The Value of Content Marketing
07.22.21 · Greteman Group
Do you know what the value of content marketing is for your business? We do. It’s your bottom line. From brand awareness to final sale, content fulfills roles within each of your marketing tactics.
Here are a few ways content marketing adds value to your business.
Engagement Value
Customers want to engage and to be engaged, which is a valuable mindset for a business promoting its products and services. Content, however, is not inherently engaging – you have to make it engaging.
Here’s how.
Create content your audience wants.
Seems like a no-brainer, but we’ve seen countless missed opportunities where the content creator creates with someone other than their audience in mind. Think decision makers and shareholders, instead of prospects and customers.
Remember: Never forget who you’re talking to.
Give your audience that feel-good feeling.
Emotion is a powerful engagement tool – no matter what emotion you’re working with. Creating an emotional response in one person drives them to share that experience with another, and another and another. We know the more engagement you receive on one social post or video, the more people the algorithm will put it in front of. So dive in. Get deep.
Content, Engagement, Action!
If you want to know the engagement value of your content, you have to measure it. Watch time is an important video metric, and it differs from platform to platform, but it’s also a passive metric. Passive, as in your audience is just absorbing your content. Active engagements must be requested (or demanded, depending on your brand voice). Always include a call to action on your content, no matter the platform.
SEO Value
Content feeds search engine optimization (SEO). In his AdWorld 2021 presentation, LinkGraph Founder Manick Bahn explained how Google is becoming more democratic. Instead of authority being the most important ranking factor, recent and coming algorithm updates prioritize quality content and page experience.
What does that mean for your rankings? If you’re new to the game, all good things. These three steps will help you kickstart creating content to please Google.
- Conduct keyword research
- Select one keyword or group of similar words as your main topic
- Plan to produce several pieces of content surrounding that main topic
While you’re in your website creating content, check on your page experience and site speed to hit that second ranking factor.
Website Value
Website content is some of the first content you should create. Your website is where new prospects land when they click on your banner ad or social post. Sign up forms, turn prospects into leads. In many cases, your website is where a lead becomes a customer.
Plus, your website is where nearly all of your content will live. Activate it across your site and reap the value.
- Incorporate keyword research into your entire site, adding SEO value to your website value.
- Build a blog and keep it updated at least every other week.
- Prove your worth with case studies, landing pages and white papers. (All types of content).
- Vary your content to include multimedia, including infographics, photos and videos.
- Add contact buttons, trackable phone numbers and sign up forms throughout. You still need a CTA for each piece of content, even if you have one in the footer.
Adding It All Up
Earning the value of content marketing is a long game. But, hey, so is your sales cycle, right? When you’re ready to go for the goal, keep going.
Greteman Group develops content strategies for clients to grow their audience, generate leads and close deals. Whatever your business goals are, we can help you create the content you need to achieve them.