Quality content builds awareness for your company
Content marketing has been proven to deliver resounding success in developing high quality leads. In this extremely competitive marketing landscape, businesses are making content marketing programs a major priority in their growth plans.
Content marketing is vital as one of the most effective methods of generating leads, driving audience engagement, expanding brand presence, and increasing sales.
It is considered one of the most essential components of revenue growth for the majority of successful companies in the SMB space. Why? Because we all know Google controls our business. And unless we publish consistent, educational, and fresh new content on our websites, the competition will overtake us, or we’ll simply be lost in the weeds. It’s the old adage; “publish or perish”.
In this article we’ll explore content marketing and the benefits of producing consistent, high-quality information, and how to measure its success. And most importantly, how it helps drastically increase sales.
Why is Content Marketing So Important?
Content marketing educates your audience and positions you as the thought leader in your market. It builds trust with your audience, connects with customers, and increases conversions that generates leads. And in today’s digital age, your prospects and customers expect accessible high-quality information to answer their questions and a comfort level of who they are doing business with.
Content development is a top priority for 53% of marketers according to the State of Inbound report and it accounts for an average of 29% of B2B marketing budgets.
High-quality, engaging, and consistent content influences the decision-making of your prospects and customers more than any other sales and marketing technique. Informative content establishes your credibility, builds trust, and strengthens your reputation in your industry.
Your content needs to be informative and focus on tips and trends that will provide information that is helpful to your audience. It should also convey an identifiable voice, style, and pitch that is unique to your company.
Benefits of Content Marketing for Increasing Sales
- Your customers and prospects will stick around longer and keep coming back
Great content sets you apart as the thought leader in your market, creates a positive experience for your potential customers and compels them to keep coming back to your website. It’s the best way to continually capture your audience’s attention and reinforce a positive brand impression.
- Knowledgeable content instills trust in your company
Sharing your knowledge base of the industry helps your business build a strong relationship with your audience. You’ll have the opportunity to interact with customers and inspire them to ask questions, which leads to a dialog you may not have had otherwise. When you create value without expecting anything in return, your audience will tend to trust your advice and recommendations.
When your content shows up at the right place and the right time, it strengthens your company’s brand reputation. The more market influencing content customers see strengthens the positive impression of your company. And make sure to capture their attention with headlines that entice readership, such as: 7 Things to Consider When Machining Tough Alloys, or Patient Safety: 5 Important Measures in Spinal Rehab, etc.
- Original content increases conversions
The content on your web pages or in blogs should be intended to influence conversions. It should help your audience connect with you and give them the information they need to make educated decisions and purchases. Ultimately, that is what content should be; it’s not about you, it’s about and for them!
In addition, since the primary purpose of web pages or blog content is bring in the right traffic, you should use unique images rather than stock photos whenever possible, which can increase conversions by as much as 35%.
- You’ll generate significantly more high quality leads
Content marketing is the most effective way to generate high-quality leads. Placing a call-to-action (CTA) on a blog or other content that leads to a landing page offering more information or to download a free white paper to learn more, is a highly effective method for leads. Going to your landing page displays a true interest on behalf of your customers and prospects, which provides a much higher chance of turning into sales. The higher the interest is in your content, the more likely the visitor will click the call-to-action and complete the landing page. And landing page conversions leads to sales.
- Properly structured SEO in your content makes your business more visible
Consistent, high-quality content drives your SEO, and your business. As mentioned above, Google controls our sales. Though Google is a company, and therefore a noun, it is more commonly used as a verb. Want to know about something? Just google it.
But don’t get caught up in all the SEO pitches you’ve heard before. As your content helps your business become more visible online it builds trust and authority with your audience. And to become more visible, it’s not just about having the right keywords anymore. With so much competition in earning your place on Google, your content strategy needs to follow a pillar/cluster model. Topic clusters are groups of related web pages that all link to one core pillar page. For instance, a pillar page may be your web page that features a particular product or service. The cluster pages could be blogs that support educational information, or case study pages about that topic. And hyperlinks going from cluster pages to the pillar page is what tells Google you’re being consistent and not simply duplicating content. And if Google thinks you’re trying to duplicate content (saying the same thing over and over throughout your website), then it will push you down in rank.
- Great content focusing on the searchers intent will position your company as an authority in your industry
As we’ve discussed, creating quality content helps build your authority online. If your company is considered to be a credible place to get information, the higher you will rank in search engines. The more accurately and faster your content answers the readers’ questions and fulfils what they are looking for, the more likely they will stick around and keep coming back, instead of moving on to your competitor.
The optimization of search intent is all about giving the best answer exactly the way the searcher is asking. In other words, it’s about meeting your customers’ immediate needs and winning them over.
- Keep track of what is successful
Incorporate Content Scoring into your plan. Content Scoring is the process of assessing, quantifying, and tracking how individual pieces of content perform in generating and converting leads. Different types of content provide different value from customer to customer.
As more businesses are increasing their content marketing budget, there’s never been a better time to incorporate content scoring metrics into your marketing campaign in order to stay ahead of the competition.
Scoring the success of what you post online allows you to measure and improve your performance. It will let you know what works best and give you a window on what your audience perceives as the most valuable.
- Conclusion: Quality content builds awareness for your company
Many things can build awareness for your company, but content marketing can do it in an inexpensive and unique way. In a nutshell, a solid content strategy does more than just rank your web page or blog article on search engines. It makes your content (and therefore your company) appear everywhere your potential customers are looking for your product or service.
Therefore, write topics that your customers and prospects are searching for, so they begin to associate you as the thought leader in the market.
It comes down to brand awareness. Everyone who depends on your content for the answers they are looking for become brand advocates before ever purchasing your product. Brand fans are not only influenced in their buying decisions but also more likely to share your information with their associates. When potential customers see that your business provides value to the market, they become advocates and learn that you can be trusted for helpful information, and in turn become loyal customers.
