Do you feel like customers are just not seeing your ads? They are everywhere, often to the point where we are blind to them. Think about it, do you remember the last ad you saw on Facebook? What about the last banner you saw on a website? So how do you as a business get traffic to your website when so many people are blind to advertisements? One answer is content marketing.
There are a lot of benefits of content marketing and in 2020 it is more important than ever. So what is content marketing exactly? First of all, the content is not an advertisement. It is things like blog posts or videos that don’t advertise your brand but generate interest in other ways. So content marketing is being strategic about what you as a business generate. In order to answer your customers’ questions just as they’re looking for them.
Driving Sales
Content marketing drives sales by bringing traffic to your website or channel. By answering your target audience’s online search with thoughtful and informative content you are completing the first part of the inbound marketing steps. You are 1. Attracting people to your website and 2. Establishing a relationship where the customer trusts you to answer their questions. Before people make a purchase they first have to identify the problem, then most will do research.
For example, if I’m looking for a gift for my Mom’s birthday. I might start with a Google search “Best Gifts for Mom” and the first thing that comes up are lists of products. That is content I am consuming, and if I buy a gift recommended by one of those sites and my mom loves it I’ll more than likely look there first next time I am looking for something to buy. That’s the beginning of creating a relationship I now trust this site to recommend good gifts.
Google Loves Content
Google’s goal is to provide the searcher with their answer. Google got to be one of the best search engines by always delivering what the searcher wanted. Google’s bots go through websites and look for certain keywords. According to SparkToro in 2018 it was shown Google searches send almost 58% more traffic to websites! This means if Google isn’t recognizing your content as what the searcher is looking for you’re not very likely to be noticed.
You Can Control The Conversation
Do you know at what stage in the sales funnel the customer who just walked in is at? Customers now are coming in later in the sales funnel than in previous years. Whether you work at a car dealership or sell electronics customers are narrowing down what they are looking for online. Instead of seeing or talking to sales representatives. How many times has a customer been telling you what they are looking for? And they are only interested in the specific product they found online. Are you able to steer them toward a different product? Even if it is more in line with what they are looking for?
In my experience, it is much more difficult to change a potential customer’s mind than it is to help them make an informed decision for the first time. By having content on your website you are helping steer the conversation before a customer ever walks in the store. Using content marketing you are able to explain the pros and cons of a certain item or create a list of questions to walk the customer through what it is they would need.
For example, if you have a real estate office most people, are looking for the typical 3 bedroom 2 bath home. By using your blog you can bring up the benefits of having additional bedrooms. Or whether most home buyers will be able to save money by going with a smaller home. Buyers have a tendency to think they know what they want. But by showing you’re the expert you are able to help them make a better-informed decision.
Content marketing is often a struggle for small businesses. It is time-consuming and there are often so many other tasks that are taking up your valuable resources. While it isn’t easy content marketing will help your business grow in more ways than what you can imagine.