If you’re looking for a quick marketing fix (a way to get a boost in the short-term) then ads can be pretty effective. But if you’re looking for long-term growth and a strategy that will help build your brand, then content marketing is the way to go.
Today we’ll break down some of the key reasons why content marketing is the best strategy in the long run.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a strategy built around creating and distributing content to promote your business. Ultimately, you want to drive conversions and transition readers into the “buying” phase. However, the content you share isn’t all about your business. To be effective, your content should provide value to your audience.
To be effective, you must consistently produce high-quality, relevant, valuable content for your audience. By definition, content marketing is not an immediate strategy. It can take six to twelve months to see results, especially for off-site content marketing. That’s right, content marketing isn’t only about your website blog. It can also include:
- Social media marketing
- Video content
- Podcasts
- Whitepapers or eBooks
Built Trust and Authority
One of the primary benefits of content marketing is that it establishes trust and authority with your target audience. When you share useful content that’s actually helpful to your audience, they will trust you a lot more than if you immediately bark at them with an ad trying to sell your product or service. People see thousands of ads per day, and they tune out quickly when they do. Content that helps them solve their problems is helpful, and they will trust brands that demonstrate their knowledge and helpfulness. Additionally, the content will position you as an industry thought leader.
Evergreen Products
Some of your content will be “trendy” and thus short-lived, but most will be evergreen. It will continually serve your business long after it’s been made. Content does not need to be tossed out and it doesn’t break down, it’s fairly simple to maintain over time once you produce it. Because of this, content offers compounding returns. The longer the content exists and the more you make, the higher the returns will be.
Content Can Evolve
As technology advances, content adapts, but it never goes away. When most people think of content marketing, they think of blogs/written words. Video is beginning to gain more traction than written words, but videos are still forms of content. Does that mean your blogs are useless? Absolutely not! You can create interactive videos from the main concepts of your top blogs, or use them as a guide for a talking video. No matter how it may change, the content will still be relevant.
Quality Leads
The goal of marketing is to generate traffic and leads, but quality matters. Many short-term strategies will get you leads, but getting the right leads is not so easy. Content marketing is an effective way to attract quality leads. Companies with content-rich websites generate 67% more leads than those without. You can gear your content toward the customers you are looking to target. By including downloadable content that requires a fill-out form to access, you can directly source the contact information for the leads. Additionally, contact marketing will continue to generate new leads over time.
Increased Web Traffic
Content is a primary factor for improving the SEO of a website. Consistently producing high-quality content that targets relevant keywords will help you boost your web ranking. As your search ranking improves, more people can find your content. Consumers will be likely to find your site through links and searches related to your content. In the end, this will help to increase your web traffic significantly.
Cost-Effective
Content marketing is an investment, but it’s one well worth making. Compared with paid search ads, content marketing costs 41% less per lead! Content marketing drives organic traffic, so you won’t need to pour money into paid ads. While you will need to pay someone to create the content, or take the time to do it yourself, once it’s created you’ll have the content for as long as your website is running. Compared to paid ads, the cost of content marketing is negligible.
Incorporate Content Marketing Into your Strategy
Content marketing is a powerful long-term strategy that your business should be doing. No matter what industry you are in or what size your business is, content marketing is an affordable way to reach your target audience. With content marketing, you will build trust and authority, gain website traffic, attract more quality leads, and so much more. The sooner you invest in it, the sooner you’ll see its incredible benefits.
