8 April 2015 Leave a comment Content Marketing
From the story on your cereal box giving you the history of a company, to the case study that persuades you to make a major B2B purchase, you are consuming vast quantities of content every day.
Consumers and brands rely heavily on content to make purchasing decisions. Every day, potential customers study websites, reviews, blogs and competitors to decide where they want to spend their money.
Well-researched content provides a reliable source of information that allows consumers to educate themselves and make decisions at their own pace, rejecting the outbound tactics that some brands still use to try and grab their attention. Consumers no longer want to be disrupted. They want information and advice they can trust and they want it on their terms.
[Tweet “”Don’t interrupt what your buyers want to consume-BE what they want to consume” – HubSpot”]
Considering that 80% of business decision makers prefer to get information in a series of articles versus an advertisement and that content marketing generates 3 times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing but costs 62% less, businesses who aren’t leveraging content are missing out on a key opportunity to connect with their customers, build trust and generate leads.
There’s no doubt about it – content marketing makes good business sense, but many brands fall victim to myths about the time and money content creation requires.
Creating content doesn’t have to cost a small fortune. Here are 3 ways brands can create content intelligently:
1. Produce larger assets that can be re-purposed over and over again
2. Focus on highly-targeted, customer-centric content that clearly addresses the wants and needs of customers
3. Make distribution a high priority by distributing your content on the channels where your ideal customers are likely to frequent
Content marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to educate customers about your brand and build the kind of trust that generates leads – and it’s growing more powerful every day. If you want customers to think of you whenever they make a buying decision, produce the kind of memorable content that your customers want and you’re sure to be the first brand that pops into their minds.
For more statistics on why content marketing makes good business sense for your brand, download our free white paper: Inbound Marketing: Let’s Talk Numbers.
Tags: business sense, content distribution, content marketing, content pillars, content ROI, customer-centric content