Content Marketing
What Is Content Marketing? — 8 Benefits of Content Marketing
Learn about what content marketing is and discover 8 benefits of content marketing from raising brand awareness to driving audience engagement.
According to Ahrefs, 82% of marketers actively use content marketing and consider it a core business strategy.
As content marketing involves telling a brand’s story through content, many marketers use it as a cornerstone to increase brand awareness by establishing a connection with consumers.
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Content marketing is a form of inbound marketing that uses helpful content to attract, engage, and retain an audience.
The American Marketing Association defines content marketing as “creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience.”
In contrast to outbound marketing, such as direct sales outreach, advertising, direct mail, or other techniques that involve messaging customers — content marketing (a type of inbound marketing) distributes helpful information in the form of blogs, videos, social media, or email newsletters.
Content marketing is defined as ‘inbound’ because it focuses on engaging potential customers organically. It pulls customers in, rather than sending messages out.
Pew Research found that 96% of adults report using the internet.
So, from a marketing perspective that means the vast majority of adult consumers are accessible via the internet.
Further, content marketing is influencing their purchasing decisions.
The 2024 Consumer Product Content Benchmark Report released by 1WorldSync found that 51% of shoppers decided to purchase because of valuable and engaging content.
Conversely, the report found that 80% (8 in 10) declined to buy if the content was low-quality.
The data speaks clearly: consumers connect with companies and learn about products through content. Brands can’t afford not to have a solid content marketing strategy.
There are a lot of benefits that come along with content marketing.
When a company offers practical, relevant content that answers questions or provides solutions, the audience is more engaged, tends to stick around longer (boosting metrics like time on page), and is more likely to remember your brand.
Quality content that helps people reflects well on your brand. Content marketing allows your company to showcase expertise and leadership in your brand’s field by helping visitors even before they become customers.
With content marketing, your company develops a reputation as a trusted, valuable and reliable resource through informing, educating, and engaging the audience. Quality, people-first content creates a positive association with your brand.
Once you connect with a reader and they enjoy your content, you have a better opportunity to advance them forward in the sales cycle.
The next step may be to incorporate lead magnets and get them to sign up for a newsletter, enroll in a webinar, or download exclusive content by providing contact information.
Likewise, great content can assist conversions by offering potential buyers the details they need to make an informed buying decision.
Product pages and descriptions, FAQ pages, and more educate potential customers.
Consumers like to research, and content marketing allows you to make sure you have excellent content to cover the benefits of your product or service thoroughly.
Happy consumers and readers are more likely to become repeat visitors. They are also more likely to share that content with their network, expanding your organic reach.
Content marketing creates opportunities to connect more frequently with your audience.
The more consistently and frequently you provide new, relevant content, the more opportunities you create for your audience to engage.
Wherever an audience member may be in the buying journey, you are connecting with them all along the way.
Quality content that audiences find relevant, helpful and engaging can boost search engine optimization (SEO) and increase search engine rankings along with website visibility.
The success of content marketing is measurable by tracking key metrics like:
Monitoring these content marketing metrics can help you evaluate the performance and benefits of content marketing for your business.
Content marketing materials include text, video, images, and audio created for digital distribution. Here’s a quick overview of some key types of content marketing.
A blog is a website with helpful content in the form of articles, listicles, videos, and other features designed to engage and inform readers.
Blogs should be updated regularly to establish and maintain a connection with readers. This also helps to establish the site’s authority and increase the blog’s visibility.
Web content includes written, visual, or audio elements on a website.
This can include a blog, as well as other features:
Web content should be informative, engaging, and designed to help the audience. Readers are more likely to return to a website with relevant information that is easy to comprehend and navigate.
Through posts on social media platforms that include text, video, images, and links to other content, businesses can reach a wide audience or target a very specific segment or content niche.
Social media content can lead visitors back to a website or blog, helping expand organic reach through social sharing.
Email newsletters can be sent regularly with newsworthy content that features something specific about the brand or a particular product and generally provides relevant and engaging information.
Using text, videos, images, and links, a newsletter encourages a next step or call to action, such as visiting a website to read more or signing up for a webinar or upcoming event.
A podcast is a digital audio segment or series produced by a brand or company that delivers informative information on topics related to the brand’s industry. Podcasts can help establish a brand as a thought leader, and the storytelling element is compelling to many listeners.
Through an integrated approach to content marketing, your brand can use these elements to attract a target audience, raise awareness, and build customer relationships.
Well-crafted and curated content can establish trust, reflect positively on your company and, ultimately, drive lead generation and sales.
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Then learn more effective content marketing tips in our top guides:
