What is Content Marketing and is it Right for My Business?

What is content marketing?

We’ll start with going back to the basics, what exactly is content marketing? In a nutshell, content marketing is working to meet your business goals by strategically putting out content. What makes content marketing different from other forms of marketing is that it first offers your audience something informational or entertaining, rather than sticking to being directly promotional. Think of it as creating a way for your audience to find you. Content marketing offers your business an opportunity to create a connection with your audience by creating content that they seek out themselves because they want to see it. So by making this content credible, reliable and valuable you’re creating a trustworthy reputation for your business and building a connection with your future customers to meet your business goals.

What are some types of content marketing?

“Content” can refer to anything that your business puts out with the goal of reaching your audience, and it includes anything and everything from podcasts to webinars. The type of content you put out should go hand-in-hand with your business goals and should always follow the rule of quality over quantity. 

If you aren’t sure where to get started, think about your business goals and then think about what type of content could fulfill those. For example, if you’re looking to spread awareness about your business and establish it as a reputable source of information, you could consider blogging. Creating blogs is an easy way to get started with your content marketing and they act as an opportunity to set up your business’s reputation as an authoritative source of information. There’s a reason why blogs are one of the most popular forms of content marketing and why they are a mainstay in many content strategies, blogs are easily found by search engines, easy to create with topics that relate to your business and easily shared and consumed by your audience. 

Some other types of attention-grabbing and eye-catching content marketing that could be right for your business are infographics, which are easily shareable visual representations of data and information, videos, instructional and informational guides, case studies, and interactive content like quizzes or assessments. Anything that your business could put out to get the attention of your audience could be considered content, and the possibilities are endless. 

What does content marketing do?

Building a better reputation for your business and providing quality content to your audience is great, but sometimes the end results and benefits of content marketing seem vague and immeasurable. If you’re considering content marketing but aren’t sure if it’s right for your business, take a look at some of the benefits it can offer:

Conversions

Getting your content in front of the people you want to target and getting them familiar with your brand creates a connection and bridges the gap between your audience and your business. Even though content marketing isn’t specifically promotional, you’re getting your business in front of the audience and creating a trustworthy and knowledgeable reputation that will likely result in them coming to you for relevant products or services in the future. The more of a connection you build with your audience, the more likely they are to make a purchase. 

Brand Awareness

Creating highly-shareable and interesting content that people seek out creates a conversation. When your audience is sharing and talking about your content, word of your business gets around through online sharing and offline conversation. Upping your content and your content marketing strategy is a great way to get that conversation started and build your brand awareness. 

Site Traffic

Increased site traffic is one of the more measurable benefits of content marketing. Putting out content that brings your audience to your website familiarizes them with your business and formally introduces them to any products or services that you offer, opening up the opportunity for them to become a future customer. 

SEO

Original, quality content is considered one of the most relevant and important factors when it comes to boosting your search ranking. Your content portrays what your company is about and gives search engines an idea of what you can offer to searchers, boosting your ranking and bettering your online presence.

Is it right for my business?

As with all types of advertising and marketing, whether or not content marketing is right for your business is dependant upon your goals. If your business does not have or need an extensive online presence or if you don’t think any sort of content would resonate with or be valuable to your audience, then the time and effort that would be put into your content marketing might be better spent elsewhere. On the other hand, if you think your business could benefit from content marketing and you’re interested in getting started, we hope this guide gave you the introduction you needed to get out there and get started!

If you have more questions about content marketing, contact Grova Creative.