Have you ever wondered what content marketing is? It is a marketing strategy focused on producing content for your company’s target audienceat all stages of the purchase funnel, generating value for your product/service at the moment your customer needs it most.
Content marketing is an important means of a larger strategy calledInbound Marketing. However, it existed even before the digital age.
How did content marketing come about?
The first content marketing strategy we recorded was the magazine “The Furrow” published in 1895 by the company John Deere. It aimed to share content related to the agricultural world and not just its products.
As a result, it was able to retain its customers and gain the trust of new consumers. It is quite true that most readers were not farmers and would not buy tractors, however, with this content strategy, they discovered problems that they did not even know they had – and, when choosing a company to solve these impasses, they would end up choosing by a company they trust.
Thus, since long before the digital age, content marketing has shown what it came for: to retain customers and gain authority in the segment in which the company operates.
But what are the benefits of content marketing anyway?
Content marketing meets the goal of a company, which is to generate sales. However, it has a different approach from traditional marketing.
If before companies were focused on more aggressive sales strategies, prices, and promotions, with the advent of the internet and the bombardment of ads in all kinds of ways, now the strategy has changed. Users are tired of so much advertising all the time and are looking more for solutions to their problems than for the price itself.
That’s why investing in a content marketing strategy is so important today. By writing on your blog, social networks, e-books, and emails, you are generating value for the user – who is not always ready to complete a purchase.
There are several content marketing strategies for all stages of the consumer’s journey, both for those who don’t even know they have the problem or already know but still don’t think about solving it, and for those users who are already deciding to buy.
Your website will receive more visitors
Content marketing is directly linked to your company’s website SEO strategies. This is because the vast majority of Internet users use Google when looking for solutions to their problems.
If the site has a well-defined content strategy, with keywords, and relevant and updated content, it will have a greater chance of appearing among the first results of Google and, consequently, of having a sale there in the future.
Generate interaction with your brand
When customers identify with your brand, they start to interact more with it. Whether through a blog, help center, or social media, getting the audience’s attention in such a hotly contested online world is golden.
Also, when you build authority over the products your company sells and show mastery over your industry knowledge, you build more trust from your customers toward your products and services.
Creates the ability to educate the market
Once you increase engagement with your brand and people start to trust what you say. You create a great ability to educate the market about the subject you are talking about. That is, most users still have doubts about how your product or service can help them. You can inform your audience about all issues, being a point of reference when it comes to your industry.
Increases lead generation
By using the content marketing strategy, you can offer rich and relevant content to your audience in exchange for their contact (usually just their email). Abuse materials such as e-books and webinars to use as currency and don’t forget to create a nutrition strategy for these new users who are entering your base.
Decreases Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer Acquisition Cost is the amount your company spends to acquire new customers. So the lower this cost, the better.
With a content strategy, it is possible to reduce it. This is because the customer arrives at the purchase stage with fewer doubts and is more aware of your product/service. In addition, by investing in content and SEO. Your company will able to spend less on paid media. As potential customers will be able to find it organically in search engines.
How to do Content Marketing in practice?
Like any marketing plan, Content Marketing also goes through three fundamental stages: planning, execution, and measurement of results. Sticking to a good plan before putting it into practice can save you a lot of time in the future.
In the planning stage, you should consider aspects such as:
- Definition of the personas involved;
- The objective and KPIs that will be monitored;
- How the content will fit into the sales funnel;
- What formats and media will be used.
For each of the above choices, a type of strategy can establish. That’s why defining each one of them and the KPIs that will monitor is so important. As it gives you the possibility to optimize your actions during the process.
Thanks for reading this article by ExtNext, hope you will learn something about Content Marketing.
