Perform a quick Google search and you will find that Content Marketing is a top trend among marketers for 2015. Yet among small businesses, this marketing approach has not been widely embraced. In speaking with many small business owners, I have noticed that there is a general lack of awareness about what Content Marketing is, let alone how it can be leveraged to sell products and services at the local level. To help clarify, we produced this video that covers the basics. Watch the video, or scroll down for a more detailed explanation.
Content Marketing Overview
To explain the concept of Content Marketing, it is important to understand what types of marketing assets qualify as content. Essentially, marketing content is the educational material that companies produce to share with targeted consumers about their products and services. Examples of marketing content include:
- Blog articles
- Brochures and sellsheets
- Infographics
- Newsletters
- News releases
- Product/project images
- Videos
- Webinar presentations
- Website copy
- White papers
The common denominator between these forms of marketing communication is that they are intended to educate consumers, rather than persuasively sell. Content Marketing is the process of strategically developing, distributing, and curating these materials to advance the sales process. This approach has proven to be very effective because of an increasing trend among consumers to educate themselves prior to making a purchase. The internet plays a integral role in this process, by providing consumers with on-demand access to these educational resources. As this graph from Consumer Barometer details, U.S. consumers frequently research products online before making a purchase offline.
To adjust to this trend in consumer decision making marketers are adopting a Content Marketing approach to provide consumers with the educational tools they need–both online and offline–to make a purchasing decision. By making those resources available to consumers online, companies enhance their brand by positioning themselves as an authority on the subject matter. For more on the topic, read these three small business content marketing success stories courtesy of Business 2 Community. Producing and distributing these educational resources to past and prospective customers also helps businesses to build trust, elevate their page ranking in organic search, increase traffic to their websites, and ultimately increase sales.
There are a number of different strategies businesses can employ to make their Content Marketing more effective, including creating an annual plan and content calendar. If you have any questions about how to create an effective Content Marketing program for your business, post a message below, or contact us directly at info[at]tcbmarketinandmore.com.
