Why You Need to Invest In Content Marketing

So, you're not sure whether content marketing is right for your company? It's recommended that you reconsider, as content marketing is one of the very few online marketing strategies that require little upfront cost with the potential for a high return on investment (ROI).

By creating your very own content, you are opening up your business to a wealth of opportunities for increased sales. It doesn't matter whether you record a podcast, publish a couple of blogs each week, or film a unique video -- as long as it is original content, it will help turn consumers who are seeking information into customers. And here are four reasons why:

Reason #1: Content Marketing Can Supplement Your Existing Marketing Strategy.

For most companies, content marketing seems like a far-fetched idea -- one that is too far off from their current marketing campaign. However, the truth is that content marketing probably will fit right in with the rest of your marketing strategy. Are you currently focusing on SEO? Are you running a PPC campaign? Are you trying to expand your social media page? More than likely, the answer to at least one of those questions was "yes".

Content marketing can actually help all of the aforementioned marketing strategies. Your website probably already has SEO implemented on it, so you know how important keywords are in boosting rankings in search engines. With a blog, you can use more keywords -- in a search engine-friendly way, of course -- that can enhance your search engine rankings even more organically and inexpensively.

With PPC, you will have more opportunities with landing pages. For example, a customer may not have reached the purchasing stage of the sales funnel, yet they are looking to get their hands on additional information. By posting blog posts, you are providing the perfect spot for customers to find the answers that they are looking for -- and you are pointing them right to your business. As soon as a customer sees and reads your post, you can show them ads via AdWords Remarketing when they click off your site.

For most companies, social media is a must-have. However, it can be a real struggle to find relevant material that will work for your audience. Luckily, you can create your own content, which helps to boost your presence on social media and lead your interested customers to your website.

Reason #2: Increase Targeted Traffic That Comes to Your Site.

Content marketing helps to drive targeted traffic directly to your site through the previously-mentioned channels. This traffic is high-quality. Studies have been performed and have shown that this particular type of marketing is more effective when it comes to getting leads than conventional messaging. It also shows that content marketing is able to convert traffic into leads better, with the average site conversation being 12 percent, which is double.

Now, why might this be? It is ultimately because you're connecting with consumers when they are in need of information that you have available. Instead of throwing an ad on them, you're giving them helpful, valuable content, and this helps to establish a level of trust. This trust is the foundation to a strong relationship between the customer and your business. Content marketing can essentially be seen as a type of relationship-based marketing.

Reason #3: There's Little Risk with Content Marketing.

Regardless of whether you are launching a PPC campaign, running Facebook advertisements or investing in display advertisements, you are going to be out money. With these types of marketing strategies, there is a decent amount of upfront cost involved. When it comes to paid ads, it takes a lot of trial and error to determine the appropriate marketing mix that will drive quality traffic to your website.

However, with content marketing, you are out very little money upfront and there isn't any maintenance cost to keep it going since you are publishing (more than likely) on your own site. Even if it is determined that your audience responded better to videos than blogs or that your first attempt fails, you can easily make the changes, post new content, and avoid losing a lot in the process.

Reason #4: Virtually Everyone Is Doing It.

While you were told not to give into peer pressure when you were younger, it's actually a good thing in business to do what your competitors are doing. If your competition is using content marketing to their advantage, then you will fall behind if you don't use it to your advantage. Research shows that nearly 90 percent of B2B companies and just over 75 percent of B2C companies are utilizes content marketing to expand their businesses. Approximately 50 percent of businesses intend to expand their content marketing campaigns in the foreseeable future.

So, if you haven't started with content marketing yet, it is clear that you need to get started sooner rather than later. If you need help with this, don't hesitate to reach out to us at WebDetail and we'll be happy to get you started.