Content marketing is a must for business growth. There is a reason why 70 percent of marketers continue to invest in content marketing — It works. From startups to enterprise companies, content marketing plays a major role when it comes to brand awareness, lead generation, and conversions.
A recent content marketing study by HubSpot found content marketing to be very important and extremely important.
“The customer journey needs to be as seamless as possible, with engaging content,
passionate messaging and data-backed strategy creating meaningful
business-consumer experiences,” Tom Agnew, CEO of Brafton, a Sydney based content marketing agency said. “Content marketing drives these core elements.”
However, only 24 percent of marketers planned on amping up content marketing investments in 2020.
This percentage has probably changed drastically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses large and small certainly see the need and value for more digital marketing campaigns to reach consumers and clients during the ongoing pandemic.
Want maximum business growth in 2021? Content marketing needs to be a top priority. To emphasize this, we compiled a few important content marketing benefits to grow your business.
Content Marketing Benefits Every Business Should Consider
The list of benefits when it comes to content marketing is long and varied. To position your business for growth and success in 2021, you definitely need to consider the following benefits.
Content Marketing Is Actually More Affordable Than You Think
One of the biggest deterents for businesses looking at content marketing is cost. Let’s face it, marketing budgets are traditionally pretty tight. And with budget in mind, choosing the right marketing strategies can be challenging.
But content marketing is actually cost effective, especially when you factor in return on investment (ROI). Many business owners and managers overshoot the cost of content marketing in excess of five time what it actually costs.
A SEMrush survey found that most 46 percent of businesses spent less than $10,000 on content marketing in 2019.
When you factor in ROI on content marketing campaigns, you may be generating far more revenue per dollar spent. Top content marketing goals included increased leads, boost in site traffic, and improved brand reputation.
Your Brand’s Online Visibility Grows Exponentially
Positioning of your business online is critical if you want to capture more market share and get a leg up on the competition. Content marketing can do this to perfection. How? The more content, the greater online visibility your business will have.
This happens via multiple forms of media online. To no surprise, blogs and video content are the two major forms of media used within content marketing strategies.
Why is this not surprising? Google is the #1 search engine, followed by YouTube. If you want to grow your business’ online presence, blogs and videos are the way to go. In fact, businesses with a blog have 434 percent more pages indexed and 97 percent greater indexed links.
Blogs also generate 67 percent more leads for businesses, compared to companies without blogs. And lead generation is the top content marketing goal among marketers.
Video content marketing is a powerhouse when it comes to ROI. According to a video marketing study by Wyzowl, 87 percent of marketers agreed that video marketing drove more traffic to their websites.
It is undeniable that content marketing increases a brand’s online visibility while driving more leads, traffic, and conversions. This is a big time benefit that can grow your business in 2021.
Content Marketing Increases Consumer Trust For Your Business
Trust is extremely important these days. Consumers want to trust businesses and this trust drives purchases. If consumers or clients fail to trust your brand, you will lose sales to your competitors. It is just that simple.
Content marketing can ensure trust among consumers is high. For instance, video testimonials of current customers or clients can amp up trust when it comes to the evaluation stage of the customer’s journey.
Influencer marketing combined with a strong content marketing strategy can also impact consumer or client trust for your brand. The truth is, consumers don’t necessarily trust marketing that comes directly from brands. This has opened up the door for brand and social media influencer partnerships.
In fact, 63 percent of consumers trust influencer messages over brand messages. This makes influencer marketing pretty valuable, especially when it comes to your social media content.
Here’s an example of how Starbucks uses Instagram influencer @sweatandtell to promote new products, enhancing trust for the brand and its products:
This one influencer post netted 1,500 likes and over 40 comments. Integrating influencers into your social media content strategy can raise trust levels for maximum business growth.
You Can Build Authority In Your Industry Via Content Marketing
Having authority in your industry can play a role in how fast your business grows. Why? Consumers and/or clients want to buy from and/or partner with leaders in an industry.
For instance, look at Nike. Are Nike running shoes better than other running shoe brands? Probably not much of a difference, but more consumers would see Nike as an authority in thier industry, and certainly within the running niche.
Nike and other industry leading brands solidified their authority via content marketing.
Content can definitely bump up your industry authority. From creating and publishing highly actionable content on your business website blog to developing thought-leader articles for high-authority publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, and other authoritative online publications.
Here’s an example of building authority via content marketing utilizing Forbes Council articles:
The more visible authority and expertise your business has online, the faster business growth and success will come to fruition. This is a major benefit of content marketing, a strategy worth pursuing.
Is Content Marketing In Your 2021 Marketing Mix Up?
The above content marketing benefits to grow your business are certainly worth considering as we move into Q1 of 2021. A powerful content marketing strategy doesn’t need to be costly, especially when factoring ROI.
From building industry authority to increasing online visibility and consumer trust, content marketing is a must-do for businesses that want exponential growth and success next year.