“The only way to win at Content Marketing is for the reader to say, ‘this was written specifically for me’.” – Jamie Turner
Gaining customers regularly is perhaps what makes for the sweetest dreams of any business owner. There are of course, several methods, tools, and strategies to help companies achieve these dreams. One of these strategies is content marketing – that has helped companies and is constantly in a state of evolution. Given its dynamic nature, the strategy underlying content must be regularly updated and improved – just like the actual content that needs to be constantly enlivened, and brought up to date.
Does your company have a strategy in place for gaining customers through content marketing? How does content marketing help to gain and retain customers? At the top of the ‘pile’ is that it helps a company position itself as a thought leader, an expert in certain areas, and the master of the products and services it sells. Informative, educational, and engaging blogs and articles regularly published by the company provide the much-needed information by customers, without them having to scour the entire internet. This saves time and effort for both existing and prospective customers, and other readers, and over time builds credibility and trust for the company, which would help the company to not only gain new customers but also keep the existing ones for a long time. These articles must be written purely from a service point of view, rather than to sell the products and or services directly. As readers and customers begin to see value in the association with the company – sales and profits, testimonials and referrals would follow. Gaining customers then, would not be a problem either.
With the rise in mobile devices, over half the number of people using these devices, first look for information about a company / brand via their smartphones or other gizmos. These devices have made it a lot easier for the hurried and harried customers of today to gain information through a few clicks and in the palm of their hand. For companies, it means that the content they publish should be accessible, easy navigable, and useable by these ‘mobile’ customers. Optimized delivery of the content they seek, would encourage existing customers to remain, and help the company in gaining customers. It would be wise to remember however, that the short attention spans of customers and other readers could pose a problem for your content marketing efforts if the information they seek is not accessible and or easily read via their mobile gadgets.
Gaining customers through content marketing, would obviously then be a factor of the actual content published. It is easy to publish and distribute content worldwide through the net at zero cost, the challenge lies in putting out content that would immediately gain the attention of readers and add value to existing customers. Customers can read about industry trends and news from anywhere. However, what would be interesting to them would be how the products and services from your company would benefit them and their business, and what ‘extra’ can your company do to serve them well. Such kind of content would not only help in gaining customers, but would elicit positive feelings and emotions in the readers – they would feel connected with the brand / company, which in turn would encourage them to look for opportunities to interact with the company in some manner. Top class content marketing is all about being able to elicit such positivity from existing customers and target audience, leading to enhanced sales and profits, and increasing the existing customer base.
The great part about content marketing is that there is so much information already available on the internet and social media sites. There are many people out there whose writings influence a large audience and who are able to write on a range of topics with varying styles that are powerful and enticing. It would be wise for a company to emulate these writers, gain from the topics they write about, and write content that would be aligned with its customer base and the products it offers.
Other powerful media for content marketing are infographics, webinars, and videos. Infographics are crisp and succinct ‘bits’ of information coupled with connected images to convey a strong message. It makes it a lot easier for rushed customers and readers to get ‘the message’ without the hassle of reading through too much. IN addition, content that makes sense to a reader / customer, could be easily shared and passed on to others, thereby ensuring added reach and awareness of a company and its products, without any effort from the company. This information could easily reach a hitherto untapped customer base in need of the company’s products and or services, thereby gaining customers for it. Webinars too are an excellent form of content marketing. They save time and effort, yet connect people from across the world, engaging them in discussions of common interests. Given that people can see each other through a medium, there is a sense of oneness and a personal feeling, which makes it easier for a company to pitch its offerings and create interest in them.
Companies are now using videos too extensively, as a potent form of content marketing, and the success in gaining customers is testimony of the success of this medium. The growing number of people viewing videos of companies via the different channels has encouraged companies to use this medium even more than ever. One social media site gets over 8 billion views per day on the videos posted – that is a whopping number and can be potential business. It would be prudent then to use informative, immersive, and interactive videos for gaining customers and enhancing the business.
There is an old adage – what is not tracked cannot be improved. Despite best efforts of the company, the content marketing strategy may not work – meaning no rise in sales and no new customers. It would be essential therefore, to constantly monitor the strategy and measure the results to ensure that the goals set for their content strategy become achievable. The success of the content published would lie in the number of shares and likes, the conversions of readers to customers that may happen, and the rise in profits of the company.
Gaining customers through content marketing is a very real possibility. People need content all the time. Content helps them to understand things better, connect emotionally, and make informed decisions with regard to a company and its offerings. Companies that do this consistently will see a positive change in the perspective of existing customers, target audience, and in the business market as a whole. Great content helps a company to position its brand, products, and services in one of authority and leadership – soon making the company the voice of reason and trust. The more such content a company can publish, the better its chances at retaining existing customers and gaining customers without the initial doubts and apprehensions.
Anyone in business knows that gaining customers is at least 10 times harder than retaining existing ones, and it would therefore be prudent for a company to use every tool and any help it can get in order to expand its business and create widespread interest in its brand.