This is the first of a three-part series inspired by a statement made by Bizzuka CEO, John Munsell, during a conference in 2008 in which he was a participant.
In this post, I discuss the reasons why companies should utilize content marketing. The two remaining posts outline ways they can get started, and how content helps generate leads and conversions.
Bizzuka CEO, John Munsell, once said, “If content is king, then conversion is queen.” Truer words were never spoken.
In an age dominated by the Internet, creating quality online content that addresses the needs and interests of your customers and prospects is a literal imperative. Here are four reasons why:
1. If you don’t’ create content, no one will find you.
Google is the new Yellow Pages. If you can’t be found in search engines, your business does not exist in the mind of the consumer.
Simply having a website, especially one that’s static, is not enough. It needs to be updated frequently with fresh content.
2. Quality content gets shared.
Ours is a sharing culture. When people find content that speaks to them, they share it, and do so most often on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Well-written, well-produced content can be the catalyst for a viral wave, which means your business will gain exposure far beyond the few who see it initially.
3. Expert content builds trust.
Most likely, you’re not going to get a lead or make a sale just because you wrote a thoughtful article that demonstrates your expertise. The benefit comes in the form of implied trust, which is a valuable commodity in today’s highly competitive marketplace. People want to do business with companies they trust and what better way to build it than with credible, thoughtful content.
I bet there are many things you know about your industry that, if committed to paper or video, would influence prospective customers to do business with you instead of a competitor. Until you add your voice to the conversation, you’ll never know.
4. Content generates traffic and leads.
Research conducted by marketing agency Hubspot found that companies that blog 15 or more times per month get five times more traffic than companies that don’t blog at all.
Even better, companies that increase blogging from 3-5 times per month to 6-8 times per month nearly double the number of leads. Furthermore, B2B companies that blog only once or twice per month generate 70% more leads than those that don’t blog at all, Hubspot found.
For companies that value use of the Internet for marketing, these four reasons provide ample evidence that content creation should be a “goto” strategy.
In my next post, I talk about 10 ways SMBs can get started using content marketing.
P.S.: John’s quote, cited at the beginning of this post, has been consistently tweeted thousands of times by people around the globe ever since he first said it in 2008, and is a trend that continues to this day.