In recent years, consumers are being bombarded with more advertisements and messages than ever before, and hence the impact of more traditional channels is somewhat diluted. Content marketing has the capacity to resonate more powerfully with customers as it is carefully tailored to their needs and interests.
It is a way of conveying the brand’s personality without being overtly promotional, which can go a long way towards building brand trust amongst the audience. More and more brands are beginning to recognise the impact of content marketing, so those who choose to ignore it could possibly fall behind.
These are a couple reasons why content marketing is important:
Building a community of loyal customers
Giving good free information can build a tightly-connected community of customers who are loyal to the brand which they have chosen to follow
Makes the brand an authority
Quality content delivered on a regular basis makes the brand an authority on the subject. It helps to build trust, and trust is something that customers end up making purchasing decisions on
The business knows the customers
Delivering information through social media allows for feedback, and the business can gauge customers’ attitude and get to know their needs and demographics better
Generating content improves SEO
Context, meaning and relevant writing will not only be picked up by customers for a read but also by search engines which increases its overall search ranking
Content adds value
Customers want to go to the business’s website and social media because they want to get something worthwhile.
In terms of content marketing, two ways to go about it would be through social media - Facebook and Instagram. So, how does a post matter to a business? Marketers have stated that social media is important for their business and increased exposure was the number one benefit of social media marketing.
When posting something on social media, a business would get these benefits:
Increased exposure
Increased traffic
Developed loyal fans
Generated leads
Improved search ranking
Growing business partnerships
Reduced marketing expenses
Improved sales
Provide marketplace insights
After establishing the importance of content marketing, it is important to link it back to the marketing funnel. The main idea of the funnel is that the pool of potential customer grows smaller as it moves towards the transaction with the business.
A marketing funnel has three broad stages:
Awareness - When a prospective customer first discovers the brand
Evaluation - When a prospect decides to find out whether the product or service is the right fit or not
Purchase - When the prospect gathers the last bit of information they need before deciding to buy and become a customer
Discovery
Goals: Indirect customer acquisition; Brand Awareness
Tactic: Educational content; Viral content
Using content marketing to generate interest during the discovery phase
Figuring out what the audience wants and needs to learn about and teaching them those things.
Type of content that would work well
Blog posts
Webinars
Comprehensive guides
Videos
Email newsletters
Consideration
Goal: Direct customer acquisition
Tactic: Solutions to use-case challenges
Consumer starts to associate the business with the solution that is being offered
Consideration content is a great opportunity to make sure that is easy for visitors to browse all the information that might help them differentiate from the competitors
Type of content
Case studies
How-to content that showcases the products
Demo videos
Product descriptions
Datasheets
Conversion
Goal: Transactions with customers
Tactic: Product descriptions and unique value propositions
This is the point of transaction. The customers that remain in the funnel are interested in what the business has to offer.
Type of content
Testimonials
Reviews
Streamlined, comprehensible and trustworthy sales process
It is more straightforward and involving things like clear descriptions of products that outline the unique value.
Retention
Goal: Retention of existing customers; advocacy
Tactic: Help, support, and onboarding
Once there are customers, the next goal is to keep the customers. Retention refers to turning one-time buyers into repeat customers.
Type of content
Customer support and help documentation
Special offers
Insider how-tos
Email outreach and follow-up
Whatever stage of the funnel that the business is creating content for, the key is to figure out who would the content be talking to, and what they might want to hear before deciding on it!