How content marketing can improve your sales

Digital Marketing

Ever have a friend share too much information? You know the sort, giving sordid details about their latest date. Maybe it’s a family member giving a full account of their dog’s pooping habits? She’s probably called Sharon.

You know what I’m talking about, some people need to learn boundaries! In relationships there is such a thing as TMI (too much information – get me with the acronyms). 

People need to learn to share a little bit, but not everything you know.

Whilst we believe in boundaries (seriously Sharon, stop talking about the dog), we do believe that companies sharing the right information in the right way has a positive effect on their business. 

Regularly creating content on your website is what we call content marketing. And we love it.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is the strategic, consistent creation and distribution of content that aims to educate a target audience rather than promote a company’s brand. The content created varies from videos to blogs to infographics to white papers. Any information a business creates that seeks to inform and attract interest can be seen as content marketing.

Most of the time this happens on your business website, where it can be most effective. But there are occasions when it’s useful to do it on other platforms, for instance videos on YouTube.

Website visitors are becoming more and more aware of being sold to, and traditional marketing methods are less effective than they were. If traditional methods are combined with a content marketing strategy, you can create a very powerful marketing channel that generates leads. As the content seeks to solve the issues that your intended audience has, it acts as a magnet, drawing leads into your sales funnel and turning leads into clients.

Customers need to get to know you

When a website visitor lands on your site, they come into contact with your brand and immediately start forming decisions about you. In a crowded marketplace you have to find ways to cut through the noise and stand out. 

You need to be able to not only show what you offer (your service or product) but also who you are, what you are about, why you are different and why someone should choose you over somebody else.

Imagine someone is researching companies for specific problems they have, they “Google it” and click on the top six results in turn. They now have a website browser with six tabs open in front of them, and start clicking through each website. How will you stand out? How will you get across your value?

One of the ways to achieve this is through content marketing. If your site is packed full of useful information that answers many of the questions your website visitor has, and the content reflects your business values and personality, then you begin to pull that person closer to you and further down the sales funnel.

They start to become aware of your brand, what you stand for, what you value. If it aligns with your visitor then they will want to see more until in their mind you have built enough trust in you to take a step forward in conversion.

Provides content for social media channels

Proving content for social media can be tricky, especially for businesses that may think they are not as exciting as Red Bull or Coca Cola (we see you solicitors, and we love you). Coming up with things to post can at best be a struggle and at worst impact your brand.

Content marketing is great for providing content that can be repurposed for social channels and the great thing is, because the consumption on social media is more bitesize, you can use one piece of content to feed your social media channels for weeks.

Use quotes, stats, useful advice, you could even extend it out and find supporting materials that could be used on social media like videos or reports. You don’t necessarily have to come up with everything yourself. Your content can even help in market research as users respond to your social content and may give you ideas for follow up content.

Good for visibility

As fans of search engine optimisation (it’s kind of our thing) we would hate ourselves for not pointing out the obvious. Good content is a big signal to search engines that you are an authority on your subject and therefore should be given greater preference in search rankings.

Amongst the many signals that the likes of Google uses, a very significant factor is the quantity and quality of content your site offers website visitors and this has a massive impact on search rankings. The better the content, the better the chance of ranking highly.

A content marketing strategy will point out what people are looking for, which in turn give you the subjects to write about. Well researched and written content will help your website move up the search rankings depending on the keywords involved. 

There are a number of other signals that you have no control over, but the content on your site is something you can make decisions about. Do not neglect this. It takes effort and time; if it sounds like hard work, that’s because it is. Getting yourself onto the first page of a Google search means greater website traffic, which means greater chance of enquiries or sales. Getting there and staying there requires a lot of work, but it is time and effort well spent to help your business grow.

Builds authority and trust

Everyone wants to be seen as an authority in what they know (I happen to be an expert in the game Football Manager… kind of) and these days it’s easier than ever to appear that way online. But those that know nothing very quickly get found out and website visitors search for those they can trust.

If your marketing channels have a constant supply of well researched and written content, you place yourself as an authority in your industry and are better placed to attract customers. Your target audience will very easily be able to see how knowledgeable you are, as well as how much you understand your clients.

Being seen as an authority, and knowing your field is a sure way to build trust. Building trust eliminates risk which is a major hurdle potential clients have to get over in order to do business with you. The internet can sometimes feel like the Wild West, with cowboys offering their services to you with big promises and flashy sales talk. Being an expert and having the evidence to back it up with good content marketing will help you stand out from the crowd and separate you from the cowboys.

Improves conversions

Content marketing has a massive impact on buyer choice.

53% of shoppers also conduct research before buying something to ensure they make the right choice.

41% of consumers consume three to five content pieces of content before they engage a sales rep.

The stats don’t lie. We’ve highlighted a number of reasons to use content marketing and all of these things contribute to improving your conversion rate. Whether that’s being more visible through search engines or social media, informing and educating or building trust. These are the building blocks required for better conversions.

If it comes down to a choice between a business that has an offer but not much else, and a business that has an offer and a vast amount of content that shows off their knowledge, personality and benefit, who do you think the potential client will go with?

Competitors are doing it

Occasionally we will talk to a business who sees no value in content marketing (I mean who needs more conversions right?) and think they can push forward without it.

And hey, who are we to argue? It might be that they are the king of sales and our grubby little fingers can get lost! Problem is, that may be true today but will it be true tomorrow? Too often in business (as in life) we presume things will carry on as they have been.

But it very rarely works like that. You may not see the value but other companies in your industry will (and do) and will spend time and effort creating content that search engines, social media and most importantly your target audience love.

And over time that compounding effect of content will mean those companies doing content marketing will have more visibility, trust and engagement with their target audience. Meaning you may not be the king of sales for long. 

It’s always useful to keep one eye on your competitors, to see what is and isn’t working for them.

So remember…

Content marketing is a powerful tool that every business should be focussing on. It allows a business to show website visitors who they are behind their service and about us pages, it raises brand awareness and brings traffic to your website. And if you have an irresistible offer, you will find a big improvement on conversions.

It’s not a quick job, it’s a skill, a craft. It takes time and effort to have your website continually updated with content for your visitors.

But the companies that do invest in content marketing over the long term will find greater reward than other digital marketing activities like PPC or social media. Do the hard things, that’s what will make you stand out from the crowd.