Have your ever scrolled down your social media page, only to find very relevant, and interesting suggestions on products or services stare back at you?
This is a pertinent and important of content marketing at play. Content marketing involves a set of processes that include developing a strategic plan, and distribute valuable, relevant content, aimed at attracting the target audience, with the ultimate purpose of deriving positive or profitable outcomes.
What is content marketing?
When you think of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Silk, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
A majority of people remember the advertisement ‘Kiss me, close your eyes’. This advertisement, that is cemented in the minds of customers is a great example of content marketing. People associate the brand, with the content put forth by it.
While the word content marketing has been in common use since the advent of the internet, in fact it has been around for thousands of years. Billboards, catchy flyers, and advertisements on walls and buses are all examples of offline content marketing.
However, with the digital sphere growing, content marketing has expanded, and online content marketing forms the major portion of this sector. In fact, the share of online content marketing, in the marketing pie has grown by over 7.8 times in the last decade.
The constituents of content marketing:
When you think of content marketing, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
When one thinks of content marketing, they often associate it with social media marketing. While this does indeed form a part of online content marketing, it isn’t the only constituents. With an increased number of people searching for products, services, and solutions online, content marketing has grown to encompass blogs, infographics, videos, and podcasts.
The different types of content, either cater to varied audience needs or cater to different target audience altogether. For instance, while social media posts may be aimed at attracting new customers, blogs are used to retain the interest of existing customers.
Ultimately the content created, and the mode it is delivered depends on the requirements of customers and the organization.
Content Marketing: The heart of business
80% of internet users have made purchase decisions aided by the information they found online!
A plethora of tangible and intangible outcomes are enabled through the deployment of content marketing. Here are some of them:
1. Drives traffic to the product:
Search engines rank websites on the basis of content quality. Engaging in content marketing helps websites consistently rank at the top of search engines, which enables the product to be noticed better, and ultimately drives sales.
2. Establishing Authenticity:
Customers look for Expertise, Authority and Trust (EAT) when they search for a product or service. Well curated and strategies content establish an organizations authority and expertise in a field, which in turn builds trust and renders a feel of authenticity among customers.
3. Addressing the Conversion Funnel:
For a customer to purchase a product, they initially need to be aware of its existence, and interest in the product needs to be slowly built once the awareness is created. While social media posts and infographics build the awareness, blogs and videos help customers build further interest in the product. Additionally, it also helps in customer retention, by assisting in disseminating information on new products and services being offered by the same organization.
The way to the future:
Content marketing can increase sales and revenue generation by 200%
Investing in quality content marketing increases revenues, drives awareness, and plays a key role in enhancing brand image. With the world increasingly going digital, content marketing is the key to attracting and retaining a variety of customers.
From customers who prefer auditory content, to those who like textual or visual content, a wide variety of content suited to customer needs can be created by effective repackaging and reformatting of content.
Enable excellent business outcomes, equip your organization with content marketing.
