Content Marketing: Content That Sells

The purpose of the content is to attract people to your company or brand.

To increase customer engagement and revenues.

What makes for winsome content?

Personalization and creativity are the short answers.

Long answer: it’s not that simple, so keep reading.

Buying and retaining assets that are assured to appreciate over time, rather than just buying equities that are subject to market fluctuations, is prudent financial investing advice. Consider evergreen content in the same way. The value-added to your business will only grow with time.

So, what can you add to your content marketing strategy to help it rise above trends and shifts in public opinion?

Here is a complete guide on content marketing.

What is Content marketing?

Content marketing is simply “indirect selling” or “long-term selling” 

You’re offering something of value to your target audience and positioning your brand/product/service in a specific, desired way in their minds. In practice, this usually entails developing and sharing content that meets the needs of your target audience by informing, educating, or amusing them (often a combination of these things).

As a result, your business becomes positively associated with their interests, and if/when they need what you’re offering, they’ll remember your brand name and come to you first. It’s a combination of lead generation and nurturing.

This is not the same as gimmicky or forceful advertisements that are very direct and salesy in their message. It used to be that traditional advertising would say, “Here’s a problem, and we’ve got a solution.” Content is being developed in a more deliberate manner that engages customers by connecting with their beliefs, wants, and demands.

5 Reasons Why Content Marketing Is Necessary For Your Online Business

1. Core of every digital marketing strategy

The beauty of content marketing is that it integrates and complements all aspects of your digital marketing plan.

Whether they will sign up for an offer, make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter will be determined by the quality of their website experience. Compelling content plays a very major role in user experience.

2. Enticing rate of Return on Investment (ROI)

Content marketing not only outperforms traditional marketing approaches by a wide margin but also generates much more website traffic and leads. Consistent content creation increases website traffic, and as traffic grows, so do conversions.

Content marketing is tailored to the buyer’s journey, offering useful information at every point of the process. Visitors to your website can then be converted into leads, which can then be converted into returning customers. It’s a never-ending stream of content that nurtures potential customers at every stage.

3. Great content = Great Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Google crawls the content of each website to decide which users they will bring to your site.

Because the search engines understand the goal of the business, good content will drive more visitors to the website.

SEO is a more technical incentive to develop excellent content.

4. Establish Brand Authority

Content marketing showcases your expertise when you provide providing useful information that assists customers in making better-informed purchasing decisions.

With each great blog post, infographic, or other forms of content, you confirm your leadership position in the eyes of your leads and customers. The creation of high-quality content regularly strengthens your brand’s authority. As your brand authority grows, you’ll see some significant benefits.

5. People share great content on social media

A piece of content that explains how to tackle a common problem in a novel and unique way is something that a target consumer will want to save.

Users who share content increase your brand reach. One of the most common ways for audiences to share valuable content is through social media.

How to get started with content that sells

A good content marketing campaign should be manageable and sustainable. To begin, follow these steps:

1. Figure out your target audience

You need a thorough understanding of a reader’s goals, issues, and preferences before you can develop content for them. Curate your content keeping in mind your target audience and what they will be expecting from your piece of the content at the end of the day.

2. Must choose appropriate format and platform

Consider which formats will best assist you to demonstrate value. This will be a video for some and a checklist for others.

Because what might work for an eCommerce business will not work for B2B, picking the right format can help you level up your content marketing strategy. 

After working out the format it is equally important to decide on the platform to populate your content. 

Using the right platform to populate content is very crucial for any online business.

3. Work on the schedule that will last

It’s all too simple to create an unrealistic content marketing strategy.

Based on your budget and resources, determine the number of content items you can develop. Keep track of how long each piece of content takes you to develop so you can incorporate it into your timetable.

For example; there are a gym owner “selling” memberships, his content may include free short exercise tutorials, videos on injury prevention, blog reviews of the latest equipment, and so on. He’d post these on social media, and also definitely spend money promoting them on social media and through Google search, display, and other channels to grow his reach.

Once those prospects are in his “space,” they’ll see his content on a more regular basis, and if/when they’re looking to join a gym, they’ll most likely search for his name first, see his Google ad result, click to the website, which takes them to a highly-relevant landing page, and contact him through one of the multiple ways he has provided (phone, online form, etc.). That entire adventure began with me delivering useful information to a specific demographic (someone likely looking for a gym membership).

The best type of content marketing is integrated content marketing, which develops content assets and then reuses and repurposes them across all touchpoints in a funnel (where it makes sense) to boost reading, customer trust, loyalty, and so on.

“Content-first approach,” is important yet many businesses fail to implement it properly. As a result, content marketing is viewed as a top-of-funnel driver, a technique to raise awareness rather than a full-funnel strategy (which it is).