Content Marketing Services

Why Content Marketing Matters

More than 20 years have passed since Bill Gates proclaimed that “content is king”. 

Time may have gone by, but content has maintained its rightful position as king. Isn’t this enough to prove that content marketing should always be treated as a necessity, and never as an option?

Did you know that content creation is considered a priority by 80% of marketers? 

We might have talked about this before, but it’s important to repeat it: you are creating content for humans, not for search engines. After all, visitors chose your website for a reason, so, by matching their search intent with insightful and valuable content, you are offering them what they came for. 

Content marketing may seem overwhelming at first, but we’ll demystify it for you.

Keep reading if you want to optimize your content and take your marketing strategy to the next level!

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is defined as the strategic marketing process of creating, curating, editing, and distributing valuable and informative content to attract a specific target audience. 

More specifically, take a look at what you are reading now – that’s content marketing! 

After all, 81% of consumers stated that they need to trust the brand to make a purchase, and what better way to gain your audience’s trust than through insightful and high-quality content?

Not only are you boosting your authority with this inbound marketing strategy, but you are also building a relationship with leads that could result in loyalty and increased conversions.

Essentially, through inbound marketing, you are helping prospects discover your business. By producing valuable content that answers search intent, you are creating brand awareness and this can result in conversions. While outbound marketing focuses on searching for buyers, inbound marketing is more about increasing visibility that, consequently, increases awareness and attracts potential customers to you.

Moreover, considering that promotional content from businesses is what users are accustomed to, by producing educational content, you will also gain an edge over the competition.

Not sure if content marketing is worth the time and effort? Here are some more advantages:

Generate leads without investing a lot of money: Did you know that content marketing costs 62% less than other digital marketing strategies while generating three times more leads than traditional marketing?

Increases brand credibility: Informative and high-quality content will position you as an industry leader and increase trust in your brand. 80% of people prefer to learn about a company through custom content. 

Boosts search engine ranking:  Google aims to deliver “the most relevant and reliable information available”, hence content is essential as it informs Google for what searches you should be ranked. That being said, content creation results in 434% more indexed pages. 

Humanizes your brand: From videos to podcasts or articles, the content you produce will help you build “the voice” of your brand. The voice or the personality of your brand is what will differentiate your business from others in such a varied market.

Create a sense of community: Not only can you use your content to engage with your target audience, but also to encourage your visitors to connect in the comment section.  

Promote your products: While content marketing is mainly about content that educates and engages your audience, you can use your content to inform your audience about your products. Gymshark, the activewear brand, exemplifies this with its blog, Gymshark Central, which merges educational and promotional.

Assist your prospects through the conversion funnel: From educational content that visitors need in the awareness stage to product reviews and guides that can sway them during the decision stage, make sure that the content you produce is varied so that it can support users no matter where they are in the conversion funnel. 

Setting Up Your Content Strategy

We constantly establish the importance of planning and its benefits, so, naturally, if you want to use content marketing to achieve your business goals, you will also need to set up a strategy. 

Without a strategy, your content marketing risks being inconsistent. Remember, you need to engage with your target audience at every stage of the conversion funnel, and the best way to produce suitable content is by following a content strategy.

1. Establish Your Goals

Writing is easier once you have established your priorities, and this would be impossible without setting goals. 

From building awareness or customer engagement to increasing conversions or even to becoming a thought leader in your niche, the best method to break your goals down is by setting SMART goals. 

• Specific: Try and make your goals as specific as possible. Identifying the who, what, when, where, why, and how will be a game-changer.
• Measurable: Quantifying your goals will make tracking them easier.
• Attainable: Is your goal realistic? Do you have the necessary resources to achieve it?
• Relevant: Your goals should align with your brand’s vision.
• Time-based: It’s crucial to state the period over which the goal is measured.

2. Determine Your Target Audience

How can you know what to write if you don’t know what your audience wants to read? 

Defining your target audience and building buyer personas is crucial for producing relevant content for your audience, but also for learning how to reach your target audience.

However, to reap the benefits of buyer personas, you first need to conduct persona research:

• Use website and social media analytics to find out more about your current audience
• Use social listening to discover conversations that mention your brand
• Audit your current audience 
• Research who your competitors are targeting
• Think of your target audience’s behavior, goals, and pain points

Even if you haven’t published your content yet, you can still grasp an understanding of what works in your niche by conducting a competitor analysis. 

3. Organize A Brainstorm Meeting

The old saying “two heads are better than one” has never been more accurate. Brainstorming is crucial, especially if you are at the beginning of your content marketing journey, as it is a great way to generate content ideas quickly. While not all the ideas may be good, having the whole team there to give suggestions will certainly help with refining even those not-so-gold ideas.

Additionally, your content should be in line with your brand’s vision and values, and what better way to achieve that than through a group-thinking session?

…and for those days when the entire team suffers from writer’s block, don’t forget about tools such as AnswerThePublic that will make generating ideas easier. 

4. Set Up An Editorial Calendar

Content planning is a cornerstone of any successful content marketing strategy. How else is your team supposed to collaborate effectively and keep up with the various deadlines?

An editorial calendar is necessary for visualizing and documenting your workflow. These will help not only with collaboration but also with differentiating between types of content and with visualizing the content pipeline. 

What are you waiting for? Set up a content calendar and never miss a deadline again!

5. Switch Up Your Content 

You might think of blog posts when you hear content marketing, but content marketing is so much more.

Here are some other types of content you should incorporate into your content marketing strategy:

• Video content:  Did you know that viewers retain 95% of messages when watching a video and only 10% when reading the same information? Check out our article on video marketing.
• Infographics: A great way to educate your audience without overwhelming it, infographics are visual ways to display content. 
• Podcasts: This content type is constantly evolving. In fact, in The United States, podcast listeners have grown 29.5% only in the past three years.
• E-books: an alternative to blog posts, e-books are effective for gathering customer information as to download an e-book, customers have to provide some information such as name and email address. 

Do Your Business a Favor and Invest in Content Marketing!

Content marketing might mean going that extra mile, but it will be worth it. Not only are you offering your audience insightful and high-quality content, but you are also promoting your products and assisting your prospects through the conversion funnel.

There are many benefits to content marketing and many ways to go about it, as content marketing is not just blog posting.

However, here at CadenceSEO, we understand how hard beginnings can be, and we are here to support you through them. Our team of digital marketers can help you establish your content marketing strategy and take your business to the next level!

What are you waiting for? Book a free consultation with us today!