What Is Content Marketing?

What Is Content Marketing?

Traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective by the minute; as a forward-thinking marketer, you know there has be a better way.

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. Instead of pitching your products or services, you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.

Content Marketing is good for your Bottom line and your Customers

Specifically, there are three key reasons and benefits for enterprises who use content marketing:

  • Increased sales
  • Cost savings
  • Better customers who have more loyalty


Content is the Present and Future of Marketing

Go back and read the content marketing definition one more time, but this time remove the relevant and valuable. That’s the difference between content marketing and the other informational garbage you get from companies trying to sell you “stuff.” Companies send us information all the time – it’s just that most of the time it’s not very relevant or valuable (can you say spam?). That’s what makes content marketing so intriguing in today’s environment of thousands of marketing messages per person per day.


Marketing is Impossible without Great Content

Regardless of what type of marketing tactics you use, content marketing should be part of your process, not something separate. Quality content is part of all forms of marketing:

 

  • Social media marketing: Content marketing strategy comes before your social media strategy.
  • SEO: Search engines reward businesses that publish quality, consistent content.
  • PR: Successful PR strategies address issues readers care about, not their business.
  • PPC: For PPC to work, you need great content behind it.
  • Inbound marketing: Content is key to driving inbound traffic and leads.
  • Content strategy: Content strategy is part of most content marketing strategies

Link Source Content Marketing Institute http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/

 

5 Reasons Why Content Marketing is Important to Your Business

  1. It builds a community of loyal customers

Giving good free information out can build a tightly-connected community of customers who are loyal to your brand which they have chosen to follow. By giving your customer community valued content for following you, they have a reason to invest time in your brand. If you publish content at regular intervals, followers effectively ‘check-in’ with your brand.

  1. It makes your brand an authority
    Quality content delivered on a regular basis makes your brand an authority on your subject. Being an authority is important as it builds trust and trust is something that customers make purchasing decisions on.
  1. You get to know your customers
    Content – when delivered through social media allows for feedback. It means you can gauge your customers’ attitude and get to know their needs and demographic better. Content at its best can inspire discussion, allegiance, provoke thought and get everyone talking.
  1. Generating content improves SEO
    Here’s one that we know all too well at Varn. Good quality content is gold for SEO. If you decide to generate a blog with quality content and connect it to your brand this can have positive repercussions. Long gone are the days of writing poor quality keyword-loaded copy on websites and blogs. Context, meaning and genuinely good, relevant writing will not only be picked up by customers for a read but also by search engines as a preferred ranking.
  2. Content adds value
    There is a new rule in business – that whatever business you are, you now need to also be a publisher to be competitive. People expect your business, your website and your brand ambassadors (whether that’s managers, staff, hired freelancers or even customers) to deliver insight or entertain. People want to go to your website and social media because they get something worthwhile back from the experience. Using video for short films, posting amusing pictures, delivering handy and helpful guides will make your website worth returning to as a routine.

Link Source: Varn https://varn.co.uk/03/18/5-reasons-why-content-marketing-is-important-to-your-business/