Why prioritise content marketing?
The prospect of adding content marketing to your already packed-out strategy and working day can be daunting. That said, I really think it’s one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience and show them what you’re really about. With huge budgets for paid marketing channels, the potential ROI of content marketing shouldn’t be overlooked - not to mention that it can support activity on those paid channels too.
Need more convincing? Here are 5 reasons why you should prioritise content marketing for your business.
1) To show off your expertise
You know your stuff and content proves that to customers and potential customers in an engaging, helpful way. Blogs, FAQs, videos, and podcasts are all excellent mediums for this.
Expertise doesn’t just relate to your product or service either. Your content should show that you’re also an expert on your customers’ pain points to really resonate. Smaller businesses with a more localised target audience can also do really well with content that shows off their knowledge of the area - think of estate agents creating Instagram reels to highlight the beauty and facilities of a particular location that they sell in, or reactive content from energy firms responding to weather warnings and updates in specific places.
2) To stand out from your competition
Spending all your marketing budget on paid ads just to get beat out for the top slots by competitors? Content gets you seen and starts to build a relationship in ways no ad can. With more space than a tight, character-limited PPC ad, you can highlight your brand values, your story, and your customers.
3) To improve your customer journey
Different content types compliment your customer journey in different ways so make sure you're using targeted content to keep potential customers moving through your funnel. Then, repurpose and reinvent this content across new formats to bring these customers back again and again.
An example: You’re a marketing team looking to compliment the sales activity of your team who sell a shiny new SaaS product to other busy marketing people. You create a stunning landing page to drive initial interest, ensuring you have a few TOFU blogs pointing to it as well as paid ads. For your colder leads, compile some more handy blogs that your sales team can share to show you know their problems and want to help. For the warm leads generated here, create a guide to the product, maybe with a video or two. Drop in a testimonial for good measure. You see where I’m going with this? Add layers and depth at each turn, but don’t push too hard. Remember you want to engage and support, not overwhelm and annoy.
4) To build trust
As I've already said, content is a really effective way to show off your expertise. This builds trust with your audience, which you should keep growing with content such as case studies. Audiences are growing suspicious of review sites, so case studies - written, visual, whatever you can do - legitimise you and make you relatable, reaffirming that trust.
5) To actually solve problems
You and your organisation exist to solve problems for your customers, so your content should do that too. Get to the point in your content, provide a solution, and you'll win your audience over.
Sold on content marketing and ready to get started?
Amazing! I’m glad I’ve swayed you. If you need a little help to get going, whether it’s with strategising and planning or actually writing the damned things, let’s talk.
