By Alan Coleman on 19 Feb 2013
Over the past number of months, there has been an increased buzz and near-urgency around the term ‘content marketing.’ But what is it all about? Some of our clients will have already heard all about content marketing, and how necessary it is for 2013. For those of you who have not heard about it, you’ve been in the dark for long enough… Content Marketing refers to the creation and distribution of relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action (Content Marketing Institute). Essentially, content marketing is all about creating content your audience will want to read, share, engage with, as well as find useful. Due to recent changes with the Google algorithm, practices such as link-building no longer suffice when seeking to rank highly in Google search. Instead, Google are focussed on delivering search results which answer the needs of searchers. And to do this, they turn to quality content. The time will come in 2013 when those who fail to engage in quality content creation, will find themselves far from the top of Google’s search list. Content marketing can take many forms: blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, ebooks, and newsletters, for example, which are then disseminated via email, social media and bookmarking sites. While paid search is unbeatable when it comes to winning direct response, content marketing nurtures relationships with your audience at every level of the purchase funnel and then asks to stay in touch after the purchase has been made. This captures the beauty of content marketing as being the only marketing solution that engages people at every stage of the funnel, from awareness to purchase. From building brand awareness, to generating interest, to garnering consumer interest and finally initiating purchase, content marketing is your best friend. To demonstrate the increasing power and importance of content marketing, consider the following statistics from recent industry reports: -80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles, rather than in advertisement format -70% say content marketing makes them feel closer to the host company -60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading content on its site -90% of consumers find custom content useful -78% believe that organisations practicing customer content are interested in building good relationships with them. (Sources: Content Marketing Institute & Custom Content Council) Content marketing is also the perfect accompaniment for paid search and display advertising (Google Adwords). The marriage of paid advertising (PPC) and content marketing can give any company a competitive advantage in today’s dynamic business environment – once it’s implemented correctly! If you would like to find out more about content marketing and how it could benefit your business, give us a shout!
