When digital marketers are asked to narrow down the single most important aspect of what they do, of course, many will respond, “Content is king!” It’s a phrase we’ve used for years and it still rings true today.
Rich, creamy, delicious, sexy content is so important to digital marketing and SEO, it’s been hailed as the king. And it is best to have the king on your side. But why are we going so crazy over content after all these years? And how can you up your content game on your site? Read on to find out.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is not a new concept. But it is crucial for businesses and brands to make it a priority in their digital marketing budget. Facing increasingly diverse audiences, the normalization of interactive technologies, and an ever-evolving social media landscape, companies simply can’t rely on outmoded mechanisms of connecting with their audiences.
As traditional marketing is becoming less effective by the nanosecond, we know that investing in quality content marketing can result in increased sales, cost savings, and increased brand loyalty; but what is it?
Content marketing employs the creation and distribution of relevant, informative, and consistent marketing content designed to reach a particular audience. The object of content marketing is to drive profitable consumer actions like purchasing services or products.
What makes quality content?
Now, let us be clear—we don’t want you to start writing just for the sake of writing. It’s important to remember that you need to put some focus on creating unique, engaging, and valuable content.
Quality content marketing requires a strategic and cohesive approach. While most businesses find themselves reactively engaging online or via social media, you need a defined goal for your digital presence and a sense of how the content you produce will help you reach your goals and establish your brand online successfully.
While many firms employ—or at least have heard of—some form of content marketing, they don’t realize that Google closely monitors websites for functionality and content. This means your content marketing strategy must incorporate relevant and consistent content that adds value to your online visitors, i.e., your audience.
- Relevant content marketing addresses your audience’s needs, desires, concerns, questions, interests, and challenges. By tuning into what your customers are looking for, you can establish your brand as a trusted expert your audience can rely on for understanding and answers.
- Creating valuable content means that your content adds value to your audience’s lives through informing, inspiring, entertaining, or engaging with them in an authentic way that resonates with their identity and values.
- While most businesses are stuck treading water through haphazard social media strategy implementation and low-quality or inconsistent content, informative content, delivered consistently will inevitably garner you the recognition and trust of your audience.
Why We’re Still Saying “Content Is King” in 2019
There are many reasons why content marketing will remain relevant and useful to your business:
- It’s great for SEO
- It encourages your audience to engage
- It can generate new leads and potentially more sales
- It adds value to your product or service by teaching your audience something
- It can increase traffic to your website
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of why content marketing is still so important for brands:
Enhances your SEO
Whenever you post anything online, search engines like Google eat it up. They analyze every word you write and categorize it in the virtual realm. So, when you type into a search engine “best spicy tacos in las vegas,” the results come from how well-crafted and relevant the content is.
This is the goal of content in digital marketing. Posting high quality, authentic content with naturally placed keywords on your website or blog boosts your SEO. The more consistently you do this, the more relevant Google will judge your page and rank it closer to the first page.
Acts as a mediator between you, your clients, and Google
Marketing is any type of communication between a business and the client. This includes anything from telling someone about your business to cranking out a blog on WordPress. Digital marketing is slightly different.
SEO adds a third party in the mix: search engines like Google. This makes your website, social media, and blog content powerful marketing tools.
Your content acts as a mediator when considering the relationship between the parties. Businesses want more clients and to expand their brand. Google wants data. Clients want services, products, and assurance that they’re getting the best deal. By posting excellent content, businesses feed the Google bots, who will provide the content to clients, linking them back to the business.
Tells your brand’s story
While we already mentioned why having high quality, keyword-rich content for search engines helps your SEO, having excellent content serves another important function to clients. Content is what clients use to judge your brand. Even if your business provides the best product or service, poorly written content on your business website will damage your reputation.
By tone, we don’t mean you can’t write content in a relaxed and casual voice. If that were the case, we wouldn’t be the Post Launch you know today. What we mean is post content that is clear and has intention.
When you write carefully crafted and informational content, people will view you as an authority. This makes them trust your brand. Going further, this engages current clients and attracts prospective clients.
Adds value to your brand
Consider whatever made a salesperson make you buy something. Did they shove it in your hand and order you to buy it? Or, did they explain what it is, what it does, what it can do for you and why it is better when compared to other things?
Using data and relating to someone are a salesperson’s powerful tools. Content is different from a salesperson, however. While content includes data and context, onsite content doesn’t have the same pressure as a salesperson watching over you. Rather, it is advertorial. It states what it is and gives you the option to buy if you want.
If the content is engaging enough and mixed together with your business’s authority, clients will trust bringing their business to you.
Increases web traffic
So, let’s say you’ve done it. You initiated posting consistent high quality and engaging content to feed the Google Bots and inform clients on your brand. While it takes time, eventually your business will bump up in the search engine ranks and current clients who trust your brand will tell others.
A search engine like Google will bump your rank higher on their page, providing more exposure to clients. Meanwhile, current clients will recommend your service to other people, and use your website, social media or blog content as their justification.
Now Is the Time to Grow Your Content Marketing Strategy
If you’re unsure of just how to design and implement a cohesive content strategy plan, you’re not alone. As one 2014 survey of marketing professionals found, recognizing the need for a content marketing strategy is not the same as being able to implement them effectively.
At the time of the survey, an incredible 56% of marketers said they were practicing content marketing without a defined strategy.
Create marketing goals based on your business goals
Begin by defining what your organization needs. This can help you determine what role your content will play in meeting your goals. You will also want to consider how your content marketing plan can complement or pivot from other aspects of your business, like promotions, services, sales, and advertising.
Define your audience
To create content that connects with your audience, you must first understand who your audience is. Is your market niche and your audience relatively homogenous? Or is there a more diverse segment of people who could be interested in what your brand has to say? Defining your audience will help your content marketing agency match your brand with your consumers’ wants, needs, interests, and concerns.
Consider the following questions:
- Who is your business seeking to serve?
- What does your audience care about?
- What are the needs, desires, concerns, questions, interests, and obstacles facing your consumers?
- How does your product or service add value to their lives?
- What expertise can you offer your clients?
An experienced content marketing agency will help you answer these questions to inform, entertain, and engage your audience in an authentic way.
Develop a clear brand voice
Engaging and informative content is defined by its ability to communicate what you need to say in a way that represents the mission, expertise, and values of your organization. You may want to consider entrusting a content marketing agency that specializes in optimizing this content for your audience and search engines to ensure your content strategy works toward business objectives instead of against them.
Plan your content’s distribution
Now that you have all of this content, where will you put it? Will you be publishing articles to your website through a blog and if so, how often? Once you publish your content, how will you let people know about it? Which social media platforms will your brand engage in and in what ways?
When first implementing a content strategy plan, it’s important to remember that a consistent schedule is the best way to familiarize audiences with your brand.
Track your results and restrategize
Once you’ve started to implement a content marketing plan, try monitoring your website traffic, social media engagement, and search engine rankings. As you look at the data, take note of who is interacting with your content and HOW they are interacting with it.
How are people responding to your content? What kind of content is getting the most attention or engagement? By tracking these results, especially over time, you and your content marketing agency will gain insight on which content marketing strategies are most effective for your audience, allowing you to pivot your strategy plan to ensure optimal results.
The Best Content Marketers in the Game Are Here at Post Launch
Today’s audiences have an ever-increasing appetite for valuable information delivered quickly and accompanied by visual stimuli. Instead of settling for the first pitch or product they see, most consumers use search engines and social media platforms to research different products and services before committing to a purchase. The team here at Post Launch can guide you through this ever-evolving landscape. Talk to us about your content today.
