In the world of marketing, you often hear the phrase “content is king.” And that’s because it’s absolutely true. It’s also true that your business needs a content marketing strategy. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Content is the pinnacle of any digital marketing strategy, and should be a big focus for your brand. No matter what industry you operate within, or what kind of product or service you’re providing, you need to have content on your website and your social media pages that people can read, listen to, or watch. Here are some of the best reasons why your business needs a content marketing strategy.
Provide Value to Your Audience
When it comes to setting yourself apart from the crowded space of the Internet, you want to make sure that people gain some value from interacting with you. They’re looking for the things they want. People care about what’s important to them and don’t want to just listen to how great your brand or your product is. Give them solutions to their problems, information they can use within their daily lives, or advice that can help with their own business. Let your brand speak for itself and put your audience first.
Increase Your SEO Value
This should be an obvious reason, but a content marketing strategy is essential to your SEO strategy. Start with smart keyword research to determine what your audience is looking for, and then add those keywords to your website through well-written, valuable, relevant content. The more content you add on your website, the more information you provide to Google, which provides more for its crawlers to index. Additionally, publishing lots of content about relevant topics helps show Google, and your audience, that you’re an expert in that subject matter. When you’re seen as an expert, your search rank can increase.
Establish Your Brand Identity
Your content is what helps you establish your brand’s voice and tone. There’s only so much you can say in your limited social media posts or the design of your website, and this doesn’t really give you a lot of space to make connections to people you want to target.
The way you write can help connect you with your audience in a language that’s familiar to them and that resonates with them, showing them that you are a business they could be interested in. For example, if you’re a personal injury legal firm targeting those who have been injured in an accident, you want to convey a more professional, authoritative, and serious tone that reflects the emotional and sensitive nature of their problems. At the same time, if you’re running a millennial-focused, innovative tech company, you want to speak in a more casual, slang-friendly tone and potentially incorporate references to popular culture.
It’s also an effective way to showcase your expertise and authority within your field. Let your brand’s personality shine through with content focused on the topics and subjects that your audience wants to read, and show them that you know what you’re talking about because you’re a leader.
Cater to a Larger, More Diverse Audience
Publish different types of content in different formats and you can appeal to a wider range of people, which can in turn lead to more website traffic. Everyone learns and digests information in different ways – some people like to read blogs and whitepapers, while others prefer to listen to a podcast or watch a YouTube video. Make your content accessible to a variety of different preferences, capabilities, and interests and you’ll captivate a wider audience than simply just publishing regular blog posts or social media content.