Become the go-to industry authority in your area of expertise
Content marketing’s purpose is to engage and retain a specific audience through valuable, relevant content.
It informs your audience about subjects related to your products and services, aiming to ultimately convert them into customers by offering effective solutions to their needs.
Sales can take anywhere from 5 to 20+ customer touchpoints in many industries. Increasingly, businesses are producing content to enhance brand exposure and interaction with prospects. Not creating content could mean missed sales opportunities that competitors are seizing. Today, content can be distributed across a multitude of marketing channels.
Examples types of content include:
· social media posts
· email newsletters
· educational articles
· search engine optimized blogs
· videos
· case studies
· educational guides
· infographics/charts?
· press releases
· webinars
· podcasts
· e-books
· surveys
· original research
· company news
How can content
marketing help my business?
Content marketing offers lasting advantages, enhancing aspects like brand equity and revenue growth. By crafting valuable content for your audience, you bolster your credibility and position yourself as an authoritative source on topics relevant to your customers. This gradual process fosters stronger trust and loyalty.
Moreover, SEO-friendly content marketing improves discoverability in search engines like Google, where potential customers are actively seeking information about your offerings.
Mapping content to align with your customer decision making journey
Content Mapping involves creating compelling content tailored to each stage of the customer’s path to purchasing your product or service. A marketing funnel dissects the customer decision-making journey into:
Awareness > Interest > Desire > Action
Top of the marketing funnel
1. Content enhances company brand awareness
When a potential customer first encounters your brand, they’ve entered the awareness stage of their decision-making journey. They may have discovered you through various channels like your website, blog posts, YouTube videos, podcasts, or social media profiles. While they might not be ready to make a purchase or subscribe to your email list just yet, they’ve become aware of your brand through the content you provide.
This awareness is invaluable because if your audience doesn’t know who you are and how you can address their needs, they won’t be able to make a purchase, now or in the future. At this stage, the focus should be on delivering value by demonstrating your understanding of and concern for their needs, rather than aggressively pushing your products or services.
In the awareness stage, people are essentially getting acquainted with your brand. Therefore, establishing a strong and positive brand image is paramount for long-term success.
Middle of the marketing funnel
2. Content helps increase interest and desire for your products and services
As your potential customer becomes more acquainted with your brand during the awareness stage, they may gradually cultivate a heightened interest and desire for your offerings. This transformation takes place in the interest and desire phase, where individuals become progressively intrigued and develop a stronger inclination to make a purchase. They are essentially “warming up” to your brand.
To enhance the probability of your target audience making a purchase, it’s essential to guide them deeper into the customer decision-making process with content that amplifies their desire for your products and fosters a trusting relationship.
Choosing the right communication methods is essential, and we’re here to assist you with that.
Bottom of the marketing funnel
3. Content increases trust resulting in new leads
Now that your audience is acquainted with you, has developed a liking for your brand, and trusts you, they are poised to embark on the buying journey. This is the pivotal moment when we fine-tune your content to maximize the chances of conversion.
At Catch, our seasoned marketers are well-versed in employing strategic keywords, diverse call-to-actions, split tests, and other techniques to guide individuals closer to the purchase decision.
End of the marketing funnel
4. Content helps turn past customers into loyal buyers and brand advocates
The journey doesn’t conclude with a sale. According to the Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer can cost anywhere from 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one. It’s a logical perspective: when you keep your existing customers satisfied, you no longer need to invest time and resources in acquiring new clients.
So, what’s the key to bolstering your bottom line? The answer lies in the retention of the right customers over time, and this phase of the customer decision-making journey is pivotal. Your responsibility now is to provide exceptional service and results to your customers. Content marketing geared towards referral and loyalty programs, showcasing your appreciation for your customers, holds immense value in this stage.
Is content marketing right for your business?
Content marketing serves as a powerful tool not only for educating your audience about the solutions you offer for their challenges but also for elevating your brand’s visibility, maintaining top-of-mind awareness, nurturing trust, acquiring new customers, and fostering devoted brand advocates. In today’s highly competitive global business landscape, it’s imperative to discover avenues for reaching new customers while consistently engaging with existing ones in the long run.
Content marketing is a long-term endeavor that demands strategic planning, patience, diligence, and consistency. Consequently, it may not align with everyone’s objectives.
Considering the diverse array of approaches available for your marketing communications plan, it’s prudent to kick things off with a thorough evaluation of your overall marketing strategy to determine whether content marketing is the ideal investment for your specific needs.
