I have a question for you. Let’s think about the last time you made a purchase. (Not everyday essentials) Chances are it started out as a question in your mind, Then, you went to your trusted friend Google, and started researching to find answers and the best solution to your “problem”. You clicked a few links, read a few articles, did some comparison back and forth, and then, finally made the decision to buy. If that was pretty much your process, you are just like 80% of human beings and I’m pretty sure your customers are too.
No one really wants to buy what you sell. What they want is the solution to a problem they have. 80% of people aren’t actively looking for what to buy. They are looking for solutions to their problems and that search leads them to make a purchase. So, how do you position what you sell as the solution they need to buy? That is where Content Marketing comes in.
What is Content Marketing?
Content Marketing is the process of creating valuable and relevant content to attract, acquire, and engage your target audience. With content marketing, instead of pitching your product or service, you are simply providing relevant and useful information to your audience to help them solve their issues. By creating content about topics that are of interest to your target audience, you will be able to attract new leads that you can follow up on and ultimately, convert them into paying customers. And just in case our analogy at the beginning didn’t have you thinking “I must include Content Marketing in my Digital Strategy”, here are the reasons you need to do just that.
5 Reasons to Include Content Marketing In Your Digital Strategy
- Content Marketing establishes your business as a thought leader in your industry.
Customers want to do business with those they see as experts or leaders in their industry. Having the answers to your potential customers’ clients’ questions help to position your business or company as an expert which in turn leads to trust.
Content Marketing is a perfect way to educate people about your products and services while proving you are an expert they can trust. - Content Marketing helps you to attract new leads.
Your content is like a huge magnet. Well-written content will attract potential customers. But, in order to do this, you need to ensure the relevance of your content. If your content is attracting the wrong audience, then you are just wasting your time. - Content improves your search engine optimization.
SEO plays a major role in your business being found on the internet. You NEED to be found on the internet and content increases the chances of search engines showing your content to searchers. - Content helps increase your social media followers.
Content marketing and social media go hand in hand. Social media is used to distribute your content and get it to your potential customers. The more valuable content you put out there, the more social media followers you attract who can see your new content whenever you post, and ultimately, become customers. - Content Marketing improves your sales.
Yes, content marketing can help you increase sales.
Once your content helps you position as a thought leader in your field, get leads, and educate your customer about how what you have is the solution to their problem, they are ready to buy from you, their trusted expert.
The bottom line is, Content is an effective way to get customers banging at your day wanting what you sell.
There are many ways that you can use content and we’ll dig into that right now.
Types of Content
When people think content, they think blog posts/articles but the content is broader than that.
Your potential customers consume content in different ways and to be very effective, you need to create different types of content to reach them.
The different types of content out there are:
● Articles
● Videos
● Social Media Posts
● Infographics
● GIFs
● Podcasts
● White Papers, etc
While you’re thinking about implementing content marketing in your business, you also need to think about the different types of content to catch their attention.
How To Get Started
Now that you know the importance of content marketing for your business, how do you come up with great content ideas that would resonate with your target audience?
1. Start with your audience in mind
The type of content you write should solely depend on your target audience.
There’s no such thing as “everyone is my customer”. You should know precisely who you are writing to, understand what they want, and how to communicate with them.
All these will help you address what they want to hear.
You will know exactly what to write, and how to write it in their language.
2. Understand the user’s intent
To create great content, you need to pay great attention to what your intended users are searching for on the internet and especially how they are searching for it.
If you know what, how, and where they are searching for certain information, you will understand how to create relevant content for them.
3. Use keywords
Once you understand your audience and their search intent, you can build a list of keywords to use in your content.
4. Focus on SEO
Once you’ve identified the right keywords for your content, you should use them accordingly throughout your content. Using relevant keywords in your content help it to be found by your target audience
What next
Content marketing is a strategy that helps your brand meet your ideal audience at the point of need and help position you as the solution to problems.
This works irrespective of what kind of business you run.
Your audience has questions that need to be answered. Use your content to answer these questions.
Is content marketing easy? No… but it is well worth it.
If you’re not sure where to start, working with an agency to craft an include content marketing in your digital strategy is the best next step you can take.
If at any time you have questions about content marketing, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask us.
