You’ve most likely heard about content marketing and you’re probably a bit puzzled about what it actually entails, if you should be doing it, and why. Let’s take a closer look at what is involved and also some of the pros and cons of content marketing.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a form of marketing that provides people with useful content that helps them to solve a problem, answers a question they have, or is entertaining. It’s different to advertising in that it doesn’t directly promote a brand, product or service. Instead, content marketing is a more subtle way of drawing attention to your organisation and attracting sales.

Types of content marketing

There are many types of content you can create for your own marketing. These can include blog posts, downloadable guides and case studies, or other media such as video, podcasts, or infographics.

How can content marketing help you to grow your business?

In a nutshell, content marketing helps you to get in front of your customers.

Your content is an opportunity to show people what you do and what you know. Providing regular, relevant and well-researched content that your audience needs or wants places you as a ‘go-to’ source of information in your field.

When people read and enjoy your content, they will talk about it and share it with others. This sharing helps you to increase brand awareness, trust and authority in your field.

Building trust and recognition

Imagine you’re walking down the biscuit aisle at the supermarket. Two brands are offering the same type of yummy looking cookie you’d like to try. Do you reach for the brand you recognise or the one you’ve never seen before? In most cases, it’ll be the first. That’s because, as a rule, we tend to trust brands we recognise over brands we don’t.

Your content helps you to build trust with your audience. Someone who finds your content helpful or entertaining is more likely to check out what else you have to offer. The more time they spend with your material, the more they’ll regard and trust you.

As brand awareness for your business grows, so too does the trust in your brand (providing your reputation is a good one).

(And the more they trust you as a good source of biscuits, the more likely they will choose yours.)

Other benefits of content marketing include:

Improve Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search engines look for good quality content – and are getting better at recognising it. Publishing consistent content that meets the needs of your audience helps you to climb the search engine rankings. Additionally, great content attracts links from other sites, which also helps with your SEO. 

Drive traffic to your website and generate leads

Your website is where people can learn more about what you do and helps them to decide if they want to buy from you or use your service. Relevant and interesting content will bring more people to your website, increasing traffic and the chances of making more sales.

Make more sales

If done well, your content will show people the value of what you offer and why they should buy it from you; once persuaded, they are more likely to hand over their money! Also, over time, someone who has benefitted from the free content you gave them, and feels a rapport with your company, may well want to repay you by buying from you.

Reach people who avoid ads

Advertising is everywhere, especially on our screens. A banner on a web page, ad listings in search engine results, YouTube, apps; the list goes on. Being bombarded with advertising can be very annoying, and so it’s no wonder people use ad blockers. However, as long as you are providing useful content that your audience needs or wants, content marketing can get around this. In fact, if your content is good, people will be going out of their way to find it.

Save on costs

In his book, Content DNA, John Espirian says that “Ads are a cost but content is an asset”. Advertising costs money and is only around for as long as you pay for it. Content, particularly if it is evergreen (a fancy term for content that stays relevant), will attract more readers over time, especially if you continue to share it. Not bad for the cost of creating a single piece of content!

What are the drawbacks to content marketing?

Consistently coming up with fresh ideas is hard

If you’ve ever taken up running, you’ll know that keeping the momentum going helps you to go further than if you keep stopping and starting (my biggest mistake when I first took up running). However, continually thinking up fresh content ideas that keep your readers coming back for more can be a challenge, especially if you lack time, motivation and creative energy. The good news is there are plenty of tools out there to help you come up with ideas. Some of my favourites include Answer the Public (shows related search queries to a topic) and Feedly (great for keeping an eye on what topics people in your industry are writing about).

Creating content is time-consuming

Coming up with ideas and creating consistent quality content for your customers can be extremely time-consuming and may not always be the best use of your time. The answer could be to delegate or outsource tasks such as writing (me, me!🤓), design, or social media.

Involves much trial and error

In the early days, it can take much trial and error to find out what works for your audience. You’ll also find it entails much more effort at the start. But once you gain momentum and experience, it’ll get a little bit easier.

It takes time to see results

Building an audience takes time, so don’t expect results overnight. In fact, it can take as long as 30 months (Source: Content DNA by John Espirian, 2020). People need to trust you and find value in spending time with your content –regularly. Consistency and being helpful (or entertaining) can help you go a long way to earning that trust.

Providing Value

According to the Content Marketing Institute, the three cornerstones of good content are value, relevance, and consistency. So, churning out any old content isn’t going to work. Well-thought-out good quality content that your audience wants or needs is what’s going to win.

Knowing your audience is key to generating content ideas that are of value to them. Find out what they want to read about and what questions they’re asking. Try asking your customers directly, frequenting the places they ‘hang out’, such as social media, or using websites such as Answer the Public or Quora. Then, answer those questions in your content.

Conclusion: Can content marketing help you grow your business?

Done right; content marketing can yield many positive results for a business. Just remember, it takes time to see results from your efforts. 

Equally, it can be a timely endeavour and requires consistency and momentum to get it going. But once you’re in motion and providing consistent, relevant and valuable content, people are more likely to remember and trust you when they are looking for the services or products you offer. I think that this certainly merits some thought as a marketing strategy.

Want to learn how to write engaging copy? Read 5 copywriting tips to engage your readers.