Do you know how to use content marketing to grow your business? If not, you could be missing out on potential customers who are searching for information about products and services just like yours. And in today’s market, if you’re not developing relationships with customers in this way, you can be sure someone else is.
So, what is content marketing and how can you use it effectively to boost sales and grow your company? Read on to find out.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a strategic approach where you create and share quality information relevant to your target customers.
The goal of content marketing is to raise awareness about your brand, start a conversation with potential customers, and to serve them by providing information they need, so when they are ready to make a purchase, they come to you first.
People buy from businesses they trust – and they trust companies they connect with. You can develop a relationship of trust by consistently delivering relevant, quality information that speaks to the problems your target customers are trying to solve.
Content management is different from other forms of marketing because you’re not solely pitching goods and services. Instead, you’re drawing customers in by providing information they are searching for.
Content marketing can be in many forms including blog and social media posts, email newsletters, case studies, eBooks, podcasts, infographics, videos, and vlogs.
What Are The Benefits Of Content Marketing?
Increase sales without being salesy
Both the real world and the internet can be noisy, impersonal and overwhelming. Content marketing gives you the opportunity to connect with your target audience, to show you understand the problems they are trying to solve and can help them. Most importantly, it enables you to start a start a conversation and build a relationship with them.
When your target customer is ready to buy, they’ll remember the value you provided, they’ll already trust you and will, therefore, be more likely to choose to buy from you rather than your competitors.
Customers find you, rather than the other way around
Quality content marketing is generally received well by customers because they come across it when they are searching for answers to a problem and it provides them with value. Contrast that with an advert that interrupts them when they’re searching Facebook looking to connect with friends, or spam emails that clog up their inbox.
The aim should be for your target audience to look forward to your content – whether it’s a blog post, email newsletter, social media post or video. They should enjoy consuming it, find it useful and hopefully share it with their friends.
Close sales easily with the right customers
Because the content you provide is tailored to the customers you are targeting, people who don’t fit your ideal customer profile (for example, wrong location or income bracket) will be naturally filtered out. If your content marketing works well, by the time your potential customer is ready to buy, they will have developed such a strong relationship with your brand and know so much about your product or service, closing the sale should be easy.
See related: How To Attract The Right Customers To Your Website
How To Deliver Effective Content Marketing
The most important thing is to start with your audience NOT your product. What’s the problem your potential customer is trying to solve that has inspired them to turn to Google? If you’re a builder that specialises in extensions, your target audience might be searching for information on planning permission; if you provide dog grooming services your target customers might be searching for the best places to walk their four-legged friends. Be helpful. Provide answers to these problems, and next time they need info or want to make a purchase, they’ll come to you.
Make sure you define your target audience carefully and gear your content to the right people. If you only provide goods or services to a defined geographical area for example, provide info relevant to the communities you serve. If you’re a security company in the South East, for example, provide details of crime statistics or Neighbourhood Watch activities in the relevant area. And knowing as much as you can about your target customer such as gender, marital status, family, income, pain points etc., will enable you to provide information relevant to them.
Why Does Content Marketing Work?
Customers today are bombarded with information from the time they first look at their phones in the morning until they put them down at night. Content marketing enables you to stand out from the crowd, by serving your target audience and developing a relationship with them rather than just hitting them with the hard sell. The goal of all marketing is to grow your business. Content marketing is different because it’s a long-term strategy to build a relationship with your customers so when they are ready to buy they come to you.
Top Content Marketing Takeaways:
- Put your customer first – what information do they need?
- Make sure what you offer them is relevant, high quality and valuable
- Deliver content regularly and consistently to keep your conversation going until they are ready to buy and to extend your relationship beyond the sale
If you need help developing a content marketing strategy that attracts new customers to your business as well as serving your existing clients, contact us. We can help you work out the best way to reach your target customers and how to deliver content that helps create trust in your brand. We look forward to speaking to you soon!