Are you looking for a way to get exposure for your business? You may have heard of it. It’s called content marketing, and it’s not as complex as you may think. It’s not rocket science, but there is a definite learning curve. Here are 5 top reasons to engage in content marketing.
1. Content Marketing Can Cost You Less Money
One of the most important reasons why content marketing is such a good idea has to do with your finances. As a business owner, you may not have the biggest or most flexible war chest. This means that you need to be creative in the way you spend your precious funds. The more value you can get back, the better.
Now, we look at content marketing as a part of the SEO approach. SEO in general, and content marketing specifically, can have a significant upfront cost depending on your goals and what you expect to achieve. Yet it can be far less expensive than traditional print, television and radio. It can even have less of a start up cost than PPC – again, depending on goals and such.
However, content marketing also has a significant advantage over traditional marketing and PPC, and it can be described in one word: longevity.
A single television or radio ad lasts just about as long as it take to stop paying for it. This is similar to PPC. As soon as your outflow stops to an ad, your inflow stops from an ad.
Traditional print ads such as those in magazines and newspapers have a little longevity, but you don’t know whether your beautiful spotlight is gracing a doctor’s table or a bird’s cage. Not to mention that these kind of ads can be extremely cost prohibitive unless you have a large company with a large marketing budget.
But online content marketing – such as this piece here – has real staying power. It’s easy to share with others. Especially if it’s on your own site, you can update it as your industry changes. The same content can be redeveloped into other pieces, such as infographics, videos and podcasts, for non-readers to consume. -And, it sticks around even if you turn the content making machine off.
If you run a six month PPC campaign, you have nothing left after the campaign is over except for leads. If you run a six month content marketing campaign, you have the content left over that will continue accruing leads far past the initial six months. You can’t beat that when you’re talking about getting the most value out of a marketing campaign.
2. Content Marketing Helps to Create Your Brand
Another reason to step up your content marketing efforts will be to help put your brand on a more secure footing. Your brand is more than just your company name, logo, and content. It’s the sum of who you are, what you do, and how your customers think of you. A known brand is one that can sell tons of stuff in a very short time.
You can use content marketing in a strategic manner to establish and then enhance your brand. The more people see you interacting with them on the web, the more your image as a hands-on business will grow. You want your company to be seen as an organization that takes the time to answer all of the various concerns, questions, and general comments that they have.
As you do so, your brand will be immeasurably enhanced. Your credibility will be reinforced by this approach.
3. Content Marketing Can Heighten Your Exposure Level
So, we mentioned that content marketing is a part of SEO, but did you know it’s also a part of social media? At one point in time, you might have sat next to your friend and shared an article in People or GQ Magazine. “Did you read this?” you might ask, waving your magazine of choice at them. “You’re not going to believe…” In response, they might take the magazine and, at the very least, scan down the article to get an idea of what you want them to read.
Today, social media is that place – the place somewhere in the middle between you reading it and you passing it to your friend. It’s now the place where you #wave the link @friend and type in 142 characters or less…. “Did you read this? You’re not going to believe…”
As a business, you want your organization front and center of your target market. You want people sharing your content from link to link – a crazy, word-of-mouth marketing gone viral that turns your business into a household name. Did you see that thing on Twitter that Jerry shared about how #company has the potential to solve all your business problems?”
All of this – the word-of-mouth- raises your exposure level. If your content is written in such a way that it’s also optimized, and you start ranking for your chosen keywords, this is also exposure. If you repurpose your content into other formats, this is exposure.
The more you tailor your content to your core audience, the more people you will be able to reach. At the same time, the sheer amount of content you put up will be sure to draw in more people.
4. Content Marketing Will Help You Survive Google
You should be thinking not only about uploading more content but also about the quality of what you’re putting out. This has to do not only with the helpfulness of your content, but also its SEO makeup.
As a search engine, Google wants to serve out the best answer for the question at hand. So, if you sell eyeglasses and someone has a questions about transitions, you want to make sure that you turn out the best piece of content about how transitions work. You want to be that best answer.
Are people going to necessarily buy from that particular article? No. But if an article on your site comes up every time that person searches for information, it’s going to make a positive impression on them, and that is one of the main reasons of content marketing.
As well, quality content is a good way to make sure your site is future proof against search engine updates. As a business owner, Google algorithm updates can cost you thousands of dollars. Algorithms are updated, your pages stop ranking, and the next thing you know you’re no longer receiving a majority of your sales. It’s happened, and it’s happened often.
What can you do?
Make sure that what you put out is as authoritative, correct and knowledgeable as possible. Always try to be the best answer. It will serve you well!
5. Content Marketing Will Reach Your Target Demographic
Perhaps the most significant reason to engage in content marketing is to narrow down and give a positive ID to your target demographic. These are the people who are most likely to respond to your content in a positive manner. They are the ones that your content should be targeted directly to in order to ensure maximum attention and sales.
Knowing the right words to use in your content marketing campaigns will help you reach and consolidate your target demographic. How do they speak? What words do they use to search? How do they think about your product or service? What are the pain points you need to cover to reach them? Once you see who your target market is you can refine your content to keep them safely engaged.
After a while, you will have built up your target demographic. These will be the ones who form the core of your audience. They will be the diehard fans that you can rely on for a quick and easy sale. As long as you keep your content consistent and your customer service level high, these will be the ones that will keep you in business.
Content Marketing is a Strategy for Success
For all of the reasons outlined above and more, content marketing is the true key to your future success. Keep the goal in sight; create the kind of content that makes your business shine.
