There are a lot of methods for digital marketing, after all, this is the digital age. Whether it’s through person-to-person introductions, a typical marketing campaign using graphics and advertisements, or even a B2B email messaging strategy, you’ve got a lot of options to choose from.
In fact, don’t think of them as options. Your business can profit from using all of these marketing venues in tandem. You can craft an advertising campaign, include that in your company emails to outside vendors and discuss your campaign with those you try to directly engage with. It all works together – at least, that’s how you run an effective marketing schematic.
In these examples listed, we haven’t included the most currently important form of digital marketing. No, it’s not just your social media presence. Content marketing is where you need to focus all of your attention now, and it’s becoming more and more vital to start producing content with the purpose of advertisement and engagement.
Content is how you communicate with an audience without actually communicating with them directly. Think back to the last blog post you read:
- Did you comment on it?
- Why or why not?
- Did it offer you valuable information?
- Why or why not?
- Will you visit the site you found the blog on ever again?
- Why or why not?
The answers to these questions can help you decipher for yourself why blog content for businesses is so important. A great blog by itself is supposed to offer a reader information and creates a connection between the poster and the audience. Think about this dynamic in a business setting. Suddenly the importance of connecting is that much more important when you consider the potential profits and gains.
Why is content so important?
Your content is something that puts you out there online. For instance, say you’re a business that deals in marketing consulting. A business owner may not be looking to hire a consulting firm, but they are roaming the Internet looking for marketing tips of their own.
They come across an article on your business site that details “7 Marketing Strategies for 2016” and they’re intrigued. Because of your well-crafted content, they both take your advice and send you an email asking for consulting quotes – you seem to have a business that is reputable and an industry expert, which is something they can’t say about themselves.
Content is how you get people to notice you without ever explicitly asking for their attention. This is always a great marketing method. It’s the new millennium, and consumers are tired of in-your-face marketing ploys. They know when they’re being bombarded with false advertisement that cares more about their cash.
Using blogging content marketing, however, entices customers with outside information. You’re giving them a tiny bit of knowledge and opening the doors to the bigger pool by linking this information on your website.
Also, the more you post high quality content, the more you become an industry expert, as mentioned above. Continuously putting out content that contains accurate and useful information will help you establish a loyal band of followers. The more loyal followers you have, the more likely you are to get leads and engagement that’s profitable.
What’s currently happening in the world of content marketing?
While the benefits of content marketing won’t change regardless of the month or date, trends in content marketing standards and production consistently get switched up. Whether it’s how your SEO figures into Google’s search algorithm or what a majority of audiences are looking for in their content makeup, you have a duty to stay on top of all content marketing information for your business. Also, be sure to read our list of digital marketing small business mistakes that people make!
Content marketing requires a strategy, just like any other form of marketing, and you should be shaping this around current market trends. For the sake of keeping the advice general so that in six months when things change we aren’t steering you wrong, content marketing algorithms and trends change on a weekly basis at times. What does this mean for your strategy? It has to be one that’s malleable.
You cannot create a content marketing strategy that has no wiggle room or you’ll sink – it’s as simple as that.
Final Thoughts
In general, digital mediums always have the added headache of being constantly changing. Your content that you produced a year ago may be completely backwards in terms of the current algorithms, analytics and trends going on in the world of SEO and digital marketing – you might even find that content you produced six weeks ago isn’t up to snuff simply because of a recent update or trend shift.
There’s only so many ways to drive the point home: content marketing trends are constantly shifting, and you’d do well to keep on top of them for optimum business success.
While you may think that this level of shift makes content marketing something not worth your time, remember the benefits of content and how it can help boost your business. It’s effectively the most important part of your entire business marketing plan, so don’t neglect it. Checking SEO and marketing trend blogs once a week is well worth the results you’ll get from a great content marketing strategy.