When people unfamiliar with the marketing world first hear about content marketing, they typically have many questions. Some common questions we get include: Are there different kinds of content marketing? How does it differ from traditional marketing? What are the benefits of content marketing? This article covers all of these questions and delves into why hiring a competent marketing company is so important for the content marketing efforts of your business! Read on to learn more about content marketing and why it is so essential to the growth of your brand! MyCity Social is a top digital marketing firm with locations throughout Florida. Call MyCity Social for online marketing Orlando residents trust today!

 

A Marketing Company Explains Content Marketing 

 

Traditional marketing typically focuses on consistently being in potential customers’ faces by bombarding them with advertisements and sales messages over and over again, typically without the permission of the customer. It’s much like feeding a toddler with a huge spoon; while the food ends up in the toddler’s mouth, it can make the toddler highly uncomfortable during the process. 

 

Content marketing aims to do the exact opposite of that. Rather than shoving your business down people’s throats, you attract them to you through high-quality, helpful content that answers their questions or demonstrates how to do things. Effective content doesn’t necessarily just talk about the business- instead, it is based on providing value to the target consumer. People tend to develop a favorable impression of your brand because you’ve helped them, and are more likely to think  of your business as a potential solution. There’s plenty to learn about forming an effective content marketing strategy, so let’s dive right in!

 

What Is Content Marketing?

 

Content marketing can be defined as the production and sharing of content to generate traffic to websites, acquire leads and customers, and generate more business revenue. Different to traditional marketing, content marketing is more like permission-based marketing. Your target audience will freely choose to integrate this kind of marketing into their lives, and sometimes share it with their friends. Content marketing is built on the idea that to gain the trust of your potential customers, you have to offer relevant and useful information. The goal of implementing content marketing is to offer actionable insights in order to guide your target audience to exactly what they might be interested in. 

 

Defined by the Content Marketing Institute as a “marketing process whereby accompany or marketing seeks to create and distribute relevant and valuable content to acquire, attract, nurture, and engage a clearly-defined audience,” the aim is to essentially generate profitable customer action.

 

The Importance Of Content Marketing

 

Content marketing is a key strategy for modern marketers, as can be seen in the smorgasbord of blogs, white papers, eBooks, and videos found on the internet. Frequently delivering higher conversions than traditional marketing outlets, such as radio, TV, and newspapers, content marketing is used by almost every business that wants to have high rankings on search engines. If you haven’t started yet, your competitors probably have. The Content Marketing Institute notes that over 91% of B2B companies are using content marketing to achieve better results for their bottom line. 

 

Why You Should Work With A Provider Of Online Marketing Orlando Trusts

 

• Content marketing is the essence of a customer’s journey- Let’s just say that you’re interested in purchasing a new hair curler, and the first thing you do is to go to Google with some  search terms like “number one gaming PC” or “best affordable gaming PC.” It should interest  you to know that you’re not the only person who will be using this buying strategy. In fact, a staggering 86% of consumers begin their customer journey with non-branded search queries. Further research shows that users trust organic results much more than paid ads; around 85%of users will skip paid ads and base their purchases on organic search results instead. As consumers are more interested in learning about a product before they choose to purchase, content can shape the experience and choice of a potential customer of your product.
• Content creates brand awareness, loyalty, and trust- An effective marketing approach should always put the customer first. When brands educate and inform consumers through creating content that the consumers find valuable, it becomes a win-win situation for consumers and marketing brands alike. The quality of your content will determine how your brand performs. As the Havas group found, the concept of “meaningfulness in brand marketing can increase wallet share up to nine times.” When your company puts out high-quality content, you’re increasing the trust your customers and potential customers have in your brand at the same time. 
• Content powers sales and drives purchase decisions- Even though content marketing is far from being as easy as it may sound, the rewards of proper content marketing are reaped over time many times over. The most effective way to drive conversions currently is through content marketing. Several studies highlight the fact that effective content marketing is a shocking six times more effective than traditional marketing when it comes to converting website visitors into leads and customers. Oftentimes, content is the driving force behind the decisions of a potential customer. Demand Gen Report published a study showing that 47% of buyers viewed three-to-five pieces of content prior to actually engaging with a sales rep. A B2B Buyer’s Survey Report highlights the fact that 75% of customers say that content brands created definitely had a “significant impact” on the product that they ended up choosing to purchase. In the same study, 89% of respondents noted they prefer that winning vendors offer helpful content that made it much simpler to show ROI.
• Content Marketing puts your target audience at the forefront-. Content marketing should hone in on the needs of your ideal audience group. Rather than using feature-heavy sales pitches and flashy advertisements, content marketing answers buyers’ questions. Content isn’t focused on the brand, but rather the buyer. The key to successful content marketing is all about cultivating a deep understanding of  your buyer and then utilizing that information to generate resources that help them make more informed purchasing decisions. Gill Worby, head of digital marketing at Virgin Media says that ““Previously, we always thought about what we wanted to talk about and now we talk about what our audience wants us to say. This is against a backdrop of people wanting to be educated, entertained and stimulated every minute of every day, and it is harder than ever to grab people’s attention.” This can be seen in the following stunning content marketing stats:
  • Online consumers actually benefit quite a bit from the content a brand puts out. The Havas Group’s Meaningful Brands Study notes that 84% of consumers always search for fresh and valuable content form a brand. 
  • Around 70% of people want to discover and learn about products through content, rather than traditional (often annoying) advertisements. 
  • 96% of B2B buyers are looking for more input and content from industry thought leaders.
  • The audience’s information needs are prioritized over their promotional message by almost 100% of successful B2B content marketers.

 

Content Marketing Strategy

 

Now that we’ve defined and discussed content marketing, we can talk about how to implement it. Having a well-defined content strategy is essential to producing results. Content strategy can be thought of as the ways you manage any content you own. Who you are and the knowledge you bring to your industry can be seen in your content strategy. Here are some of the key points you should consider in your content marketing strategy:

• Define your goal- Everybody wants to generate leads and turn them into clients and brand ambassadors, but having a tangible reason why you need a content marketing plan will make it easier to figure out what content will work for you. By setting your goals before you start planning your content, you will develop a more effective strategy.
• Conduct persona research- Having a thorough understanding of the audience that you are planning to target with your content is essential for a successful content marketing strategy. After your goals are set, research your audience in order to learn as much as you can about them. This is even more essential for new marketers. By knowing your audience, you can generate content that will answer their questions more effectively, thereby increasing your conversion rate. By conducting market research atleast once a year, you will be able to effectively target consumers and widen your present audience.
• Run a content audit- The majority of content marketers begin by putting up some blog posts. If you feel like you want to stand out or change the direction of other content pieces, however, you should ensure that you can figure out what will work for you and your audience. A spreadsheet template may be required to get started. If you’ve been on the weekly blog posts path for the last year or so, for example, then creating a video that further details your blog posts with illustration and charts is another way of generating relevant information. 
• Choose a content management system- Having a system for your content management will give your marketing efforts more structure. A content management system will have to, at minimum, include content creation, content publication, and content analytics. YOu can plan, publish, and produce all your content in one place through new marketing software such as Hubspot Marketing Automation Software. 

 

Contact Us Today

 

Does all of that content marketing information seem like a lot? For many business owners, their time may be more efficiently used expanding their business rather than grinding away at content marketing efforts that could be done better by professionals. That’s why MyCity Social is here to provide online marketing Orlando business owners trust to grow their business and profits! Call Orlando marketing company MyCity Social for more information today!