How Content Marketing Can Drive Growth in a Business
Sales and marketing techniques have changed. Today’s prospects want to be educated with useful content, not convinced to purchase another particular service or product. Gone are the days of hard-sell tactics… customers are hungry for information, not the latest sales gimmick.
Content marketing supports successful business growth by engaging potential customers with content that’s convenient and helpful, yet relates in some way to what you sell. It may take time to create, but it’s essential to a successful business plan.
Why create marketing content?
Content marketing provides relevant, high-quality information that attracts customers and establishes your expertise which is vital to building trust. Content creation is an ongoing process. That means you need to continuously provide fresh, valuable content that’s keyword-rich to attract the right prospects and grow your customer list.
What are some examples of marketing content?
- Blogs – There are many reasons to create a blog – a page on your website that’s frequently updated. A blog is useful for sharing helpful information that will attract your prospects and showcase your company’s capabilities and achievements.
- White papers – You can use a white paper to attract and engage your target audience. To pose a question about a problem, formulate and propose a solution. A well-composed white paper offers sound information that can support the decision process of current and prospective customers.
- Case studies – Conducting and presenting the results of case studies which support customer decisions that will benefit your business is another valuable way to use content marketing to your advantage.
- Articles – Detailed pieces that focus on a particular topic that’s uppermost in the minds of potential customers can convince prospects that you’re quite knowledgeable about the topic, capable of providing superior services or products.
- Videos – There’s a reason why YouTube is so popular. We’re a very visual society, with limited time for reading. A large percentage of prospects would rather click on a video that demonstrates your services, narrated by someone knowledgeable, than read through a lengthy text document.
The key to successful content marketing is to include several types of content, so your prospects can choose their favorite. Repurposing content in varied forms is one key tip of savvy content marketers. It not only saves time and thus money; it also makes content available in a preferred form for everyone who visits your website.
Content marketing showcases your expertise.
How can you prove to prospective customers that you’re skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable about the type of service you offer? Content marketing is the perfect tool for proving you’re good at what you do. Content marketing can also be used to:
- Help current and potential customers understand what you do best
- Showcase the type of brands that you work with
- Show off project types that you are successful in
- Outline your overall service so customers are aware of everything you can do
- Highlight the industries you currently work for
- Market to all industries that you want to work in, even if it is a new field that you are trying to get into
If prospective customers don’t know everything you can do and how qualified you are to provide the products and services you offer, they may take their business elsewhere for things you could actually do better. There’s no more effective way to support business growth today than to show and tell what you know and what you can do by utilizing the powerful tool of content for marketing your business.
Hard evidence proves the value of content marketing for businesses of all types and sizes, including those specializing in engineering and manufacturing. Here are some case studies that show how content marketing benefits a wide range of companies and some specific case studies from our site.
Not sure how to organize an effective content marketing plan? Contact us, we’d love to show you the way!