Does content marketing make sense for your business?
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What are we actually talking about when we say “content” in relation to marketing a business? Generally, this is any information created and made available by a company, for example, on a website or other medium. Even if you don’t have a solid blog section, any text on your site is still considered content, from your welcome message to your About Us page. This also includes every Facebook post, every tweet on Twitter, every picture on Instagram, and every email newsletter you send out. It’s all content and it all matters.
What is content marketing?
So that being said, what exactly is content marketing? Simply put, it’s marketing where you create material in its many forms and share it with your clients to pique interest in your brand’s products or services, right? Well, not exactly… or at least not that directly.
It’s important to remember that content should not be about the company or all about the products you sell. Let’s face it – your clients don’t really care about your internal company affairs, updates, or business performance. Instead, you should be producing content which is informative and useful in nature, with the ultimate goal being to build authority and trust in your brand. It makes a lot of sense while planning what to write about, to focus on the real needs of your target audience and how to solve their problems.
What results can you expect from content marketing?
There are many ways that content marketing can be useful for your business. If you decide to use it in your general marketing strategy, what can you expect in return?
Increased brand awareness
The more great content you have over time, the more likely it is going to be shared and passed along. That’s more people getting the information they need from your branded channels and more users engaging or even having their very first contact with your brand. Not to mention more opportunities for you to be a part of the conversation, and as a result, be considered as a thought leader in your industry.
“Fuel” for social media, a newsletter, or other channels
Solid content does not have to be only one thing in one place. In fact, it should be repurposed! But it all has to start somewhere. That great blog post can be turned into a quick instructional YouTube video, which can be clipped for Instagram, which can be sharpened into a killer tweet or a Facebook post. It can be also rewritten or lead to another related post that can be published on another website. Which leads us to another benefit…
More incoming backlinks
Promoting your on-page content across different online channels and building up relationships with people behind relevant media outlets, blogs, and other platforms provides the opportunity to get valuable and healthy backlinks. By publishing solid publications (reports, analyses, infographics, etc.) you aim not only for gaining natural links, but also brand mentions and both traditional and online media coverage.
Better visibility in search engines (if optimized for SEO)
The best content has to be created with solid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) principles behind it. While SEO and content marketing can be seen as two different things, having an understanding of the fundamentals and taking care of both really help you shine in search results. That should be a goal especially because a piece of content that ranks in search results will be bringing you traffic months or even years after first being published.
More traffic on your site (therefore, more revenue)
Publishing the right content regularly and consistently that utilizes best practices can bring more traffic to your website. More visitors means more potential clients and more revenue. Don’t expect that most of the traffic acquired through content marketing will be converting like crazy straightaway. For many users, the purpose of the visit will be purely informational. But once they are in your funnel even just on the top (on the awareness stage), you will have the chance to convert these users into customers later on, for example by remarketing or other activities.
Is content marketing right for your business?
All of this brings us back to the opening question – does content marketing make sense for your business? While content marketing makes sense for most businesses, you need to be aware that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. It requires consistency, patience, and plenty of resources to get any results and ROI.
It may not make sense for some businesses that are just starting out and need very quick growth. There are other marketing activities that can give quicker results, making it better to hold off on investing in content marketing until your sales and marketing are already moving in the right direction, giving you the space for the required patience. It’s important to think long-term with slow, steady growth and not to give up after just a couple of months.
Also, it may not make that much sense for solopreneurs or brands that are small and operate locally. If you’re a one-man company it may be difficult for you to find the time to consistently execute content marketing. Of course, the better idea is to have someone else take care of that for you so you can focus on actually running your business, but that too requires time and money.
Other than these two cases, content marketing is right for almost any business. A content marketing campaign, if you are willing to put in the time and effort to get it right, offers back visibility, authority, engagement, and sales. And that’s what we all want for our businesses.
Wojtek Mazur is Co-founder and Head of Content Marketing at Elephate, an award-winning marketing agency. He successfully develops and executes content marketing and link building campaigns for international clients from various industries.