Rather than bore your
customers with ads, inspire them with content.
People on the Web search for relevant information – content
marketing provides it
In today’s digital world,
people are inundated with advertisements. As a result, businesses struggle to
get their corporate message noticed by consumers. In 2011, a study conducted by
the Custom Content Council showed that more than 70 percent of users preferred
to get their information from articles rather than from corporate
advertisements. Now, to reach their target audience, an increasing number of
businesses are relying on a promising new strategy: content marketing.
What is content
marketing?
The purpose of online research
is to find relevant information and high-quality content. That means that text,
imagery and video content have to provide information that is relevant and
interesting to people searching for information on the Internet. Content
marketing is the practice of creating and distributing content that is
entertaining, informative and helpful to potential customers. Good content then
directs those customers back to your brand website, where you can capture leads
and sell products. Successful content marketing creates positive associations
to your brand – without the hassle of product marketing.
Good content endures
Having captured potential
customers’ interest, your biggest priority is to continually reinforce the
connection between them and your company. Content marketing has an especially
long-lasting effect as high-quality content entices users to continue reading,
clicking and exploring. A website that has been properly outfitted with good
content can potentially generate traffic over the course of months or even
years. In addition, Google rewards websites that feature good content with
improved rankings in search results.
Content marketing in
practice
Looking at this graph, it is
clear that the popularity of the search term “content marketing” has risen
steeply since 2011.
Because of this increase, many
large companies, including giants such as Red Bull and IKEA, have placed their
bets on marketing with content. According to a recent survey conducted by the
renowned “Content Marketing Institute”, B2B companies in the United States
invest, on average, about 30 percent of their marketing budget in content
marketing. In addition, an increasing number of smaller and mid-sized companies
are taking advantage of opportunities the Web provides for efficient content
marketing. Communication channels today are more diverse than ever, meaning
there are almost no limits to a publication’s potential reach. Also, it has
never been cheaper for a business to publish its own content. For that reason,
many companies maintain their own blogs; publish white papers, e-books and
infographics; or produce videos to demonstrate their expertise.
The content generated by
businesses is as diverse as the types of publication used to circulate it. Web
shops offer professional product or purchase advice; members of upper
management comment on current developments within the company on the corporate
blog; and brand-name product manufacturers publish e-books providing tips on
the best way to use the company’s products.
What can content
marketing do?
Many marketing decision makers
have come to recognize the benefits and efficiency of a good content marketing
strategy. According to a study by PR agency Waggener Edstrom Communications, 61
percent of marketers polled noticed increased sales figures after implementing
a content marketing strategy. Content marketing also helps businesses to
achieve a number of other corporate objectives, including:
Lead generation: If customers
are impressed by the content provided, there is a high probability that they
will be willing to leave their contact details – whether out of an interest in
the product or simply a desire to get to more content.
Increased reach and name
recognition: Often, high-quality content that addresses current or
controversial topics is disseminated via social networks. By taking advantage
of this trend, a company can increase its prominence and reach.
Image development: Releasing
high-quality publications on a regular basis allows businesses to establish
themselves as thought leaders, which strengthens the corporate brand.
Customer development : Content
that offers useful information connects the customer to the company for the
long term. By consistently offering good content, companies generate interest
in their website and entice users to return.
Checklist for
successful Content Marketing:
Checklist for successful
Content Marketing: What interests your target audience? From the perspective of
content marketing, only content that is truly relevant to a given target
audience can contribute to your company achieving its goals.
High-quality content:
Well-written, appealing content demonstrates the business’s competence. And it
should go without saying that the text be error-free, structured and
reader-friendly.
Unique Content: Unique content
improves search engine rankings. On the other hand, sites with copied content
or content that is of no real use to users is relegated to the back pages.
SEO: Successful online content
is not just unique, well-written and focused on a specific target group, it is
also search engine optimized with keywords, headlines, clear structure and
useful links.
Do you lack the
resources to produce high-quality content at scale?
