A Powerful Marketing Tool For Generating Leads and Conversions
Enter content marketing. Content marketing is a strategic online marketing strategy focused on producing and distributing consistently useful, relevant, and frequently updated content to draw and maintain a clearly defined customer demographic, and, eventually, to drive more profitable consumer action. Consistently updated, relevant content tends to engage and influence customers in the ways they want to be engaged. This is true across a wide range of industries, products, and services. Consumers appreciate being “in the loop”; the more informed they are, the more likely they are to take action and react positively to what they need.
One way to ensure that you create and distribute great content is to use your own inbound marketing strategy to get it into the hands of those you would most like to reach. For instance, if you own or work for a government agency, think about how a news release can be used to target individuals who may be receptive to the message of a news release. Using inbound marketing to distribute great content can also connect your firm and its clients with individuals who are less likely to be aware of current events-people who are actively searching for information, rather than passively receiving it.
As your online marketing efforts move forward, you will undoubtedly come across many prospects and clients who fit neatly into your target market but whom you have not reached through traditional methods. In this case, content marketing offers a unique opportunity to reach these potential customers. In addition to providing a fresh, or at least well-written, news story, content marketing can provide many other value-added opportunities to gain your prospects’ attention and interest. The first step to doing so is to develop a blog or website that features your target industry or topic, as well as regularly post short articles that provide insight or context to your business’s offerings. As your business grows and you acquire greater success from your marketing efforts, you can expand your focus to include a blog or site that is focused on your content marketing efforts.
Along the same lines, content marketers should also post links to their blog posts in various places online, such as article directories, social networking pages, and online classifieds. These sites are great places to distribute content, as they provide a ready distribution network for your content marketing efforts. While your content may not directly influence prospects to take an action, content marketing can help to send them the idea that you exist and that your company can help them solve their problems. By connecting yourself with the right target audience, you will be able to greatly increase your sales and dramatically reduce your cost-per-lead. Your content marketing will also help you establish long-term relationships with your prospects, helping you gain trust and promote a strong relationship within your organization.
If you currently distribute promotional content through traditional marketing methods such as print ads, direct mail, or television spots, you will quickly recognize the need for a more streamlined method for distributing content. Although many companies have found great success by developing their own in-house content departments, content marketers can greatly benefit from outsourcing this task in order to free up additional time for them to develop new campaigns and attract new prospects. By working with a digital marketing agency that specializes in both traditional and digital marketing, you can benefit from an experienced team that has proven expertise in delivering successful content campaigns. Outsourcing your content marketing will free you up to develop new campaigns that are designed to achieve your overall business goals.
One of the most important things to remember about content marketing is to develop a proper funnel that will effectively move customers from free offers to higher priced products and services. A proper funnel will require a great deal of planning and attention to detail, but once your content is flowing, it is nearly impossible to stop. In order to draw quality traffic to your website, you must ensure that prospects are consistently sent through the appropriate funnel. While you may initially focus on generating high-priced leads, once your funnel is developed, generating quality leads will become much easier and your business will experience great growth. With the proper content in place, you can expect to receive free quality traffic that is targeted to convert into leads and eventually sales.