The phrase “content is king” might make you cringe. After all, we’ve been hearing it for years now. But here’s the thing, as much as we might hate that phrase, it’s not incorrect. In an ever-increasingly digital world, the content you use to build your brand can make or break your success. No pressure, right? But don’t worry, you don’t have to master content marketing on your own. More businesses are turning to content marketing firms to handle this all-important task.
If you’re not convinced of the benefits of taking this step, you’re in the right place. In this post, we’re going to tell you about some of the rewards you can reap when you work with a content marketing company. But as always, let’s break it down to the basics first.
What is Content Marketing?
In its simplest form, content marketing really does mean using content to market your business, service, product, etc. It could be the content you write under an Instagram post. It could be the 280-character Tweets you send out multiple times a day. And yes, it includes this blog! Blog posts are one of the most traditional forms of content marketing, and they’re utilized by virtually all of the world’s biggest brands.
It’s worth noting the greater goal of content marketing. First, consider regular advertising. You’re asking consumers to make a direct action, maybe it’s to click, to buy, to sign up, etc. But with content marketing, you’re typically not just promoting your product throughout the entirety of the content. Instead, you’re using content to market your business by building loyalty, building interest, and educating consumers. It means sharing relevant content with your current customers or your target audience that not only provides value to them, but builds brand awareness and accomplishes other marketing goals in the process.
Benefits of Content Marketing
Now we know what it is, let’s talk about the benefits of content marketing before we get to the advantages of working with a content marketing agency.
Build trust with your visitors
Content gives you the opportunity to create a dialogue with consumers and humanize your brand.
Remember what we said about providing value to customers? This goes a long way in building trust with them. And in an incredibly competitive online world, trust is everything. Consumers want to do business with brands they trust. And when these same brands have provided something of value (AKA: your content) it establishes trust with them.
Build brand awareness
Nike, McDonald’s, Honda these are just some of the world’s biggest brands that we recognize simply by their logo. Consumer recognition is incredibly valuable, and content marketing helps you create it. The more your brand and your content is out there, the more eyes will find it.
Great for organic search (SEO)
Paid ads and organic search (SEO) both serve very important roles in the world of digital marketing. But one of the significant advantages of SEO is that it can be done for free. You do not need to pay for ads with SEO.
Instead, you rely on carefully selected keywords and other components of SEO to draw people to your content. With content marketing, you have the chance to add keywords (long and short), link to products, and boost SEO in a number of ways.
Doing this well, however, takes work. Not to mention, it can take time to reap the rewards of your SEO strategy. Be patient, and consider outsourcing SEO services to get better results—and faster.
Attract ideal buyers
When you’re creating valuable content for your readers, this includes considering who your ideal buyers are and what might bring them to your site.
Let’s say you sell house cleaning products.
Rather than just creating content telling people to BUY these products, why not create valuable content that would attract people interested in your products? For example, you could create posts with titles like, “10 Steps for Cleaning Your Bathroom,” or “How to Organize a Linen Closet Like a Pro.”
Not only are you providing value to your readers, but you’re also attracting ideal buyers because you know they have a potential interest in what you offer.
Building backlinks
Backlinks are an invaluable tool for online businesses. Rather than the on-page SEO factors like keywords and headers, backlinks are a form of off-page SEO. A backlink is a link on someone else’s website linking back to your content. They’re essential for building domain authority which gives you a big boost on search engine results pages. Not to mention, when popular sites link to your content, this could draw a lot of traffic to your site which could mean a lot of business as a result.
Pros of Partnering with a Content Marketing Agency
We know what you’re thinking, “how can I enjoy all of these benefits for myself?” Well, you could spend the time researching, planning, and creating content for marketing purposes. OR you could partner with a content marketing agency to help you maximize your efforts and get the best ROI.
When you partner with a content marketing company rather than going it alone, here are some of the advantages that come along with it:
- Instant expertise: There’s no need for you to spend weeks or months learning the content marketing (including) best practices. Instead, you can have instant access to content marketing expertise.
- Great ROI: When you work with an expert content marketing agency, the return on your investment could rock your world! Even compared to paid search services, the ROI on content marketing is impressive. Consider this: content marketing gets three times the leads per dollar spent over paid search.
- Ongoing benefits: Content has a way of building momentum. So while it may require an investment to work with a content marketing corporation now, the content they provide you with can benefit your business long after it’s published.
- Fresh perspectives: Most content marketing agencies have experience working with a number of businesses in all kinds of industries. Their writers spend time getting to know each of these businesses and industries so they can write about them with expertise and authority. It also means they have fresh perspectives. Content will be unique, professional, and it might touch on things you hadn’t yet considered.
- More time: One of the most valuable resources for any business owner is time. If you’re spending all of your time on content marketing when you really want to be focusing on sales, a content marketing agency will be a simply invaluable resource for you. When your content marketing needs are taken care of, you can get back to doing what you do best.
Is Blue Water Marketing the Content Marketing Firm For You?
Most business owners aren’t content marketing experts. Instead, their talents lie in other critical areas of operating their business. But at Blue Water Marketing, we are content marketing experts and we love putting our skills to work for businesses like yours.
In addition to the actual content creation, we provide full design services. Our creatives specialize in planning and designing infographics, blogs, data visualizations, infographics, social graphics, illustrations—all important for your content marketing strategy!
We’re also pleased to provide you with the high value pieces particularly beneficial for lead generation. Considering lead generation has shifted to downloadable content from landing pages or your website, this content needs to be incredibly valuable to incentivize the visitor to download it. We create valuable eBooks, slideshares, reports, or presentations they won’t be able to resist. Want to learn more about our content marketing strategy? Read it here. Or, click here to schedule a free consultation with our team!
