Content Marketing: Effective Strategy in Attracting Customers
Since the advent of the Internet, online business has become typical. Entrepreneurs have been able to reach more target audiences for the product or service they sell. They have been able to sell outside their country. This has triggered traditional businesses to go online as it is apparent that the Internet has become an essential channel in having business sales increased. In this case, more and more entrepreneurs have decided to invest in online business. This results in more products and services options for consumers. Marketing strategies have sprung about to keep customers from buying and to persuade prospects. In this technological era, the most effective strategy to attract prospects and customers to eventually purchase a product or service is content marketing.
Content Marketing is a marketing strategy that deals with the creation and sharing of valuable content such as media and publishing content to pull in prospects and convert them into loyal customers. The type of content created and shared is related to the product or service a business is selling. Sharing of content is a form of customer education. Good content makes customers know the product, purchase it, and build trust on the business. Content marketing format includes video, e-books, infographics, photos or images, how-to-guides, answer articles, blogs, podcasts, and mobile apps.
Content marketing has replaced some of the traditional method of marketing which businesses are finding decreasing success with. It is the most reliable strategy as it enables to engage readers or viewers with the content and leave them wanting to come back again. Moreover, it creates something interesting without pitching the product or service it is relating to. It makes customers recognize the brand and understand the company, what it provides, and what it can do for them. In other words, content marketing is also a way of educating target audiences about a product or service, a company and its business.
Benefits of Content Marketing
Content marketing can be the heart of business success on the web. It provides concise and complete answers to prospect and customer questions. It does not interrupt users when looking for answers like the way video pre-rolls, pop ups, and banner advertisements usually do. The five main benefits of content marketing are the following:
- It costs less money – It costs less compared to online advertising which is quite less efficient. It could get the same sales leads or even more.
- It produces more sales leads and customers – Businesses that use content marketing to pull in prospects generate 55% more website leads at a lower cost than leads through the use of paid advertisements.
- The more content, the more marketing asset – Having more content each week in the website gains valuable marketing assets. More and more customers will visit the site wanting to have more information and get educated.
- It is growing – Some competitors might not be doing content marketing in the current year. This is the chance to get their sales leads. As businesses publish more content each week, the likelihood to obtain more customers is significantly high.
What makes a good content?
There are lots of content in the web. Some deliver value to the customers while others do not. By creating good content, customers keep coming back to ask for more thereby accomplishing the purpose of the marketing strategy. What really makes a good content? What should be regarded when making high quality contents? Below answer these two questions:
- It must be well-written – Well-written content is free from grammar and spelling errors. It should motivate and inspire readers.
- It should be timely – Content marketers must always be updated with the current industry trends. They must have a journalistic personality – Though this doesn’t mean they need to be up-to-date with the first breaking news, they must certainly know the latest so that they won’t be left behind.
- It must be valuable for the audience – Good content must deliver value to the audience. It should be focused on them. It should demonstrate the company’s thinking and should offer assistance. It should make the audience feel intelligent and knowledgeable after reading the content.
- It must be well-distributed and proactive – Good content must be distributed in different channels like social media, for it needs to be read in order to have an impact. Its performance should be evaluated and analysed to develop and make it more engaging.
- It must have a purpose – Good content must also focus on business goals, but should not centre on selling the business’s product or service. By having the right targeted keywords in the content, the content marketer still sticks to the business goals.
- It should have a call to action – Good content should have a clear idea of what the audiences must do next. It must direct them to the next step such as reading the next article or visiting another webpage or purchasing the product.
Top five formats
With the advancement of internet technology, new formats of content marketing have begun to surge. Below are the formats that work effectively.
- Blogs – Most companies benefit from well-written and relevant blogs. This content marketing format succeeds if it offers strong educational content that span in several topics.
- E-books – This format offers high quality content in exchange for the reader’s name, email address, and other information. This creates a touch-point that could result in sales increase.
- Infographics – This format works effectively as content marketing strategy as it tells a compelling story by way of visual experience.
- Video – Many content marketers use video format. Information-rich video content may attract viewers. With a gist of humor, the content also calls the audiences to action.
- Podcasts – Target audiences may subscribe and download podcasts through web syndication or streamed online into their computer, iPod or smartphone. Mobile devices let them access podcasts anytime and anywhere. Frequent visit to the site because of podcasts will possibly make audiences to purchase the related product or service in the content.
Content marketing is indeed a strategy of communicating target audience without overtly promoting a product or service. Instead of selling a product or service, it educates them by delivering valuable information related to the product or service. It builds trust and interest of buying the product or service. Finally, content marketing makes customers recommend the websites or the product to their friends via social media sites or word-of-mouth.