Content marketing is a way of attracting and engaging existing and potential customers through content creation. It is an integral part of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is marketing focused on the customer and not on the business.
Content marketing ensures that instead of pitching your products or services, you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.
Every business or brand has content (either they know it, or not) that it can share. Leading brands in the world like Apple and Coca-Cola have taken advantage of content marketing. They have tied all their marketing to focus on the everyday life and emotions of their customers and this has in turn increased both their sales and brand image. Maggi Nigeria recently began to make “do it yourself” short videos which resonates more with their customers and has increased how their customers relate with the brand.
There are three main benefits available to brands who employ content marketing, and they are:
• Increased sales - which is usually the endpoint.
• Cost savings- if content marketing is done properly, it cuts off some of your budget on marketing generally especially traditional methods.
• Better customers who have more loyalty – Generally, and from research, customers are more loyal to a brand that consistently (apart from its product delivery) provide valuable content that are relatable.
Content marketing helps you build brand in the following ways:
1. Establish a Clear Identity- Developing consistent content allows your audience to build a memory structure around who you are and what value you have to offer.
2. Gain Visibility- Valuable content makes people like and share your content. This gets more people to talk about your brand in a positive way. When you create something that’s interesting, entertaining and valuable for your audience they tend to share it. And then their audience shares it as well. That way you can reach a broader audience and enhance your message. This is something you might not be able to do with other forms of traditional marketing.
3. Enhance Your Credibility- As you post personal stories about your brand, your credibility will increase as users begin to know, like, and trust your brand. Also, when people start talking good things about you, they tend to forget the bad stuff that might have been earlier perceived. The content you produce will shine through any of the bad reviews you might have received in the past and will help you recover your image.
4. Improve Customer Loyalty and Retention- Great content makes people love your brand, and that’s why they never want to leave as a client. It’s proven that content marketing helps you keep your customers longer, which is great for the long-term stability and growth of your company. The content you share helps build stronger relationships with your clients. They tend to value what you’re offering more, beyond just your core services and products. This extra offering you provide via your content makes customers see your brand as something special and unique. This combined with your great service or products is what makes them stick around.
5. Establish you as a thought leader- If you are committed in posting amazing content, people will know that you’re the expert in your field, they will listen and trust your advice, and it’s more likely they’ll recommend you to others. All of this earns you more business. When people trust you, they will come to you for advice. People want to feel confident when they’re making decisions especially decisions that have financial implications, and by reading your content they can educate themselves on the best options. As a result, people will be happier with their decision or purchase.
6. Attract the best talents and employees do a better job- The content you publish builds a positive buzz, not only in the eyes of your customers, but also for your future employees as well. By reading your blogs and watching your videos, potential job seekers experience your company, your values and viewpoints. Then when the right opportunity comes on board, people will want to join your team. Also, when people create content for your company, they reconnect on an emotional level with your values. They tend to care more about what the company does, and they’re more motivated to do their job right. As a result, their performance also increases, and we all know that an increase in productivity often leads to more revenue.
