Global online content consumption doubled in 2020. There’s no denying that our lives are being more and more driven by content.
As a brand, you need to let this sink in. With so many people sitting behind their computers all day, how do you grab their attention? It all comes down to content marketing.
Content marketing can be defined as the process behind the content being produced. It involves planning, production, and sharing with a target audience.
In this guide, we’ll discuss the benefits of content marketing. Stick around to get all the insights and content marketing tips.
Benefits of Content Marketing
As a brand or business, you’ll want to keep up with the latest trends and focus on what’s working. The more you can connect with your audience, the better off your brand will be.
Retention
As far as content marketing benefits go, retention of clients or patients is one of the biggest. When you can create a strong bond with your customers, they’ll want to come back for more.
It comes down to trust and value. When clients, patients, or customers can trust you, they’ll want that much more. It all starts with creating that trusted bond from the get-go with content marketing.
Control
Of the best benefits of content marketing is being able to control the conversation. When you can directly influence your customers, you’re golden.
Your customers are already out there anyways. If you can invite them in, you can also entice them with your products or services. You can naturally influence them to make the right choice with your products and services.
Noninvasive
People hate being bombarded with advertisements all day on television and the internet. When you combine this with social media, it feels like everyone is swimming in the noise.
One of the benefits of content marketing is that it cuts through the noise. With content marketing, your company can form a healthy relationship with your potential customers rather than an invasive, intrusive one.
Brand Awareness
In the internet age, digital content is king. It’s not just about pumping out content either—quality matters.
An added benefit can be creating a valuable piece of content that ranks high with Google. The more eyeballs and buzz you get around your content, the better off you’ll be.
As content marketing tips go, put the client in mind first (not the other way around). You’re not selling, you’re providing free, valuable, and interesting information. This means speaking to them on a human level. Research what they are searching for and go from there.
Brand Credibility
When you can consistently create valuable content for your customers, you will build brand credibility. They will begin to depend on your input and insight.
This creates a naturally positive feedback loop. They will begin to share your content, tell friends, and create a natural buzz around your brand. This will then turn into sales, new patients, or anything else you deem valuable for your business.
If you haven’t noticed by now, Google likes content. By creating unique types of marketing content, your brand will grow naturally.
If you think about it from Google’s point of view, they want to enrich people with valuable search results. This is where your content marketing team can step in and shine.
The faster you get on Google’s good side, the better off your brand will be. When you do, you will see your web traffic improve dramatically!
Social Media
Most of us consume our content on social media. If your brand isn’t productive social media content, you’re missing a great opportunity.
You want to be where the eyeballs are.
You can think of your brand as an umbrella where each bit of content could be a different avenue underneath. These days people want transparency in their brands. Social media is a perfect marriage for this, so be sure to take full advantage.
Leads
One of the bigger benefits of content marketing is creating leads. Don’t feel like you need to reinvent the wheel.
When a customer is consuming a piece of content on your site or elsewhere, you can gently influence them towards a product or service you have to offer. You don’t need to be shy or awkward about it either.
A call-to-action (CTA) can be anywhere in your content—but most naturally would be towards the end. Remember that you are creating content for humans, not bots.
Originality
There’s something to be said for originality online (and elsewhere). You don’t want to just churn out the same dribble as your opponents. We call that spin.
A better approach is to fully embrace your brand and its personality with all its quirks too. If you can drop your guard down and just create from within, then people will respond in kind.
If you think about it, doing that is a much better long-term approach. If you’re trying to create content that everyone else is doing, you’re going to have a difficult time growing a business.
You’ll have a tough time because you’re attempting to grow in an inauthentic way. That approach may work in the short term, but it will eventually catch up with you. A wiser solution would be to just start creating from a natural place.
Save Money
When you get good at creating content for your business or brand, you will save money in the long run. When compared to traditional types of marketing, things are much more streamlined and nuanced these days.
Save Time
Yet another one of the benefits of content marketing is saving time. While it may take some upfront time to build out your content, once it’s there, it’s there for good.
When you create consistent valuable content, people will keep coming back for more. That is good business because it’s a good ROI.
SEO
As we’ve discussed, your business success will rely on relating to your audience. With that said, you will also want to incorporate SEO (search engine optimization) into your content.
You want to do it in a way that is natural to your audience. Don’t stuff keywords, just work them in as you naturally would.
Content Marketing Tips
What about content marketing tips? Here are some of our favorites.
Clear
You want to set clear goals for the content you put out there. When you can crystalize your goals, you’ll be able to produce that much more.
You will find that certain goals will work a lot better than others. Keep a log of what’s working for you and what’s not, and go from there.
At Ten Peaks Media, we always start with keyword research to find out what users are searching for, and what questions they’re asking and then create content to match those needs.
Audience
How would you define your audience? What adjectives come up when you describe them? The better you know your audience, the better off your team will be. You will be able to hone in on what they want.
Engage with your audience to strengthen the relationship. When you do, the lines will begin to merge and you’ll produce quality content for them.
Reader
First and foremost, you want to have the reader in mind. Is there something you can help them with? A problem you can solve?
Try not to create content from your own personal struggles. Have someone in mind that you can assist with (even in a small way). You’ll be amazed at how much you can do with this simple mindset shift.
In-Depth
There is something to be said when you dive deep with your content. There is tons of content out there that could be considered shallow or uninformative.
Don’t let this be you. When you can create long-form content that is in-depth and valuable, people will love you for it. They will see you as a wealth of knowledge that they can’t get enough of.
Be Consistent
You want to develop some level of consistency with your work. This way people know when to expect new content.
How much content do you want to create per day, week, month, year, etc.? Strive for a win-win relationship. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin, but you also don’t want to produce so little that people forget you.
Create Something Great
Now that you know some of the benefits of content marketing, what are some other types of marketing out there? There are digital, e-mail, and social media, just to name a few. The good news is that we can help with that too.
Do not hesitate to get started. Let’s start something great together. Book a call with Ten Peaks Media today!
