It seems the customers have become so cunning that they are resisting or no longer paying attention to your adverts, not that adverts are no longer converting but there is a general dwindling return on investments on most adverts. You might be wondering why or is there a cheaper and effective way of doing it? Today I want to introduce something you could have been possibly doing all along without really realizing it but I just want to re-emphasize why you should start considering content marketing for your business?
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. You could have been producing content all along for your business to give to your clients, audience, prospects, etc. but as long as that content cannot fall along that definition then you were not really doing content marketing. Yes, you were producing content, but not really doing content marketing. As long as your audience was not clearly defined and when it was not a systematic approach that is intended to drive profitable actions then you possibly losing out on the rich content marketing gold mine.
So now we going to be looking at some of the main reasons why you should consider content marketing, not that you should totally ditch adverts, No!!! These two should work hand in hand and remember that content is king and context is queen. Content marketing is worth considering and we going to be looking at the main reasons why you should consider content marketing.
Engage with your audience and clients
For your business, you have been possibly engaging with your customers and prospects on social media but most companies are really missing out and not putting enough content that instills engagement. Most of the posts are just flighting adverts and selling and to some, the least they can do is to offer a prize in a contestant and that will be the only time they get engagement from their audience and clients.
The question is, is that all? You have a lot of things that you can offer your clients. There are some discussions that your company should be leading. Let’s look at the talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), it’s coming or already there but the question is how many technological and industry players are leading the conversations. Customers have to go look for content or information somewhere when there is a technological firm that can answer or engage with them in these conversations.
I come from a surveying and engineering background and we can talk of new technologies that are transforming the profession like drones, Lidar, GPS, etc. that are challenging the traditional survey and these pose a lot of fear, opportunities, skepticism, threats, and many others to the students, teaching profession, clients, customers, and third-party players. Imagine if I start blogging, writing newspaper and magazine articles, videos and podcasts around that area. How much engagement would that generate? This is high-level engagement which if properly done right can be of great benefit in improving the technology, contextualization technologies, and solutions, answering to the problem and many others. The engagement can come from comments, post reviews, listeners’ comments and requests, questions from the audience, etc.
In this world, companies that are good at content creation and its proper marketing will win big and outsmart competitors and gaining that brand authority. Customers want to interact with a business or brand that answers their questions, addresses their fears and problems and this can be easily done by creating the rightful content. It’s not just about the number of followers on your fan page or social media but it all comes down to the engagement that goes around on your platform. I think you have seen some businesses with thousands if not million but with a paltry or zero engagement they post something but get zero or a few likes, retweets or comments which do not correlate to their following. It’s the rightful content for the rightful audience that drives engagement.
Boost Sales
Are you struggling with questions? Are you struggling with generating and closing leads? Are you always met with the problem of having to always explain your business, services, and products to each and every prospect which often leads to you missing out some important information and also resulting in a lot of inconsistency? Imagine if each and every question your customer could possibly have was already answered on your website or in a blog post podcast or video.
By just referring your customers to your website, podcast, Youtube channel then most of their questions can be answered there and when they reaching you again you now on another lever in the sales funnel. By creating content for each and every stage of the sales funnel you help convert more and more people to actually make the final sale. Imagine a scenario where you into selling laptops or cellphones, then you create one video or blog post looking at something like, ‘What to consider when buying a phone?. This can look at some aspects like RAM, ROM and many others. Then on the next post or video, you can create something with the theme like, ‘Explaining your phone’s RAM and ROM’. These posts are each directing one to another back and forth. Then you can create another lead magnet or a survey on which readers can choose some preferred brands or ask them to sign up to request a discount coupon.
This acts as a double-edged sword of closing the sale in the now and also for your data mining activities. You now have your database which you can later use for your further marketing activities. Even if they fail to buy now, you can always close then in the future because you now have their data that might be location, preferred models and specs, budget, name, emails, phone numbers, etc. Along the buyer’s journey, you can always create content that might be personalized or automated emails to help close the deal or make a sale.
Take for example an email with resources or links detailing explaining your services and products that can be sent automatically after someone has signed up to your form or on requesting a call. Most of the customers are reluctant to buy or take so long because they are ill-informed or rather skeptical about your brand also because there isn’t enough content out there to prove your worth. If they google your name or business do they get adequate information about your brand or to help what they are looking for.
Build Lasting Relationships With Your Audience
Above all, you need to build that lasting relationship with your clients, customers, partners and prospects and one sure way of doing so is making sure that you stand out in this digital world is making sure you have the relevant information and answers for the on the rightful platforms. If most of them are always on Youtube, why not start considering producing content for them on Youtube. If they are on Linkedin or Facebook then the same and above all make sure your website is well resourced and well optimized for search. Imagine a scenario where every web search within your industry or product offering will somehow end up on your website.
Customers should come to a point where when they have a question they refer to your site or content. It will establish you as an expert within your industry and you can have more return customers, leads and new customers.
