Why Is Content Marketing Important For Your Business?

Content Marketing, the practise of building a long term relationship with your target audience by providing them with relevant, high quality content, has been around for a long time but, right now, with the dramatic growth in demand on peoples time and attention, the need for instantaneous information, the increase in voice searches and the recently announced changes in Google’s August Algorthm update, it is, arguably, more important than ever.

Content Marketing is a vital part of inbound marketing, it involves investing time into creating helpful content around topics that your business is involved with. Customers want to find interesting and useful information – whether that is to help influence a big purchase they are going to make, or simply for interesting reading around the type of products or services you offer.

It is a strategic approach that is cheaper than many marketing tactics, as it involves bringing the customer to you, for your opinion or knowledge on a subject that you are passionate and on the pulse of. Create the right content online that has a clear value to your subject and it will help bring traffic and customers who trust you in your field.

Some of the key benefits of implementing content marketing as part of your business’s marketing mix include:

• The chance to become an authority on your subject – if you regularly create and share content around what it is your business does and the wider subject, which is informative for customers and other users alike then you start to become regarded as authoritative in the subject and people will use your website for more information, which in the long term can result in conversions.
• Improved SEO – great content has a positive effect in terms of SEO. If you make informative posts that are in context to what your business does and has relevant and valuable information around the subject (as well as being well optimised) then you stand a great chance of ranking for longer tail keywords, and attracting more traffic.
• Google, in its Search Quality Guidelines (updated July 2018) has stated that a good quality page needs to demonstrate Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T). By writing content on something you know a lot about and are passionate about, i.e., your business, you can demonstrate Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) in abundance and provide a rich resource for people seeking information, news or comment on a subject. As well as the obvious brand benefits that this entails, producing quality content increases search visibility, brings people to your site, makes them aware of your company and its products and services and establishes you as the go to resource in your field.
• Create a community – everybody wants something for free, and giving out good quality content will encourage those who read it to share and interact with this. If you have a regular time slot to share content, then your customers will be keeping an eye out for something new and fresh from you. This is a great way to encourage and foster brand loyalty.
• Interact with your customers – the community aspect allows you to get valuable feedback from those who are reading your content, see things from a different perspective and promote discussion.
• Add value to your business – by being an authority in your industry and creating a strong brand and persona you add value to the business, and your website moves away from being just a platform for sales, and becomes a valuable resource to the customer.
• According to @demandmetric Content Marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates 3 times as many leads, whilst The Content Marketing Institute reckon that Content Marketing Generates three times the number of leads per Pound spent than Paid Search does. Although Content is a longer term investment, the ROI from a properly run campaign is one of the highest in Digital Marketing.

Content is an important part of marketing your business and brand. Make yourself stand out by offering something new and innovative, that will get customers and potential customers sharing your content, discussing it and viewing your content as valuable to them.

At Zelst we are experts in content marketing, we are passionate about creating the right content for your business, in order to help you be seen as an authority on the subjects that your business is focused on. Get in touch today and see how we can create content to help your business grow.