Let’s get real for a moment and acknowledge that we are currently facing a global economic downturn. Which, if history is anything to go by, means dramatic changes both in the market and in how we do things. This reality means an inevitable lack of resources due to budget cuts that will force people to think and work in new and creative ways. Marketing strategies for business must adjust and behaviour in people must start to change in order to adapt and accommodate the current economic climate.
One thing that has become clear out of all the turbulent change is that digital marketing doesn’t work without amazing content. And when you choose to make it your business’ mission to provide amazing content, it does so much more than boost the top of the funnel, it builds trust with the people who engage with your business at the core.
Delivering helpful content to people consistently takes heart, dedication and time and these are the makings of what great digital marketing is all about.
Why invest in content marketing?
When content marketing is done well, it creates brand equity, meaning that your brand becomes more valuable over time the more you include valuable content in your marketing. And the more you offer helpful content to your audience, the more your brand will develop a reputation as a respected leader in your field.
The main way content provides value to your business is through organic traffic. This happens when someone discovers your content on a search engine, for example, and decides to click on it.
It’s essentially very different from other kinds of traffic for one reason, this audience is looking for you. They are actively seeking out information relating to your business.
Having content available on platforms other than search interrupts what an audience is doing, for example scrolling through social media. Those particular audiences are passive observers who are not actively searching for something.
On other platforms, like social media, your brand needs to be seen constantly by your audience. But with organic traffic, it’s different, your audience comes to you. Why? Because they are aware of a problem and they are actively trying to solve it through search.
Written word
The written word is the most popular and widespread form of content marketing today and the amount of content that is written daily can’t be easily measured. But that doesn’t mean that you should overlook it for flashier forms of content. Writing is more relevant today than it ever was.
Blogging
Blogging is the most tried and true way of writing content and it basically involves writing about relevant topics on a regular basis. Blogs can take all forms and no two are exactly alike.
A blog lives on your website as a subdomain or another section of your site and most website content managers like WordPress, Wix or Squarespace have an easy to use built-in blog feature that can be enabled.
When the word “blogging” is mentioned, people often tend to picture some misunderstood hipster sharing his many thoughts and feelings with the world from his bedroom. And yes, that kind of blogging does exist, but that isn’t what we are talking about here today.
We are talking about the type of blogging that can be used to effectively market your business and build an audience as well as relationships.
Getting traffic to your blog
One of the main ways to get traffic to your blog is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). When starting out, its best to keep your content focused on a central theme, this will make it easier for search engines to find and display your page to audiences who are looking.
As people find and read your blog, search engines will begin to recognise that your content is relevant and helpful to people. As a result, search engines will rank your page higher up in the search results which will result in more traffic, resulting in a better reputation, which results in higher rankings of your page and so on. It’s very much a cyclical, ongoing process.
Contact us today if you would like to invest in content marketing that seeks to serve your audience, solve problems, and build relationships.
