Why Every Business Should Be Content Driven

December 27, 2016

It’s estimated that we on average experience 7,000 pieces of marketing each and every day. Psychologists believe that as we evolve in the new ‘internet and advertising’ era we are actually becoming more and more adept at blocking out these marketing messages.

So the big question is: How do we get heard, how do we make noise and gain traction in a world saturated with marketing?

The answer: Content.

Content marketing is a strategic and value driven marketing approach specifically focused on creating and distributing valuable and relevant information, advice and support with the ultimate goal of creating long-standing relationships ultimately resulting in customer acquisition and retention.

What Really is Content Marketing?

Simply put, content marketing is you putting out free content that is both valuable and relevant (i.e. needed) to build up credibility with a client base who go on to become customers.

Content marketing can take many forms but here are a few examples:

• Blogs. Blog posts on your website and guest blogs on other people’s sites sharing hints and tips on your area of expertise.
• Case studies. Have you helped your clients get some incredible results? Write and distribute a case study.
• ‘How to’ guides.’ A great example may be “How to prepare for tax season” or ‘How commercial drivers can prevent back pain.”
• Videos. Simple videos shot on your phone explaining how you do something can be hugely effective (remember YouTube is the second largest search engine). Videos could include: “How to…” content, or “a day in life of..”, or “What not to do..”. If you are scared of being in front of the camera, create a PowerPoint presentation and use screen recording software to record yourself talking about it.
• Social Media. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, or Google +, and provide helpful hints and tips in relevant groups.
• Books & eBooks. Publishing a book or eBook is now really simple and a great credibility builder.
• Podcasts and Radio Shows. There are hundreds of thousands of self-produced shows, some are live, others are not. They are about all subjects from dentistry, to art, to Sci-Fi. You can either be a guest on other people’s shows or you can launch your own, all it takes is a headset and laptop.

Why Does Content Marketing Work?

There are a few reasons content marketing is so powerful, here are just a few;

Inform

Most people don’t like to be sold to. They like to be able to form an opinion in their own time and make a decision. Equally most business owners don’t love selling. They love helping others, they love their area of expertise but they don’t love selling itself.

Content marketing takes care of both of those issues. The business owner is simply providing helpful, useful content. By doing so, they become the ‘go to’ expert in their niche and form an incredible reputation.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the internet is huge. Absolutely enormous. In a lot of industries getting found online for just your brochure site is incredibly difficult if not impossible and takes years. However Google and other search engines love content, after all their remit is to provide their users with what they are looking for. When we google something we want answers, we want information, therefore Google will reward websites with high rankings when they are providing great quality content.

Reciprocity

The law of reciprocity says that when someone does something to help you, you can’t help but want to do something back in return. Therefore when you help someone with free content, they want to help you and therefore are much more likely to buy from you directly than shop around for price. They value your service and you are no longer just a commodity.

Expertise & Credibility

We all want to see ‘The Expert’. Whether it is the hairdresser or mechanic, we don’t want to be someone’s guinea pig. By producing content you automatically go to the top of the expert pile and people will queue and wait to see you. You can also increase your prices.

How to Monetize Content Marketing

Most of the purpose of strategic content marketing is for the reasons above and although they do not directly contribute to your bottom line, done systematically and consistently you will see a considerable increase in inquiries

However there are a few other ways you can monetize your content:

Sponsorship

Did you launch a podcast or write an eBook? Who can you partner with that has a complimentary business to sponsor the show or book?

Links

Throughout a book or how-to guide, you can insert helpful links to products that are appropriate for the topic. They might be your products or they could be affiliate links to other people’s products.

Call To Action

At the end of any content piece you can insert a call to action that may be booking a free or low cost strategy call or introductory session.

List building

If your content requires someone to ‘opt in’ or enter their email address you can then follow up and offer them other offers that may be interesting and relevant for them.

Content Marketing

Whichever route you take, content marketing offers a unique ability to compete and beat the big players with a minimal budget.