Content is vital to the success of every digital marketing strategy. Businesses that have not yet invested in content marketing are likely to be missing out on many benefits.
Implementing effective content marketing with other digital marketing activities such as SEO, web design and social media marketing is very beneficial for business success.
No matter your business type, size or industry, it is necessary that you focus on your content marketing strategy in order to improve your overall business performance.
Our blog will discuss the basics of content marketing strategy and the importance and benefits of properly utilizing content marketing in business’ digital marketing strategy.
- What is Content Marketing?
- The Importance Of Content Marketing
- The Purposes of Content Marketing
- Most Common Content Marketing Types
- How Does Content Marketing Help Businesses?
- Common Benefits of Content Marketing
- Starting Your Content Marketing Strategy
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a digital marketing technique through which marketers create, manage and distribute quality, valuable and relevant content to their prospective consumers. Typically, the objective of this marketing technique is to promote the brand to the respective target audience, increase lead generation and improve sales.
Today, when global internet usage is increasing steadily and 47% of the total world population is seeking information online, it becomes crucial for businesses to provide valuable and relevant information to their target audience on the Internet. Whether your target audience uses search engines, are active on social media or browse websites, content marketing is a way to get in contact and create a relationship with them.
The Importance of Content Marketing
When it comes to modern-day marketing, content is king. Being one of the key elements of a digital marketing strategy, content is involved in virtually every part of your digital marketing. Content marketing is often the base of many common digital marketing activities such as social media posts, search engine optimization, advertising and web design. Without written content, image-based content, or video-based content, none of these digital marketing mediums would succeed. This is why strong content marketing is fundamental to all digital marketing strategies.
To survive and thrive in any industry, companies need to recognize the importance of content marketing. Online content marketing is essential for businesses as it is a key tool to communicate with consumers and attract them to your products or services. Regardless of marketing tactics, many marketers find content to be the key to attract a defined audience and drive profit to the business.
The Purposes of Content Marketing
A content marketing strategy is a multi-purpose tool. From the many purposes it has, it generally comes back to the same main goal; encourage prospects and existing customers to purchase.
The following are four of the top purposes of content marketing.
Entertain Your Audience
Brands use different formats of content marketing to entertain their audience. Entertaining yet relevant content captures the viewer’s attention and interest and effectively retains the same. By doing this, businesses can create a relationship with the consumers and guide them towards your business goals. This can be done by providing solutions to their pain points, talking about new services and much more.
Inspire Your Audience
Relevant and intriguing content helps businesses connect with the audience emotionally, and inspires consumers to move forward in the purchasing process. Content such as online reviews, testimonials and celebrity endorsements allow businesses to communicate with prospects on an emotional level and push them towards a favourable purchase decision.
Educate Your Audience
The main objective of online content marketing is to educate the audience about the products, services, promotions, news and other important information regarding your brand. Digital users go through different websites and digital channels in search of learning more about their product or service desires. Effective content should be able to help the target audience learn about your brand in order to gain interest in making a purchase.
Convince Your Audience
Apart from entertaining, inspiring and educating the target audience, content marketing aims to influence buyers. Content with key facts and stats helps businesses convince their audience about a specific subject which will encourage the prospect to make a purchase.
Most Common Content Marketing Types
Most people associate written content as being content marketing. However, content marketing goes beyond simple content writing. Content marketing includes dozens of content mediums, each of which are strategized to deliver marketing results. Marketers often use a variety of content mediums to lure the target audience and guide them down the marketing funnel. Here are some of the most common content types that businesses use to engage with customers.
- Blog Posts
- Articles
- Video Content
- E-books
- Podcasts
- Case Studies
- Infographics
- Email Newsletters
- Social Media Posts
- Webinars
- Images
How Does Content Marketing Help Businesses?
An effective content marketing strategy highlights the topics that affect prospects directly. Well-crafted content with relevant facts and figures draws the attention of the target audience and brings consumers to your brand. In this highly competitive age when so many companies have similar product and service offerings, content marketing can determine the success of a business.
Internet users today have a strong appetite for applicable information and solutions to their products and service wants. Whether a prospect wants to find the nearest food joint or the best fitness provider in the city, modern consumers turn to the internet to get the right solutions. In such a scenario, to grab the attention of potential customers and win them before your competitors do, businesses must make sure they have the right content available at the right time, to the right people and on the right channel. By doing this, your target audience is more likely to come across your content when searching for products or services they want.
Common Benefits of Content Marketing
There are ample benefits that are attached to the use of effective content marketing. Here are a few of the most relevant.
Attracts More Leads
Just like most marketing tactics, the main motive of content marketing is to attract new leads to your business and therefore increase sales. High-quality, informative content enhances the overall experience of content visitors and improves the flow of leads in the business.
Enhances Credibility and Reputation
With so many brands out there vying with each other to attract potential customers, building your brand’s credibility and reputation is very important. High-quality content that is relevant to the audience helps your brand gain authority in the market and encourages them to build a sense of trust towards your business. By doing so, prospects are likely to perceive your brand more favourably and therefore are more likely to make a purchase.
Increases Brand Awareness and Recognition
A brand that frequently posts content and succeeds to generate traffic through this content will see an increase in brand awareness and brand recognition. As studies show, brands that have superior awareness and recognition, are likely to perform better than competing brands.
Improves SEO Ranking
A brand’s SEO performance is highly dependent on its content marketing. Content that includes relevant keywords and high-quality information has a direct impact on the ranking of the specific webpage on search engines. Search engines like Google prioritize strategically optimized content by placing it higher in the search engine result pages.
Strengthens Customer Relationship
Content marketing also plays a crucial role in strengthening relationships amongst existing customers. Content that resonates with your current customers helps you enhance loyalty and increase the chances of repeat purchase.
Saves Money
Strong content marketing can be a very affordable marketing medium. As opposed to other marketing mediums, effective content can bring in a limitless number of customers for many years at a very reasonable price. In addition, content marketing can be started at a relatively low investment, yet can generate amazing results.
Starting Your Content Marketing Strategy
Every business can promote their product or service to their target audience through the use of content marketing. However, crafting effective content can be challenging and requires expertise. Many people don’t realize that content marketing requires a specific marketing skillset. A strong writer or graphic designer is not necessarily a content marketing expert. To come up with an effective content marketing strategy, one needs to understand its marketing goals, strategy and tactics as well as its business’s target audience, industry, and offerings intimately. With this knowledge and expertise, marketers can strategize and implement their marketing strategy in such a way to provide valuable content to prospects that is likely to encourage purchase.
With a wide range of content types, content purposes and content goals, it can often be difficult to determine what to prioritize and how to go about it. It’s a crucial decision that can be the determining factor of a business’s success. For advice to these questions, we encourage you to learn more about digital marketing and how it affects your business by viewing our Content Marketing Page. If ever you have any specific questions about your content marketing strategy, feel free to send us an email or give a call for a helping hand.
