A Comprehensive Guide to Content Marketing And Why It’s Important
As any digital marketer will tell you, content is king.
They will tell you that the secret behind most successful brands is a wealth of great, relevant, and valuable content. In this context, content marketing not only enables you to set yourself apart from competitors but is also a necessity for any modern brand.
As the B2B marketing landscape becomes increasingly competitive, it's hard to survive without building a content marketing program. It is considered one of the most effective methods of developing your brand presence, growing audience engagement, and driving sales.
In short, it has been proven to consistently deliver resounding success.
So, What is Content Marketing?
It is simply the process of creating consistent, relevant, and valuable content to attract and engage your audience. You need tell a story of your products or services regularly.
Content marketing is more about creating and distributing content that is educational and informative. As prospective buyers find this content useful, you establish a relationship of trust with them, which increases brand preference. Hence, it is vital to produce tailored content dedicated to various buying cycles.
As noted by Marketo, 41% of today's marketers focus on content that is closely tied to the buying journey. By doing this, you answer your audience's questions, which improves conversions and generates leads.
6 Types of Content Marketing
In order to do it right, you need to understand your target audience. This helps you determine the type of content to create. In other words, create content that your target buyers prefer to consume.
Here are six types of content marketing options that you can incorporate into your strategy:
Blog Content - Today, blogs are essential platforms where people can create and share content on a wide range of topics. As you post your content, you incorporate product information and social share buttons. You can also promote external blog articles via links.
Social Media Content - You can use various platforms, including Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Currently, there are over 3.6 billion social media users, and any content created and shared on this platform can generate a lot of traffic to your brand.
Case Studies - It is one of the most popular forms of content marketing. You can simply build case studies whereby you provide complete stories and real numbers. By doing this, you keep your content consistently focused on the results and value rather than the brand.
eBooks - By use of eBooks, you provide your content in a narrative structure and incorporate an appealing visual design. The goal should always be to educate your audience while using language that is consistent with your brand voice.
You can also use graphics to display information and data in an easy-to-understand format. It uses short and simple words, clear images, and infographics to narrate a complex story so that your audience can understand it better.How-To Guides - Sometimes, you need to outline a step-by-step process that the user needs in order to complete a particular task. If you are in the technology industry, for instance, you can provide technical instructions on how to use a piece of software. Before customers make purchasing decisions, they will first look for information about how their problems can be addressed. You can walk them through various paths before a phone call is made.
Video Content Marketing - According to HubSpot, 50% of consumers always want to see engaging videos from their favorite brands. Video content will provide a prospect a stronger connection to your brand.
Why Content Marketing is Important
Typically, content marketing solves a lot of marketing problems. It is a unique way of boosting brand awareness, loyalty, sales, interactions, and reach.
Here are various ways how this marketing strategy will help your business:
It helps to increase the volume of your organic search - Do you know that over 90% of all buying cycles start through a simple Google search? Your prospective customers can't buy your products if they can't find you online. So, by creating high-quality content, you build organic awareness.
It's effective in creating brand preference - When you are a source of trusted education and information, you are simply creating preference through thought leadership. Brand preference is also created since engaging content always strengthens relationships.
It is a golden chance to engage your customers - No selling tool works best like valuable content. When you create informative content, you are giving your customers something very valuable for free. This builds trust and ultimately translates to sales.
You reach more customers - Today, people are tired of common TV advertisements. They don't want marketing that intercepts or interrupts them. However, content marketing creates a natural conversation and builds a continuous story. You reach out to a wide audience, most of whom might be potential buyers.
It's being used by your competitors - Chances are, most of your competitors are already using content marketing. If they already have an established blog and are sharing content on social media sites, then you are in trouble. You have to do it too and do it better.
The Bottom Line
As the business world becomes progressively competitive, how can your business survive without a vibrant and user-friendly website, exceptional content, social media, and email marketing?
You need to go digital and embark on content marketing. You need to start focusing on educating your prospects and customers about the services and products you offer. You need to start building relationships between your business and customers through informative and high-quality content.