The Benefits of Content Marketing

It’s hard to do anything online anymore without running straight into an advertisement. Whether an ad is blocking you from reading the news, browsing products, or watching videos, they seem to be everywhere.

Frankly, consumers aren’t always open to ad interruptions. Fortunately, your best approach as a business has nothing to do with ads. It’s content marketing, which focuses on giving customers what they want when they want it.

Here is what you need to know about content marketing and the many benefits it can provide to your business.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the process of creating relevant, valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage your target audience. Today’s consumers are inundated with more marketing messages than ever. A well-crafted content marketing strategy educates, informs, and even entertains your buyers instead of pushing ads at them.

The Benefits of Content Marketing

There are nearly 2 billion websites online right now. How are you going to make yours stand out? Being what your current and potential customers need and expect is a good start. According to Hubspot, businesses that prioritize content marketing are 13x more likely to achieve a positive ROI than those who don’t. And Demand Metric says that content marketing generates 3X more leads but costs over 60% less than other digital marketing strategies. If you’re on the fence about content marketing, here are ten benefits of the strategy to help you see its potential.

1. Boost Your Organic Search Traffic

One of the biggest benefits of content marketing is that it can help your website rank better on Google, which results in more organic search traffic. Since about 95% of all organic clicks come from the first page of search results, focusing your attention on rankings is critical. While you can certainly drive traffic through other means like social media and paid ads, high-quality content will continue to produce the results you want at no additional cost.

2. Expands Your Brand Awareness

Posting quality content provides new opportunities for potential customers to become familiar with your brand. After all, you’re trying to bring people into your marketing funnel and move them to next step. Content can usually keep them moving.

Blogging works well at the top of the sales funnel. This is where people are in the early stages of investigating brands and thinking about a potential purchase. Thorough keyword research is vital to ensure you are focusing on the right topics of interest to your audience.

3. Increases Your Engagement

According to one study, well over two-thirds of buyers admit they are turned off by content that seems like a sales pitch. You can engage your audience and avoid having to “pitch” them by giving them the information they want and need.

When you post content, leave space for comments and respond to questions. This allows you to build relationships that will continue to pay dividends.

4. Better Conversion Rates

With improved search engine traffic, more brand awareness, and better engagement, you’re undoubtedly going to get a boost in conversions. Every piece of content you create can be an opportunity for a conversion. Even ungated content builds trust. Once readers trust you, they’ll be more willing to hand over their email address or phone number for something you’re holding back, like a white paper.

5. Shortens Your Sales Cycle

Effective content marketing can also shorten your sales cycles. You can create content that specifically addresses common objections or answers frequently asked questions. Other content can serve as product demonstrations, use cases, or a roundup of testimonials. These types of content and more can supplement the work of your best salespeople and shorten the time necessary to close a deal.

6. Establishes Thought Leadership

Google summarizes what it wants top-quality websites to deliver with a simple acronym – E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Establishing the first of these qualities is one of the benefits of content marketing.

When you post plenty of helpful and interesting content, you will eventually become known as an authority or expert in your field. And those are the brands that people want to approach with their business.

7. Builds Trust With Your Audience

Another aspect of that acronym is “trust.” Customers won’t do business with you if they don’t feel they can trust you. In other words, they don’t want to feel as if they are being manipulated or tricked.

When you provide useful and engaging content consistently without asking for anything in return, you build trust. Sure, it’s fine to invite readers to contact you or even subscribe to your list. But you generally don’t charge for the content.

8. Humanizes Your Brand

Instead of viewing your business as just another brand that wants to sell stuff, content marketing can show your organization’s human side. As you post content, you’ll have the opportunity to develop and showcase your unique voice. You can also use different types of content, such as video marketing, so that people can hear and see the people who work for your company instead of just reading words on a screen.

9. Affordable Marketing Option

Simply put, content marketing is an inexpensive digital marketing option compared to things like paid ads, commercials, and billboards. This is possible because creating content takes advantage of low-cost tools like your existing website, social media, and SEO. It also has an incredibly high ROI since it will continue to produce results long after the content has been posted.

10. Easy to Target High-Value Pages

One of the great things about content marketing is that you get to decide where you want to focus your efforts. Specifically, you can refer to your keyword research and identify the most high-value pages on your website. Then, create a series of content pieces that drive traffic to those pages.

Call Too Darn Loud Marketing to Learn More About Content Marketing Strategies

Now that you know the benefits of content marketing, what are you waiting for? Too Darn Loud Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency that helps businesses throughout the United States achieve their goals through a variety of marketing strategies, including content marketing.

When you work with us, you won’t get a cookie-cutter solution. We customize our approach for each client, so you only get the services that we believe will produce the best possible results. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and website evaluation. Our number is (800) 649-1764.