You have probably heard the saying “content marketing is king”. In many cases, content is the pillar to all digital marketing activities. Today, I will discuss the most important benefits of content marketing.
Content marketing is growing and MUST be a part of you marketing activities if you like it or not – period!
Before I go any further, let us define what content marketing below:
What is content marketing?
Content marketing consists of creating, sharing and publishing text or images to acquire and/or retain customers.
The content marketing institute defines content marketing as “a strategic marketing approach focussed on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience to drive a profitable customer action.”
Below I have listed the content types:
- Blog posts
- Guides
- Checklists
- Cheat sheets
- White Papers
- Case Studies
- Infographics
- E-Books
- News articles
- Events
- Videos
- Interviews
A inbound marketing plan heavily relies on content marketing to attract the attention of prospects and convert them into qualified leads which you can close into customers.
Content marketing has many benefits and I’ll discuss in more detail below:
Benefits of content marketing
Did you know 90% of organisations market with content.
Below I have listed why content marketing works:
1. Provides insight, educates, and explains
Content marketing is a great way for you to answer questions your prospects and customers might be asking. It allows you to provide clear, in-depth information to those interested.
Use content marketing to teach customers what they want to know; by capturing their interest and solving their problems, you’ll stay at the top of their minds when they’re ready to make a purchase decision.
2. Establishes you as a thought leader
Producing high quality, unique content will introduce you as an authority on the given topic. Providing people with interesting, value adding pieces of content will demonstrate your knowledge and solidify your reputation as a thought leader.
3. Generates interest and converts leads to sales
A solid content marketing strategy aims to attract customers at all stages of the sales funnel: from awareness, to consideration, to decision, to purchase. Create professional, brand relevant content to attract potential customers who will likely be interested in your products or service offerings.
Once you have provided what customers and potential customers want to see, they are likely to return to you for more information and, eventually, to purchase. According to the PA Media Group, 55% of customers are more likely to buy another product from a company that provides them with custom content.
4. Offers a cost effective marketing solution
Compared to other marketing and advertising options, content marketing offers low costs and high return on investment (ROI).
Many businesses increase their spending on content marketing year after year, because it costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates three times as many leads as traditional marketing, according to Demandmetric.
5. Boosts search engine visibility
Adding pages and posts on your website will increase indexed pages in Google’s database. This means that your SEO (search engine optimisation) will improve, thus increasing visible in Google, and in turn, could rank for more search queries. Determine what your customers are searching for using Google Analytics and apply these keywords in your content for a chance to rank higher.
6. Generates referral traffic
Referral traffic are from people who visit your website from other websites (excluding search engines & social media sites). Referral traffic comes from other websites that link to your site or posts. Blogging and content marketing helps increase referral traffic by providing valuable material for other sites to link to.
Guest blogging and producing content for external sources allows you to link back to your site, therefore creating referral traffic and boosting traffic to your website.
7. Boosts social traffic & interactions
Just as content marketing increases referral traffic, it also boosts social traffic and interactions. Items such as infographics, blog posts, videos, check lists, and events can easily be shared and promoted through social media.
When customers find a piece of content useful, they can share it with Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn connections, which helps your business gain exposure and get more traffic.
8. Improves reputation
When your brand publishes high quality, credible material, people will view your brand in a positive light.
The more helpful information you provide, the more current and potential customers and followers will perceive you as an authority. Authority directly contributes to a strong, positive brand reputation.
Not only does content marketing provide a plethora of benefits for businesses and customers alike, it also is easy to produce and applicable to any industry. Get started producing content today and experience the value of content marketing firsthand.
