Content marketing might be a buzzword today, but it is not a new phenomenon in marketing. It existed long before the internet revolution. The only change is that it has got more relevant in the knowledge economy. The increased penetration of internet further bolstered its potential. Slowly but steadily, it is becoming indispensable for businesses, as it brings a number of benefits. Before analyzing the benefits, let us understand content marketing first.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach where we create and distribute relevant and consistent content our target audience is looking for. The efforts inspire customers to take actions that prove profitable to brands. A large number of marketers are using content marketing for awareness, customer acquisition, and sales. There is a number of benefits associated with it. Below we list 10 benefits of content marketing.

Also Read: 10 reasons why your business needs inbound marketing

Website becomes content rich:

It sounds simple unless you delve deeper. More content on your website means your audience has more reasons to visit it. More visits to your website create more awareness about the brand that leads to increased conversion. If you offer consultancy, a good content marketing approach will help you get established as a thought leader.

Social media strategy gets a boost:

You create a great piece of content and distribute it through social media that gives your social media audience valuable content to read while staying on your page. It helps you get established as a credible resource for valuable knowledge in your niche. It is not a small achievement where countless brands are vying for attention. Social media needs content to keep your audience engaged, and content marketing offers it in plenty. This interdependence helps your content marketing and social media teams to be in a complete harmony.

Also Read: Why is your Social Media Page not effective?

Search engine visibility gets a boost:

Perhaps, it is one the biggest benefits of content marketing. Every time you post content on your website, it gets indexed by the search engines. With more quality pages getting indexed the chances of your getting traffic for multiple keywords stand high. If you use long-term keywords in your content marketing strategy, the possibility of ranking for them remains high.

Also Read: What is SEO & Why Does My Website Need SEO?

Connections with prospects:

Content marketing helps you create personal relations with your prospects that could be of great help when you convert your prospects into the customers. You can do so by serving tailored content to a specific audience. It should be the content that they are looking for. Studies show that customers are more likely to buy from an organization that serves them with quality content.

Attracts more referral traffic:

Content marketing can earn valuable traffic to your website. To get benefit from it, you should guest blog on a website with high Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA). While publishing a blog on others’ website, you can get a backlink to your website. A backlink from a reputed website can earn a flurry of referral traffic to your website. It will boost your ranking and brand value.

Helps move prospects through buyer’s journey:

Marketing efforts are aimed at moving goods and services from concepts to the customers. And content marketing does it beautifully by moving prospects through the buyer’s journey. Every customer goes on this journey before buying a product. And by serving them engaging content at every stage you enjoy a fair chance to convert them. Create your buyer’s persona, map out the buyer’s journey and serve them content accordingly. Provide them with top of the funnel (TOFU) content at awareness stage, middle of the funnel (MOFU) content at evaluation stage, and bottom of the funnel (BOFU) content at purchase stage to get more conversions.

Content marketing has a good shelf life:

Content marketing is like planting a mango tree. You keep receiving the fruits long after you have planted it. Every piece of optimised content keeps bringing visitors to your website, year on year. To create timeless content, you should keep creating awesome content around the topics which will remain in search for long. Great posts might be small in number but brings the largest chunk of traffic to the website. So, create content that answers the audience queries perfectly and keeps reaping the benefits.

Cost-effective: 

When it comes to the budget, content marketing is very economical. Imagine the budget of running a campaign in traditional media – print, television or radio. The budget for content marketing is very small in comparison. Here too, we need to hire experienced content writers and freelancers. Still, it gives maximum bang for the buck.

More touch points for customer: 

The more content you create for your website, social media channels or guest blogs, the more are your chances of getting found by the customers. Before making a purchase decision customers contact multiple website or social channels, and your presence there gives you valuable opportunities to engage with them and guide them through the buyer’s journey.

Creates an email list:

There are several advantages of content marketing, and its role in creating an email list is one of them. Quality content is like an appetizer. it leaves the audience wanting for more.You should create content that people would love to read, and they won’t mind subscribing it to get it delivered into to their inbox. The acquired email list could be considered as the prospective buyers who have taken some baby steps into buyers journey. You can educate them with valuable content, inspire them to take action with valuable offers and nurture them to get converted into customers. You can do all that and more with an email list. But here is a word of caution; respect their inclination and never spam them.

Apart from these, there could be other benefits of content marketing. Gone are the days when cold calling was the most prominent way of marketing. Today’s customers frown upon interruptions. Instead of going to them, let them come to you through quality content. Educate them, address their pain points and let them find a solution. In all probability, they will pay attention to your suggestions while making a purchase.