It’s 2018. Content is king.
Content turns your business into a brand, your employees into humans, and your services into stories. It’s the one true factor that makes your business different from others in the space.
Investing in content is a hard pill to swallow—I know. But, it’s necessary. Content marketing can take your business to the next level and with the right team behind your content, you can accomplish things that you never imagined.
Why your business needs content marketing.
Here are 4 reasons why your business, big or small, needs content.
1. Content gives your business identity.
Let’s say you’re launching a new all natural men’s skin care line. You’ve been working endlessly to develop the products for years and it’s finally time to bring them to market. Right now, you’re new—you’re up against some major players and you don’t have customer loyalty.
To start breaking into the space, you need a story. You need a reason for someone to buy your products. You need that hook that will catch a customer and reel them in.
With a carefully crafted brand story, you can turn your business into a brand that customers will love.
Saying, “we sell all natural skin care for guys” isn’t going to get you anywhere. While, yes, that is exactly what you’re selling, your brand story will help communicate why you’re selling it.
Customers like buying products from humans—humans they trust. So, give them a reason to trust you. I’m sure you didn’t wake up one morning and start developing men’s skin care for the hell of it. There must have been a reason. Jot it down, or better yet, tell it to someone else, preferably a professional copywriter and let them help you craft your story.
Turn those real stories into a brand story. Make it personal, don’t be afraid to put it all out there, and most of all, make it real.
2. Your brand can become a trusted industry resource.
Publishing a consistent stream of fresh, useful, and engaging content will let potential customers know that you are someone they should trust. You’ve gone the extra mile to create helpful resources that can provide real value to both new and returning customers.
What do I mean by useful content? Blogs, articles, tips—anything that you can put out there that someone might not know about your expertise or field.
These tips, tricks, or facts might be so obvious to you, but someone that doesn't work in your field might learn something new.
For example, if you’re running your own hair salon or even if you’re a hairstylist, there are tips, tricks, and facts about doing hair that you learned in training. Turn those tidbits of information into valuable content and publish them online. It’s as simple as that.
Create a post about the top products to use for naturally curly hair, post a 10 second clip of you blowing out a clients’ hair the right way, or even tweet a sentence about the perfect temperature to set a curling iron to—all of these things are no-brainers to you, but to a newbie, they’re gold.
Consistently promoting your expertise shows that you have it, making you a trusted industry resource.
3. You’ll appear higher in search results—organically.
Showing up on the first page of Google doesn't happen by coincidence, it takes effort. While there’s not one exact science behind it, the right content can help your business rank higher.
This is called SEO, search engine optimization. Your site can be the most beautifully designed piece of art, but without quality content attached to it, you might have a hard time appearing on the first page.
Blending a few common search terms into regularly posted content will help Google see your site as the most valuable resource for the consumer, placing you higher and higher on the search results queue naturally.
Taking the easy way out by putting money behind your search engine marketing efforts will brand your site with a little badge that says “ad”. These two letters are consumer (and budget) killers.
While these little badges might put you at the top of the search query, they can diminish your bank account rather quickly. Every time someone enters your site by clicking on your paid ad, it costs you an amount. Depending on the keyword that you’ve chosen to pay to appear for, you could be paying many dollars per single click, draining your marketing budget fast.
Investing in quality content can help your brand accomplish the same results without the hefty cost.
4. Quality content generates leads.
When you appear at the top of the search queue, a consumer is more likely to click on your site, bringing in leads.
Once they’re on your site, they’ll soak in all of the valuable content that you’ve created, nurturing them to a sale or to contact your business for services.
Your content can be one of your hardest working employees. When distributed through the right channels, you can bring in, even more, leads to your site.
Using marketing channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and other content publication sites, you can get your content in front of more eyes. Most social networks are free to join and free to use.
Using these simple tools to publish your quality content will not only get it in front of more eyes but will keep your business in the forefront of consumers minds.
Getting started with content marketing.
As a business owner, writing blog posts, tweets, e-books, and social posts might be the absolute last thing on your mind. You know you need it, but you can fathom the thought of putting pen to paper. That’s why people like me exist. Get someone that loves to write on your side and the rest is simple.