might find your latest blog post useful. It’s proven that content rich sites generate up to 97% of more links.

Google has claimed they have over 200+ ranking factors to determine a websites position in search results but links are still the biggest factor in determining a rank. More importantly these are links on active blogs with active users meaning traffic will be visiting your website.

A content marketing strategy doesn’t have to a complex one. You don’t need to be producing content everyday but you need to be producing informative content that people want to read. Think of ways you can help solve a problem. If you’re a service based industry show ways to teach or guide your visitors on how to fix/create something, you’d be surprised how many people are looking for things just like this.