The Necessity of Content Marketing

Content marketing is the use of specific content to engage with readers/viewers in a more direct and informative approach than traditional marketing techniques. There are a number of reasons why good content marketing can be the key for any business to gain and maintain loyal, knowledgeable customers. The best and maybe the only way for a business to move forward now in this intense, noisy marketplace is through good content marketing.

 

Content marketing helps improve brand reputation:

 

It does so by building trust between brand and customer. Among the myriad of brands and businesses targeting and communicating with customers, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. We are met daily with an array of advertisements and promotions, and customers don’t always know who to trust. Good content marketing, then, is the key to standing out as a reliable, trustworthy source of brand information. The essence of content marketing lies in its relevance and value to the customer.

When an audience sees your content, they begin to develop an opinion of your brand. If the customers find your content engaging, educational, and valuable, they are likely to think the same about your brand. According to LYFE Marketing, 78% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads, and 70% of consumers believe that organisations providing custom content are interested in building good relationships with them.’

 

Customer Experience

 

A loyal customer base is vital in keeping a business going. To gain loyalty, customer experience is key. By 2020, customer experience is expected to  overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Customer experience, in essence, comes down to the perception that a customer has of your brand.  According to Forbes, ‘customer perception is one of the most valuable aspects of a company. Managing that perception in all its forms should be a top priority and is the responsibility of every single person in the organization.’ A customers perception of your brand shapes their experience, From one’s first contact with the brand, they are developing an opinion that will influence how they view their experience. Even though a business may have a positive perception of their own brand and marketing skills, it’s the customers experience that matters most.

Positive experience of a brand is key to customer retention. Content marketing can provide customers with a positive experience by focusing on the specific wants and needs of the customer. Customers gain trust and place value in a brand that isn’t constantly trying to sell them something. They don’t want to be treated like another click, another number. Content marketing makes the interaction between brand and customer more personal than other marketing strategies, in turn providing a positive experience, which strengthens brand reputation and creates loyal customers.

 

Benefits Of Good Content Marketing:

 

Standing Out Among Competitors

 

Content marketing can help a brand to set themselves apart from their competitors. For example, if a customer has a choice between one brand or another (which they do, more often than not), it’s likely that they’ll choose the brand with more helpful information than the other. When it comes to standing out amongst competitors, voice and personality can go a long way, alongside that helpful information. With good content marketing, a brand can show customers it’s unique personality. Brand traits can be emphasised, such as professionalism, humor, and aesthetic.

 

Greater Brand Awareness

 

‘Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing presents an opportunity for brands to tell their story. By creating engaging, interesting content, you can establish a voice, build brand awareness and – eventually – grow your customer base.’

Content marketing is a great tool for increasing brand awareness. Brand awareness, in turn, is vital in generating leads and increasing sales. A powerful content topic to use in marketing is the brand story. Customers like to know the story, the people, the roots of the brand they are consuming. By highlighting the brand story and personality through good content marketing, customers know not only the brand name and products, but where they came from and the people behind them. Online advertising can seem highly impersonal at times, so a brand that is open and personal about what it has to offer, as well as transparent in its goals, earns the respect and trust of the consumer.

Content is an important aspect in building businesses and plays a large role in improving Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Search Engine Optimisation is important in improving your business’ online visibility. The more content there is to be found on your site, the more pages the search engine has to index and show to your audience in their search results. According to LYFE Marketing, ‘business sites that post consistent blog content have on average of 434% more pages indexed by search engines than those that don’t publish at all.

 

Greater Conversion Rates

 

Good content marketing has shown to dramatically increase website conversion rates. According to the Content Marketing Institute, it has ‘six times the power of traditional marketing for converting people into leads and leads into customers.’

Considering the positive aspects of content marketing the reasons outlined above, it is clear to see its importance, in both the building of, and retention of, a strong, loyal customer base. Good content marketing takes your regular consumer and increases the chances that the consumer will share their positive experience of your brand with others, and, hopefully, become a lifetime brand ambassador.