Content Marketing and promoting a business is quite challenging. Visibility is especially more difficult if you are running a small business. You might want to try content marketing as a more effective business promotion strategy.
Here are eight reasons why your small business should invest in content marketing:
- To position your business as the best option
- SEO optimization
- It is more effective than traditional marketing
- For client retention
- To generate referrals
- Sales conversion
- Eliminates the need for unnecessary discussion
- To educate and engage your clients
In this article, you will understand why content marketing is the best promotion strategy for your business compared to traditional marketing strategies as you read along.
Content Marketing #1. Position Your Business as the Best for Clients
People don’t just want to “buy” and generate income for your company. Their aim is to get value while yours is to make income. The onus falls on you to provide value while making a profit. They want the best product or service provider. They also want the solution provided by your business or the service you render personalized to them.
Seventy percent of people agree that content marketing makes them feel closer to a business or product. When your business offers personalized solutions, you are regarded as the best because each customer or client sees your product as the best for them. This helps position your business as the best and establishes you as a go-to resource. When you write strategic and insightful content backed with research, you are regarded as an expert and everyone will want to follow the recommendations or suggestions of export and that includes your product too.
When customers search for the best product in any category, if your content is properly optimized, there’s a huge chance that your product is among the top results on the search engine.
Content Marketing #2. SEO Optimization
Do you know eighty percent of consumers perform product research on search engines before deciding on a purchase?
a. Content marketing gives your business an advantage with organic search. Usually, when people search for information about products and services on the web, company websites with more traffic and engagement pop up as options. Content Marketing increases the visibility or rate of activity on your website or blog, automatically increasing your Google ranking in return.
There are keywords relevant to every business or product. Infusing such keywords people are likely to search for in your content directs people to your business website or blog. Keywords in the fashion industry include; brand, sales, design, launch, designer, sketches, style, stylist, fashion week, stylish, and so on. Incorporating these keywords into your content promotes your blog ranking on Google because they are keywords people use in a sentence when sourcing fashion-related information.
To get the best of SEO optimization for your content on your blog, you can access the use tools like surferSEO, Bluehost SEO, keyword Hero, and Google analytics.
b. SEO Optimization Tools For Content Marketing
SEO optimization tools are tools that provide information on how a website or blog is doing in terms of visibility and ranking. Simply put, they identify the weaknesses of a blog. To answer the question “Do I really need to use SEO tools?” which you are currently thinking about as you read this. The answer is Yes. You definitely need SEO optimization tools for Content Marketing.
Imagine wanting to make a meal of Mac and cheese but you do not have the ingredients. You will need macaroni, cheese, milk, butter, salt, and pepper. The absence of one or more of these ingredients will not give you the desired meal because something is lacking.
Just like that, creating content requires tools that will give your website the drive or attention it needs. There are a whole lot of free SEO tools you can employ, some however are paid for. This subscription enables you access to enjoy some perks not available on the free tools.
Free SEO tools include:
- Google Analytics: it is a free easy for assessing tool that provides details of your website perfectly such as rate of engagement, and traffic.
- SurferSEO: It is also a free tool for all to use. It is designed to optimize blogs and written content by analyzing keywords.
Content Marketing #3. It is More Effective Than Traditional Marketing
We are in a digital age, no one wants the boring traditional marketing strategies. They want you to answer questions like:
- “Why should I purchase your product?”
- “What advantage does your product offer me over similar products?”
- “How do I guarantee that I will get the desired value if I purchase your product?”
Unlike traditional marketing, Content marketing provides all the answers to these questions. People tend to return to where they got answers. In comparison, traditional marketing says “I can do it” while content marketing says “I know how to do it and will show you how”
Content Marketing #4. For Client Retention
People are more likely to patronize again when they like the quality of service or product initially purchased. Content Marketing helps to retain clients and keep them coming again. Unlike traditional marketing, clients get from content marketing are more reliable and loyal.
Content Marketing #5. To Generate Referrals
It is easy for a visitor or customer that reads your content and likes it to share the link with others. How does a product or service generate referrals? When someone purchases your product or service, and they derive value from the purchase, they go on to introduce this product and service to other people in the testimony of their experience. This way they help generate referrals for your business because of your content marketing.
Content Marketing #6. Sales Conversion
What’s the essence of marketing a business? To make sales! Content marketing improves sales due to the increase in traffic and activity on blogs and websites. Usually, when people are impressed with your content, it motivates them to click on attached links that redirect them to the page where they can purchase your products.
