Content is at the heart of today’s marketing strategies as businesses use websites and blogs to demonstrate their own expertise.
If you run any type of professional business today you’ll know that, in terms of marketing, the world has changed dramatically. Tried and tested activities for getting client attention just don’t work like they once did:
- Advertising rarely gets enough response to justify the considerable costs
- Your telemarketing efforts often get stonewalled
- The specialist press you relied on for coverage has shrunk or even disappeared
- The website you invested time and effort in creating doesn’t generate the leads you crave (and it’s really hard to update too)
- Even your trusted network isn’t delivering enough opportunities to keep you going anymore.
High-quality, unduplicated content on a brand’s onsite blog has a significant impact on SEO and search engine ranking for a couple of reasons. First, unique content published regularly with 300-500 words, internal links to other relevant content and naturally placed keywords helps a website rank organically for relevant search terms and keywords. A higher ranking ultimately exposes the brand to more digital consumers searching for content in its industry. Second, consistently publishing great content creates authority and opens up opportunities to build a glowing backlink profile.
Good content creates brand awareness and authority in a saturated market, which then has the potential to generate new leads and increase sales as more consumers become exposed to the brand. Good content is generally less “salesy” than advertorial, so it gives consumers an opportunity to authentically engage with the brand without a blatant sales message disturbing the engagement. Drowning consumers in product-oriented content can have a negative effect on their relationship with the brand, whereas good editorial fosters the relationship as they move from consumer to customer to brand advocate.
Not only is good-quality, original content great for SEO purposes, it’s also a brilliant way to drive traffic to a website and keep consumers on the site for longer. For example, a website with just a homepage and contact page will receive much higher bounce rates, limited page views and very little engagement, whereas a website with an onsite blog packed full of engaging content leaves an impression on the user and encourages them to interact with the site and visit multiple pages.
Content is what ultimately connects you with customers and prospects. It is what builds trust, especially as some data-driven marketing pushes consumers into very personal and customized experiences. All the data — big or small — we use just comes down to creating those precious moments of truth for a customer. And what is it that makes a moment of truth come alive? The content that resonates in that moment, that channel and that stage in the lifecycle.
The key is to be purposeful in your content marketing. It’s so integrated into our marketing processes that we often neglect to optimize or even consider efficiencies or opportunities. Every business is a publisher of some sort, through blogs and social media, email marketing, the website, whitepapers, customer presentation, internal and client training, executive summaries… all of this and more can be a strong foundation for a more purposeful content approach.