Every day we’re bombarded by marketing messages at every turn. Adverts on the TV and radio; billboards on our drive to work; and pop-ups and promoted posts in our online space, amongst others. Content marketing sets itself apart from other marketing modalities by cutting through the noise and giving potential customers what they want – useful information, entertainment, and inspiration.
What is content marketing?
Well, simply put, it is a strategic marketing approach that involves the creation and distribution of valuable and relevant materials to an audience, with the intention of stimulating the interest of a potential customer.
Types of content can be anything from printed magazines to online websites, blogs, videos or social media.
How can content marketing work for you?
There are a number of ways that a content marketing strategy can be of value to your business.
- Think of it this way: when your audience spends time consuming content your business has created, they are actually spending time with your brand. Content marketing is an effective way to drive engagement with your business.
- Quality content is very effective at building awareness about your brand and can be as exciting to read as playing online betting. Good content doesn’t push a product too overtly, it focuses on being entertaining, informative and inspiring, all the while building good brand affinity. Good examples of this would be exercise videos brought to you by a gym chain or sports apparel company, or expert money advice from a financial institution.
- The secret to engendering customer loyalty is to constantly connect with your customers. If you’re giving them information that is useful or entertaining to them, you’ll remain front of mind with them, and increase your chance of repeat business.
- Good content gets shared, and has the potential to drive new customer acquisition. As your reach grows, so too will your potential customer base.
- Good reach and engagement will also likely have a positive effect on your search engine rankings, making it easier for customers who are looking for you or your service or product to find you.
Does content marketing work for small businesses?
You may be thinking, ‘this is fine and well for large brands, but will it work for my small business?’ It can be hard to know where to invest your budget when you’re just starting out. Well, according to Demand Metric some 90% of organizations incorporate content in their marketing strategy. They found that 70% of people would rather learn about a company via articles instead of an advert. Combine with that the fact that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing, it makes a great fit for many small businesses.
If you’re looking to cut through the noise, content marketing is a solid bet and it’s not something you’ll easily make a mistake with. Increasingly, consumers are becoming numb to the barrage of hard sell messages that bombard them on a daily basis – and in many cases, individuals are starting to use things like ad blockers online. If you entertain and inform your audience, they will build a much stronger connection with your brand.
