When you jump on a website, do you find yourself engaged in the content? Or are you so uninterested in what they said that you just jumped off the page immediately?
If you experienced the latter, it means that the content wasn’t up to scratch. If you experienced the former, that means the content did its job: keep you hooked on what they’re saying. And that’s one of the main advantages of content marketing.
Content marketing is a powerful tool to use in your digital marketing arsenal, so it’s imperative that you use it smartly. The thing is: most businesses don’t see the value in content marketing, thinking “content for the sake of content” is enough.
But that’s the wrong way to approach it. If they knew the benefits that come with content marketing, they’d be better placed to maximize it. Thankfully, this guide highlights the advantages of this innovative tool.
What is Content Marketing?
It is the planning and implementation of creating, publishing, and distributing content on various media channels – website, blogs, or social media – to reach your target audience. Businesses use it to achieve their marketing objectives, such as increasing leads and sales, boost brand awareness, and engage the community.
Successful businesses use content marketing as a key cornerstone of their digital marketing campaign. Without it, they’ll struggle to generate meaningful results that can make their business bigger and better. It’s why you should use it when possible.
Six Benefits of Content Marketing
Expand & Keep Your Users Engaged For Longer
As we mentioned above, content marketing effectively keeps your audiences engaged on your website for longer. This benefit has a trickle-down effect that generates better results.
It means a lower bounce rate (a method that measures how long users are on your website; the longer, the better), better rankings (more on that below), and a higher chance your audience will take action on your website, such as making a purchase. You want your audience to stay on your website for longer – and the content will help you do that!
Better Rankings on Google
The more traffic you get to your website, the bigger your brand, the more leads you’ll generate, and the longer your audience stays on your website, the better you’ll rank on Google. A first-page ranking leads to, well, more traffic, more brand awareness, more leads, and more engagement.
It’s a powerful circle that you can experience a wealth of benefits if you get right. It all starts with content, though.
Creating engaging content (and updating your website constantly) means you’ll hook in your audience and slowly build authority to your website.
Increase Brand Awareness
Each time you create a piece of content – be it an article or a social media post – you create the opportunity for a new user to find it on Google. Once they see it and click on it, they instantly become aware of your brand.
The more relevant, high-quality content you create, the more people will recognize your business as a reliable source of information and understand what you’re about. That ultimately leads your business to stand out amongst your competitors and makes your brand more familiar in the industry.
Leads to Better Conversions
Modern-day buyers are well aware of the tricks of advertising and marketing. So they know when they’re sold to – and they don’t like it.
It’s why quality content makes a difference – it provides them with valuable information on services or products they wish to seek and learn about. The more they learn about it, the more likely they’ll purchase or sign up for it.
If you make eye-catching and superb content that really highlights the perks of a product or service without being overly “salesy”, then you provide yourself with better opportunities to increase conversions.
Your audience will also see you as a valuable source of information (again, better brand awareness) rather than a brand that’s all about the money.
Cost-Effective Option
When you compare the costs of content marketing to traditional media advertising or even PPC ads, there’s only one clear winner: content.
While creating unique content is not easy – it takes practice, patience and a lot of time – you maximize low or no-cost tools such as blogging, SEO, and social media. That means better results for less, saving you money and resources in the long term.
Builds Trust with Audience
If your audience knows that you’re a reliable source of information and you’ve proved helpful in the past, you’ll build better relationships with them.
Your customers don’t want to be tricked into making purchases; they want to feel like they made the decision themselves, using the information you provided to them. If they can trust you to deliver that information, then they’ll constantly come back to you.
That means, once again, more traffic, more engagement, more leads, better brand recognition, and higher rankings!
We hope that this guide will help you with your content marketing. If you still have questions or are struggling to get started, we recommend speaking toGrowME Marketing. They’re the leading content marketers in Canada, with a stellar reputation and record to help you. Contact them today.