• By michelle
• In Content Marketing
• Posted Feb 11, 2016

Why Content Marketing Is Necessary for Small Business

 

 

Content marketing is now a necessary element of online sales for most companies; however, many businesses are struggling with creating marketing content.

According to a recent survey of online marketers by the Content Marketing Institute, even though 88% of online marketers use content marketing, a whopping 70% of marketers say that their companies’ strategies are ineffective.   

Much of this confusion stems from misunderstanding the role of content marketing and how companies can benefit from having unique content on their websites.

In this post, we’ll break down the complex world of content marketing into easy-to-understand concepts.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is nothing more and nothing less than explaining your company’s products and services to your existing and current customers.

This may include background information about why your products and services are beneficial, blog posts, and articles that inform customers, as well as many other forms of relationship-building content.

Take a look at the Whole Foods blog, Whole Story, to see how they successfully inform their customers while nurturing deep relationships with their blog readership. Their successful branding, facilitated by their content marketing, has contributed to their huge success.

 

 

Considering the wide-ranging types of digital content, there are many different forms that your content may take.

The common denominator is that all of these pieces of web content provide visitors with key pieces of information that will help them make informed decisions about your products and services.

Bad Content Marketing: Quality content marketing can be highlighted by examples of bad content. For example, ineffective content frequently contains material that can be found all over the Internet, which will strike readers as boring and not worthwhile.

How Can Your Company Benefit?

Content marketing can help all types of businesses attract new customers and generate valuable leads.

Since these visitors have already expressed an interest in your company’s products and services by finding your site, these leads tend to be far more valuable than those garnered from outbound marketing.

The most lucrative part about content marketing is that by uploading valuable content to the Internet, the rest of the process becomes almost effortless.

Your company will inevitably generate awareness, and you’ll experience a direct increase in leads and sales due to top-tier content.

Who Can Benefit the Most?

On a basic level, businesses of all sizes can benefit from content marketing, since all companies can gain from sales increases.

But it’s small- and medium-sized businesses, those that have limited marketing budgets, who stand in the strongest position to benefit.

That’s because it’s possible to carry out an effective content marketing strategy without dedicating the time and resources necessary to run a traditional advertising campaign.

Content marketing levels the playing field, since businesses of all sizes have the potential to create valuable content and improve their brand authority, irrespective of their budget size.

Where Should Businesses Begin?

It’ll be impossible to make a dent with your content marketing strategy without first identifying clear goals for your marketing team. This will necessitate learning about your target market so that you can create content that answers their key questions.

[Pro Tip: It’s helpful to create content that uses a framework of providing customers with solutions to their problems. Inbound marketing is about giving your visitors what they want, and validating their concerns is a great place to begin.]

To learn more about how valuable content can transform your business, hire a cutting-edge content marketing team.