According to research, 80% of people prefer a series of articles versus an advertisement; 70% of people agree that content marketing makes them feel closer to a product or business, while 60% credit content for helping them make better product decisions. So what does all this mean for your business? Simple: If you don’t already have an effective content marketing strategy in place, you are likely missing out on a lot and losing a lot of business in the process.
In today’s digital economy, content marketing is perhaps the most effective method your business can employ to reach out to both established customers and prospects. However, if you are yet to be convinced about whether to adopt a content strategy or not, here are 8 reasons why your business needs content marketing.
1. It Helps Build Trust
One of the biggest benefits you can derive from creating and publishing quality content relevant to your field of business is the resulting trust it instils in your audience. The greater the amount of cohesive, quality content that you feed the public, the more you appear an expert in their regard. People are always ready to hire experts to solve their problems.
2. It Helps Establish Your Brand Identity
It is impossible to overestimate the power of an established brand in influencing the business decisions of the buying public. But suppose you are just starting out, and are yet to establish a strong presence. In the case, your business will still benefit from a content marketing strategy that highlights its unique identity. Your strategy could use viral content like videos, pop trends, blog posts, or audio. Whatever medium you choose, a unique voice for your business is likely to resonate with the members of the public it aims to serve.
3. It Allows You Take Advantage of Organic Search
Search engines have changed the business landscape forever. According to research, 97% of consumers use popular search engines to perform a local search for goods and services before making a purchase. Also, over 80% performed product research via search engines before deciding on making a purchase. If your marketing strategy does not weigh heavily towards your business showing up during those searches then you are doing your business a disservice. It’s best not to be among the up to 44% of small business which don’t even have websites.
4. Its Performance is Easy to Analyze
Content marketing is never a one-off process. It requires constant tweaking and adjustment. Because of all the easy-to-acquire metrics it is possible to quickly zero in on what is working and what is not. By constantly adjusting your strategy over time, your business online marketing strategy could easily become a smooth well-oiled operation, highly efficient at gathering leads and converting them to customers.
5. Generate Leads and Attracts Ideal Buyers
Generating leads is the first and last reason for doing any sort of marketing. The end game is to attract new people to your business that you can sell to. Content marketing allows you to attract people who may not have even decided to buy yet. They discover your business through all your useful content and they get interested, once they arrive at your website you offer them more information that converts them over time. The best thing about this stage of the marketing process is the complete absence of your competitors.
However, it can get even better! Beyond merely attracting leads, a good content marketing strategy will make your business readily available for those actively searching for it. These are ideal leads in the sense that they have already made up their minds that they need you. Content marketing allows them find you.
6. It Levels the Playing Field and Leads to a Higher ROI
Because it costs 62% less than traditional advertising while being 3 times more effective in generating leads, content marketing has effectively levelled the playing field as far as business is concerned. Indeed, with a well-thought out content marketing campaign, a small company or business could rub shoulders with a much bigger one.
7. It Allows You Take Advantage of Social Shares
People share things they like. It’s just the way humans are wired. Your content marketing strategy-and by extension, your business-could benefit from this by producing great content that will inevitably spread like wildfire through the social space, reaching customers you might previously have never reached by any other means. You could have your very own gift that keeps on giving.
8. It Brings People Back to Your Website Again and Again
What business would not benefit from recurring visits from ideal leads? By adopting a cohesive, effective content marketing campaign or strategy your status as an expert in your field of business inevitably rises. Before long, your target audience will start looking to your as a source of solutions to all their worries, and your business will benefit as a result. Online marketing strategies like email marketing, building online communities, among others have been shown to be very successful in this regard.
If you are interested in discussing your content strategy with Eternity, please contact us today and we can schedule a time to chat!
