What is content marketing and does your business need it?

Over the last few years content marketing has taken hold of the marketing industry, while pundits have made it seem so complicated that it has lost touch with its actual strength. In this blog post I demystify what has turned into an industry buzzword and explain if you, as a small business owner, need to get content marketing off the ground.

What is content marketing?

Every email, every tweet, every landing page, every product description, every LinkedIn post: this is all content. Content is at the heart of what you do: you talk with prospects and customers and what you say to them – regardless of what form it takes – is your content.

Content marketing is a long-term consistent strategy that provides relevant, valuable information to your prospects and customers in order to generate interest in your business without a hard sell.

Relevant and valuable: this is the foundation of content marketing. Companies tend to bombard their prospects and customers with information about their products or services and why they need to buy them, but this information is not really relevant or valuable to them.

In contrast, content marketing anticipates and meets your prospects’ and customers’ already existing needs and provides them with truly relevant and useful information that will help them address their challenges and answer their questions. You meet a need instead of creating demand for a new need.

Potential customers have concerns, needs, and priorities: why waste word count on sales copy when you can answer these needs and questions instead? Help before you sell.

What isn’t content marketing

Content marketing isn’t starting a blog. Content marketing isn’t building a website and waiting for exponential sales growth. Content marketing isn’t publishing random posts on a LinkedIn page. Content marketing isn’t sending a weekly newsletter. Content marketing isn’t “Let’s just give it a try.”

Content marketing isn’t one thing but a comprehensive system of strategies that grows year after year. You shouldn’t expect results tomorrow. You need to commit if you want your content marketing to actually work.

Content marketing requires defining a purpose, a clear strategy, and a careful planning:

• What is your mission?

• What are the goals that you want to achieve with your content?

• Who are your buyer personas?

• What challenge or problem are you trying to solve?

• What is your current position: what works well and what doesn’t, are there any gaps in your content that you can fill?

• What is your dream outcome?

• What are the best distribution channels?

• What are your resources and how are you going to allocate them?

• Who is involved?

• How are you going to measure your results?

Does your company need content marketing?

If you are on the fence whether to employ content marketing in your digital strategy, take a look at the following five ways small businesses can benefit from it:

Make more people aware of your company existence

60% of prospective customers are inspired to seek out a product after reading content about it. Let’s say someone reads a blog post you have published: “What a cool post! I have never heard of this company before. Huh, they sell a CRM software? Interesting, I wonder what it does?” Are you going to find your next client, or are they going to find you?

Get more people to buy your product or service

87% of customers begin product searches online. If you know your market, you will know what your prospects look for. When you offer them helpful free advice that will solve their problems or answer their questions, they will get engaged and come back for more. In the long run, your relevant and valuable content can convert those leads into customers.

Retain your current customers

How well are you using content to create value and reinforce a customer’s decision after the sale? This goes beyond the user manual and FAQ on your website: how can your customer get the most of your product or service? Be effective at creating ongoing engagement: this keeps you on top of your customer’s mind.

Build trust

More than one in three customers are influenced by trust in the brand when making a purchasing decision. By consistently delivering relevant, valuable, and engaging content, you will start to build trust and authority with your target audience. The more value you can provide with your content, the easier it will be to build trust.

Showcase your expertise

Consumers want to know that they deal with experts who know the ins and outs of the industry. Share your knowledge about the industry and the challenges your customers face, and this will set you apart from your competitors. Content marketing allows you to demonstrate your expertise in the field while provide valuable knowledge that can help your prospects make a better informed purchasing decision.

Conclusion

There is a wide range of other benefits I want to mention but I know you have a company to run. Give content marketing a go and – if you are persistent enough – you will see that the benefits significantly override any negatives.

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I hope you have found these tips helpful. Do you think content marketing can be beneficial for your business and, if yes, how? Let me know in a comment.

Do you need help with content marketing? Email me and I would love to help you step up your business with the right content and strategy.