What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the creation and sharing of content (or media) that is considered as relevant and valuable to the target audience in order to attract and keep customers. This information can be presented in a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, info graphics, case studies, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, etc.
Why Content Marketing is Important for Business?
Reaching out consumers through conventional marketing and advertisement tactics are getting more and more expensive compared to ROI generated through consumer conversion to the company product and services. Content marketing comes with a solution to those companies which are looking for cost effective advertisement option with focus to build long term relationship among target based consumers.
The term “Content Marketing” is still a new but its concept and usage is old enough. In 1895, John Deere launched the magazine The Furrow, providing information to farmers on how to become more profitable. Michelin developed the Michelin Guide in 1900, offering drivers information on auto maintenance, accommodations, and other travel tips. 35,000 copies were distributed for free in this first edition. In short, Content Marketing material is designed not to generate direct sales rather it is about providing valuable information to consumers relevant to company’s services aimed to convert them as customers.
Content Marketing is especially important for those companies which would like to engage with the existing and potential customers and seek to entertain, educate and empower them with great content. It could bring the following value to the company in terms of customer acquisition and revenue generation.
Builds Trust on the Brand:
Content marketing is very much effective to build relationship with company business and its customers. It is instrumental in creating company brand voice and communicates it to the customers. The more strong relationship customers have with the business, the more is the likelihood that the customer will buy its products/services since trust on company brand is already created.
Creates Brand Awareness:
Quality content is a great way to spread awareness about your brand and introduce the business to new audiences. It increases company website traffic and improves its SEO ranking. When a customer shares content in its network and so on, the business gets promoted without any cost.
Web Traffic Increases:
Any business willing to increase their website traffic must focus on including good number of quality content so that potential customers could find you easily. Websites with blogs have an average of 434% more indexed pages than those without, and each of those pages will have specific keywords relating to business industry. On top of this, Google tends to prioritize fresh content, so if the website is static with no new pages the company could be missing out from a lot of search traffic.
Establish the Company as an Expert in the Industry:
A business could make itself as an expert resource within its industry through providing relevant and valuable content to its readers. Eventually when the readers need any information or guidance, they will seek the company expertise because they trust the brand. It is a great way to build a relationship with both current and future clients.
Generate leads:
Though content marketing is not suited for direct sales, it’s a fantastic source for leads. If the content is of genuine value, consumers will often be willing to share their contact details in order to access it. Once their contact details have been collected then email marketing can be used to follow up with them and convert them into customers.
Some statistic about Content Marketing is presented below to give an idea about its importance
- 63% of companies said posting content on social media has increased marketing effectiveness
- 6 out of 10 Twitter and Facebook users are more likely to recommend a brand they follow
- Companies with blogs get 97% more inbound links
- 67% of Twitter users with buy from a brand they follow
- 55% of blogs on company sites result in 55% more visitors
- 70% of customers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than advertising