Content marketing is a staple of the marketing mix for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small businesses with constrained budgets. This is because content creates trust and familiarity, through increased brand awareness in the form of educational or entertaining content. With the current situation of economic uncertainty for many businesses, content marketing is a cost-effective way to engage audiences without having to delve deeply into marketing budgets.
What content marketing does for business
Content marketing has many uses, but one of its best is its ability to engender familiarity and brand recall. This means that audiences can more easily recognise the activities of brands and businesses, building associations between marketing efforts, the brand and the experience of a product or service. Over time, this builds sustainable relationships with audiences which explains to them the unique selling point of a business and what make them distinct compared to their competitors.
By having a content marketing strategy that is regularly reviewed, evaluated and optimised, content can become more engaging for audiences. This means that audiences can learn more about a business’s key products and services, providing security of knowledge, increasing trust and reducing anxieties about making a purchase. This is one way content marketing can have a direct impact on sales, by building the confidence of prospective customers to make a purchase because they view a brand or business as credible and trustworthy.
Increasing traffic to your website
As well as building trust, confidence and knowledge about a business, content marketing can also increase traffic to a business’s website. This is done by providing links back to a brand or business website within content, which can expose prospective customers to further information about products and services. This again reduces fears and anxieties through building trust. This can be especially the case through the use of thought leadership content, which shows that a business knows its product or service and questions around it, as well as knowledge of the industry or sector it sits within.
By having a content strategy that effectively interlinks social media content and a company’s website, a network of information is generated that existing and potential customers can engage with. By doing so, customers can learn more about products and services not just from the business, but also from other people who are existing customers, creating a second avenue for building trust.
Establishing authority
Content marketing is most effective when it’s credible and high-quality. This is because it conveys professionalism, competence and authority, all of which are fundamental to giving audiences a reason to trust a business. This can be done by having consistency of content output, with markers that make the content easily identifiable visually and a tone of voice that is recognisable and is associated with a particular business.
By establishing authority and differentiating a business from its competitors, businesses can show why they have unique capabilities, and why audiences should convert from being a prospective customer to an existing one.
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