Content marketing is one of the fastest-growing forms of advertising online, and for several good reasons. More and more people are learning the power of strong content that potential customers are looking for, so it’s important to know how to make content marketing work for your long-term success online.
Content Marketing is Cheap
Yes, it is cheap, at least when you compare it to other forms of marketing that are out there for online marketers such as pay-per-click, media buys, video ads, and much more.
Content is not just limited to articles, as it can encompass all types of media, such as infographics (which are extremely popular now), videos, images, how-to reports, and slideshows.
In fact, it is best to diversify your content so that people do not get bored with the same content type all over your site.
Finally, it is best to get to know what type of media works best in your industry. Some industries, such as an auto repair business, would do best with how-to videos so people can see exactly how to fix a certain vehicle. Other industries, such as a logistics company, may do better with the use of the visually appealing infographic.
Test to see what works best for your industry, and you will see how cheap content marketing is when compared to the leads and sales that it generates.
Content Lasts Forever
Well, it may not last forever, but once you publish your content online, that piece will be available for as long as you allow it—meaning that people will benefit for a long time.
Unlike a TV ad that will be gone after the marketing campaign is completed, a content marketing campaign will create content that will last for years.
In essence, you are creating an asset that customers can reference for years to come. And, with the cost of content marketing being lower than other forms of advertising, your return on investment is often high.
Also, the longer that your content is online, the better chance it has of being linked to from other authority sites in the industry. The more links, likes, shares, and tweets that you get will just help solidify the investment that you initially made.
Become an Industry Expert
One more thing…The content that is created during a content marketing campaign will also help establish you as a known expert and authority in the industry that you are in, provided that you are supplying new and fresh thoughts. This will increase the likelihood that any leads you receive will be pre-sold and more likely to purchase what you have.
Becoming an industry expert is not only desirable among your peers, it’s also extremely valuable in the eyes of the search engines—specifically Google. The more content that you produce on a subject, the more you will start to organically move up in the search engines, thus increasing your traffic.
Getting Started
Content marketing will only grow in importance and effectiveness from here on. Since customers are already looking for and expecting specific industry information, it’s up to your company to get on board with this trend or risk losing a large portion of online visitors to someone else
Customers want to learn and trust the company they are doing business with, and content marketing will get you started in the right direction. It does not work overnight…but it does work!