Long live the content part 2: The business goals of content marketing

Increase sales

It's the main goal of marketing – it has to generate revenue. This also applies to content marketing that supports every part of the marketing mix. At this point, I encourage you to look more closely at yourself – are you a seller? Of course you are – each of us is! We are selling ideas every day. Naturally we are using attentively selected words to gain our aim by saying simply “get it” or by sneakily broadcasting our arguments in a non pushy way. And once again we are back to the non-interruption content marketing that is based on interesting and valuable content. It may seem that blogging is only about gaining new readers, but it is worth to remember that they can become our clients in a short time. According to report published by Social Media Today, as many as 61% of internet users made the purchase decision because they have previously read an article on the corporate blog.

SEO support

The pursuit of the Google's algorithm is full of twists and turns. One thing is certain: what matters here is the headline. That's no the secret. This rule also applies to journalism – we all read only the articles with eye-catching headlines (and interesting leads). Try to type any phrase in the Google search – you will receive mostly headlines, which are intended to attract as much attention as possible. More readers means higher rank in the Google's search engine. Support your content marketing activities by long tail SEO and the traffic on your website will be like the Time Square on New Year's Eve.

Stop running after clients

Marketers and sellers know exactly how difficult it is to attract and retain the client. Thanks to CM their job is a little bit easier, because it brings customers to them. When you are finally ranked high in the Google's search engine, all the rest of it will flow. The users will be visiting your site by themselves, without any kind of encouragement. Furthermore, they will probably come back if you provide them with valuable and interesting content.

Generating leads

Thanks to content marketing you will be able to create sales funnel, which leads to the point when anonymous users will give you the informations about themselves (and sometimes their intentions too). According to WhitePress's report, one of the most important aims achieved by content marketing is driving leads, clients and sale (69%). Once the customer knocks on your door, they usually don’t come empty-handed. And I don't mean money by that - it’s all about the enquiry, because the users give up the information for something beneficial for them. In a case of content marketing, it is of course the valuable content that I have mentioned at previous article. Generating leads is not only about enquires. When it comes to CM, there are many possibilities of obtaining data from the user: free e-book, reports or infographic that are requiring the input of e-mail address or other personal information if user wants to download them, as well as newsletters that include articles from the corporate blog (which you can also publish on social media channels).

Source: based on WhitePress report

Create the image of an expert and improve company's reputation

What people are looking for on the internet are answers to their questions. The most popular source of the information are pundits and opinion leaders. An image of an expert builds your presence at the web and help in maintaining a group of regular readers. And there is nothing that attracts readers more than engaging, unique content that is answering their questions. I'm sure that users who are enjoyed your tips will gladly share them with their friends. That's just one step to create dreamed-of image of an expert. Please, just remember that firstly you have to have some knowledge to teach others! Don't run before you can walk, because you can end up with something completely opposite than you wanted to and, as a result, obtain a group of haters.

Brand awareness

We all want to be famous – the more recognizable the brand, the more customers it will attract. Aforementioned benefit of using content marketing corresponds with the increase of brand awareness. Opinion that is passed by word of mouth or found on the internet reaps a harvest of people who know about or, at least, are familiar with your company. It's perfect when the audience is not only able to name the brand and its industry, but also connect it with specific projects, products or services. However, this has to be earned.

Lack of financial expenses

Well OK, it's ALMOST free of costs. It is well known truth that time is money, therefore if you have in your team experts who can create well-written and unique content, there's nothing more you need. In this case CM is to a large extent buckshee. It's even more gratifying (when it comes to finances) if you have great writing skills and enough knowledge and time, so you can write such articles by yourself. Then content marketing knocks others forms of promotion into a cocked hat. However, using Adwords or Facebook Ads requires you to shoulder some financial efforts and to have knowledge of how they work and how to use them. In addition, no one knows your business better than you and your team do. You do live it and breathe it every day, don’t you? Of course you can also employ copywriters who will create well-written content for you. The better and the more copywriters you hire the bigger the cost is. This is confirmed by the WhitePress' researches: 46% of surveyed companies spend less than 1000 PLN per month (about 260$ USD) on CM activities, and as many as 84% of marketers take advantages of free content promotion on social media.

Everybody can write about everything

Users are having more and more questions every day and they are still looking for a place where their needs will be met. Content marketing can be used regardless of the size, reach or specialization of a company. There's only one rule – content has to be valuable, unique and respond to the demands of the readers. This kind of content will, without a doubt, attract the attention of clients. As much as I want to, I can't give any example of business that is bad for content marketing strategy (please let me know if you find one ;)).

If you miss the previous article about content marketing, you can find it here. Soon I'm going to publish another part of this content marketing series, so stay tuned!

The full article can be found in Marketing w Praktyce (Marketing in Practice; March 2016).