Regardless of what type of business you run, you should know that content marketing is more important than ever. Business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) companies are now both equally dependent on the results of useful content, such as brand awareness and the trust of increasingly demanding consumers. On today’s hyper-competitive climate, ignoring the power of content marketing is not something you can afford for too long.
But what is content marketing? “Content” itself is a broad term that can touch on any number of topics, but for the sake of convenience, we can define it as creating relevant and informative content tailored to your audience’s specific needs. On this list, we want to guide you through the most immediate benefits of setting up a proper content marketing operation; that means well-crafted pieces instead of crudely automated ones.
1. Savvy consumers expect it
Remember that qualified leads are people who meet your company’s buyer profile to a tee, so they know what they want exactly. Therefore, you can expect these people to be savvier as internet users and consumers than other visitors, and they expect the websites they visit to be above a certain standard. Having minimal information about your products and services is unacceptable to these savvy consumers, and they’re not likely to waste time finding it on their own when there are many more options available. A good content marketing strategy will help you hook these savvy consumers quickly and move them further along their buyer’s journey.
2. It educates readers about your industry
Educating people with in-depth information about your industry gives you a good advantage in the long run. The internet is the first place where people will look for information about their needs, and answering their questions with quality content will raise their standards for the products or services you offer—making your company the first option they see that meets those standards. Becoming a source of accurate and up-to-date information about your trade on the internet also helps people trust your word over the competition, securing future leads for you.
3. Google pretty much demands good quality content
It’s no secret that Google’s hold on internet content is what shapes SEO and SEM practices. Your place among search results used to be dictated mostly by how well your keywords matched a user’s search terms, but search engines have evolved way past that point. Now, the most relevant (and therefore higher) results shown are those that give the most appropriate answer to the question asked in the search bar. In short, Google will prioritize websites with high-quality content and authority that can only come from a well-honed SEO and content marketing campaign.
4. It builds up your brand and nurtures longer relationships
With the market being so saturated, buyers are less likely to follow their gut. Instead, they are researching brands more thoroughly than ever before, so expect them to read all about your company before they even think about contacting you. One of the benefits of content marketing is that it helps to create an identity and find a unique voice among all the competition. In today’s customer-centric market, actual quality instead of bells and whistles will make people trust you, which translates into longer and more fruitful business relationships with them.
5. It helps you understand your customers better
Marketing is becoming more targeted and specific by the day, and effective content marketing is a critical part of this new reality. Tracking and analyzing the performance of each piece of content you publish gives you valuable information on your audience, and helps you refine new ideas for projects, give messages a test run, and more. Assessing your customer’s needs through content is a more effective way to stay relevant on an ongoing basis.
6. Content marketing stays relevant indefinitely
Provided that you update your pieces if new information on that topic comes to light, content marketing can be a source of web traffic and information for as long as it stays on the internet. Many forms of advertisement stop working as soon as you stop paying for them, but what you produce with can still attract readers for years after it has been posted, giving you an unmatched outlook on of audience’s behavior and interests over time. This is one of the most important but often forgotten reasons why content marketing is effective.
Honestly, the list could go on and on, but this should help you understand the vital role of content marketing in today’s business environment. Producing authentic, high-quality, and human content is not just a fad, but a cornerstone of the success of many big brands, and it should be a priority for yours if it isn’t already.
