Did you know that 70% of people prefer to learn about products or services by reading blog posts rather than viewing advertisements?
What’s more, over 409 million people view around 20 billion web pages each month.
In other words, it’s pretty safe to say that people love content.
That’s not all, though. Businesses that blog regularly typically get 55% more website visitors.
That’s likely because blogs can experience a 434% increase in indexed pages and a 97% increase in inbound links.
That said, Google seems to love content as well.
Lastly, content marketing generates around three times as many leads as other traditional marketing methods and costs about 62% less.
To put it differently, content marketing is affordable and can bring significant results, making it a perfect marketing strategy for small businesses.
But that’s just the beginning. So, let’s take a look at why you should implement content marketing in your strategy.
1. It’s The Center of All Other Marketing Strategies
Think of content as the hub of all of your other marketing strategies.
Do you want to have a blog on your website? Create content!
Do you want to post actively on social media? Create content!
Do you want to send newsletters? Again, content!
In other words, by creating a solid content marketing strategy, you can use it to support all of your marketing channels to achieve your business goals and ultimately increase conversions.
Suppose you’re launching a PPC campaign to drive more traffic to your website. Sure, attracting new visitors is always great, but that’s only part of the job.
Next, you’ve got to keep them there. By providing valuable content to your audience, you stand a better chance of getting visitors to engage with your website and incentivize them to return and read more articles in the future.
2. Content Helps With SEO
Speaking of driving more traffic, good content can do it independently.
First off, Google values user experience above anything else. That said, content that appeals to your audience’s interests will naturally see a rise in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Second, as mentioned earlier, quality content can get visitors engaged with your website, thus decreasing bounce rates and increasing dwell times, which are direct ranking factors.
Third, by posting valuable content consistently, you’ll encourage visitors to return back to your website time after time. This ensures a steady flow of recurring traffic, letting Google know that people love reading your posts, thus boosting search engine rankings.
And last, content offers excellent link-building opportunities. That’s because it allows you to establish yourself as an expert within your niche and demonstrate your knowledge.
Consequently, other content creators might use your articles for research and link back to you, helping you increase your website authority.
In other words, the more backlinks you have, the more relevant your website will be in Google’s eyes, and the higher you will rank.
What’s more, focusing on posting content can help with your internal link-building strategy. The more content you have, the easier it will be to connect it with other pages on your website through internal links.
This helps users and search engine crawlers navigate your website easier. Consequently, you’ll likely experience an increase in the number of indexed pages and page views.
But keep in mind that relying solely on content to boost your website’s SEO will not cut it.
SEO is a pretty broad field and can also include technicalities, like reworking your website’s code or changing the hosting provider to improve performance.
3. Content Improves Brand Reputation
This is a significant advantage of content marketing. In contrast to other marketing strategies, content allows you to put your brand in a positive light more easily.
That’s because, by posting content, you emphasize bringing value to your target audience without necessarily expecting something in return. Consequently, you’ll get to earn your audience’s trust.
In other words, if PPC ads, for instance, have the purpose of getting people to buy your products, content offers all of the necessary information to help users make a well-thought-out purchase decision.
Consequently, when people read quality content, they’ll start to form a positive opinion about it, and soon, they’ll think the same about your business.
Thus, you’ll get to improve your brand reputation, build a strong relationship with your readers, and ultimately establish yourself as an expert within your niche.
That doesn’t mean you should ditch promotional content altogether, though. Instead, it’s best to stick with the 80-20 rule.
More precisely, 80% of your content should revolve around educating your audience, whereas you could use the remaining 20% to promote your products or services.
This way, you’ll manage to earn your readers’ trust and promote your products without appearing too pushy simultaneously.
But keep in mind that for your content marketing strategy to work, you’ll need to know your audience through and through.
That said, try to identify its pain points, needs, and wants, and create content that revolves around solving your readers’ issues, like how-to guides or tips and tricks articles, for instance.
4. Content Increases Conversions
Content marketing can bring six times as many conversions as other marketing strategies. But, again, it all comes down to that feeling of trust.
After all, people are much more likely to buy from a business that genuinely wants to help its customers make an informed purchase decision.
But, keep in mind that you need to clarify what you want your readers to do next. Otherwise, you may not experience any significant results.
Also, asking users for their email addresses before convincing them to make a purchase might be a better bet.
That way, you’ll be able to send out personalized offers or provide them with more valuable information to ease them in and maximize the chances of generating sales.
That said, include a call-to-action button within your content that will clearly state the next step in the conversion process, like “Sign Up Now” or “Download for Free,” for example.
5. Content Is Important for The Marketing Funnel
You can use content to drive leads through every step of the marketing funnel.
For example, at the top of the funnel, potential customers are starting to acknowledge their issues and become aware of various solutions available.
At this stage, you can create content that identifies the users’ pain points and provide general information that helps them understand their difficulties and potential solutions.
In the middle of the funnel, potential customers evaluate their options and look at multiple companies that could solve their issues. Here, you can provide more in-detail information to help them identify what solution suits them the best.
At the bottom of the funnel, leads are ready to become your customers. That said, create content that incentivizes leads to convert by showing your products or services’ benefits or by displaying testimonials.
6. Content Helps You Stand Out from Your Competitors
Sure, good content earns your audience’s trust and establishes you as an expert within your industry, ultimately giving you an advantage over your competitors.
But that’s not all. You can think of content creation is your own playground where you can express your ideas in any way you want.
In other words, content marketing allows you to fully show your brand’s personality and unique values, which will enable you to strengthen your brand’s message and differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Make sure to identify your brand’s voice and integrate it within your writing style and vocabulary.
For example, if you want to create an exciting, playful image of your brand, don’t hesitate to use fun language and insert a little humor in your content.
7. Content Is Cost-Effective
Companies that blog regularly are 13 times more likely to have a positive return on investment than companies that do not.
For starters, given that great content can help you establish strong relationships with your readers, they’ll likely spread the word about your business to other people as well.
In other words, your audience will do part of the marketing for you, free of charge.
Second, content helps your website rank higher in the SERPs. Consequently, you won’t need to spend as much money on other means of generating more traffic, like PPC ads, for instance.
Lastly, content can be repurposed.
Suppose you have a blog and want to open up a YouTube channel. Initially, it might seem like you may need to do a lot of work. After all, a new platform means new content, new ideas, and more money spent.
That’s not always the case. You can take high-performing pieces of your existing content from your blog and turn them into videos.
This way, you’ll manage to cut down on a good chunk of your workload and maximize the ROI of existing content.
Final Words
All in all, there’s no reason not to try out content marketing, especially if you’re a small business owner.
Content marketing is cost-effective and can increase the performance of all of your other marketing strategies, like SEO, social media, and email marketing.
But that doesn’t mean you should create content just for the sake of it. What makes content marketing successful is its ability to understand and appeal to the target audience.
That said, make sure to spend some time learning about your potential customers’ needs, and what makes them tick, and create content that aims to solve their issues.
Author: Designrush