Content Marketing #7. Eliminates The Need For Unnecessary Discussion
In this age of e-commerce, content marketing attempts to answer questions a customer might have about a particular product without a one-on-one consultation. People like to know what they are purchasing, and the possible issues they might encounter ahead beforehand. No one also likes to communicate or discuss much before making a purchase. Content Marketing makes it easy for buyers and sellers to transact business without much “talk”. It provides customers value before they buy.
Content Marketing #8. To Educate and Engage Your Clients
80 percent of people prefer a series of articles to an advertisement. These contents provide them with information. When your content offers solutions to their issues, they are educated on certain issues, they are more likely to purchase whatever good or service you are marketing.
Before you can convince someone to purchase a product, you should be able to educate them about the product. People want to engage or patronize those who “know their onions”. You cannot give what you don’t have and one of the aims of businesses is to provide solutions. If you cannot communicate well about a product, how then do you intend to sell it?
For example, rather than just market lawnmowers to them, you can educate them on how to handle their mower so it lasts longer, or DIY methods of repairing faulty lawnmowers. Then you can now further go on to promote your business and inform them they can purchase a brand new lawnmower from your business if any of the suggestions you’ve listed for them does not work.
If your suggestions work for them, they will definitely come to patronize you when they eventually need a new lawnmower because if your tips could help them make the previous one last a little much longer, then it’s possible that what they will get from you will come with tips as well. This
Benefits For Small Businesses
Content marketing for small businesses when maximized offers a couple of benefits to the business.
1. It provides consistent value to your audience
“If your content is for everybody, it’s for no one” when your content is tailored to meet your Audience’s requirements or needs, your business is tagged valuable because of the consistency your audience derives.
2. It helps to grow the social media following
Social media is the new marketplace and content marketing can grow a social media page from zero engagement to hundreds of thousands with the right content. To build a presence in the digital market, you can employ the use of an AI-Based Social Media Assistant such as Socialays to engage your page. Socialays reads and analyzes comments, reacts to them, and notifies you of every engagement on your social media page.
3. Creates more visibility for your product pages
When you create content teaching people “how-to” or “why” they need to do something or get a product and insert links into the content that redirects readers to their product page. Also, other websites and blogs can cite and backlink your content as a useful resource. This is a way to increase the visibility of your page on Google.
4. Boosts sales via recommendation and referrals
When people refer to you or recommend your product, it boosts sales which is one of the primary reasons for you embarking on content marketing.
5. It builds trust and credibility
Many content marketers say that content marketing helped them build trust and credibility with their audience. When you deliver quality content to your audience, it gives them the impression that you are an expert. Many would not mind the costs of hiring or employing the services of an expert to provide solutions to their problems based on the trust established with the audience – this trust is built over time from consistent work.
6. Content marketing costs lesser than traditional marketing
It is three times more effective in generating leads and it costs way lesser than traditional marketing. Content Marketing is way easier than traditional marketing because this is the era of digital engagements. You can reach millions of audiences by just sitting behind the screen of your phone.
Advantages of Investing in Small Business
Content marketing has some advantages over traditional advertising. When your small business invests in content marketing, you derive advantages such as:
– Gaining more customers
Content marketing boosts the visibility and activity on your website or blog. When this happens your blog is ranked on Search engines as the top solution/value provider. More traffic to your website will increase sales for you.
– Boosting the credibility of your brand
Content marketing convinces customers that you do not just want to sell but you understand all about the product you are selling or service you are rendering.
– Less to do for your customer service or support team
When potential questions that can be asked by customers are already answered in some of your content posts, customers will find these answers available online and do not need to bother to call or send an email.
Also, FAQs sections of blogs and websites answer common questions that any customer might want to ask regarding your products and services. By doing so, you save yourself and your team the time and labor of answering the same questions each time it is asked.
Content Marketing is An Excellent Investment For Any Business
It is a great avenue to market and promotes your business. You can learn to create relevant content for your business or employ the professional services of a content creator/marketer. Content marketing depends on the type of product that is marketed.
A vast majority of internet users now use ad blockers so advertising the traditional way might not be the best move for your small business. The best exposure your business needs in this digital age is content marketing. Content Marketing when properly utilized guarantees a large return on investment (ROI) even on a small investment.
Content marketing can be outsourced to experts who offer the service such as contents writers and digital marketers.
