Clients always ask, what’s the magic bean for SEO? In addition to setting up your pages correctly, there’s no better way than a constant flow of quality content. Here’s a great post on content marketing, originally published by Kristen Squires in 2011.
Thanks Kristen!
People are bombarded with intrusive ads on television, websites, billboards, newspapers, magazines and mail. It’s become easy for us to just ignore these ads. We can skip commercials because of TiVo and DVR, throw out mail without taking two seconds to look at it, and simply click on content we want to read.
I’m not saying traditional tactics, such as direct mail and print and broadcast advertising, are dead. There are always going to be companies who can and will spend money on these tactics because it’s what they prefer. It is just hard to ignore the fact that these tactics are more expensive and produce less favorable results. Content marketing is gaining popularity because it informs and educates consumers instead of slapping consumers in the face and hoping they remember what is being sold.
Content marketing vs. traditional marketing
So what exactly is content marketing? Content marketing is a two-way medium that allows consumers to have conversations, ask questions and be educated. It provides value to consumers. Examples of content marketing include: E-books, white papers, blogs and podcasts. These marketing pieces can be about anything related to your brand, product or service that you’re trying to sell.
Say you have a photography business, so you’re trying to sell your photography services. Instead of posting on Facebook and Twitter all about your great prices and amazing sample photos, write a blog post on how to look good in photos every time or how to shoot an artsy angle. These tips give something of value to your customers. It’s content they can actually learn from.
These tactics are most effective when distributed through social media. So tweet and post your article on Facebook! It increases the chances of it being picked up and shared across multiple platforms online. This can only help the visibility of your company or brand.
Traditional marketing can be defined as ways to promote a product or service to consumers without their interest in or need for it. It is a one-sided conversation that forces the consumer to act if they want more information or engagement. These tactics “talk at” people and don’t engage them.
Examples of traditional marketing include: Direct mail, online and print ads, billboards and broadcast commercials. As stated before, these are intrusive tactics that people don’t seek out. Instead, people are flooded with them everywhere they go, whether they want to see them or not.
Providing value=Loyal customers
The Internet has revolutionized marketing. Companies are realizing this and are giving bigger portions of their budget to content marketing. The level in which we interact with customers has changed and companies need to adapt. Don’t think of content marketing as giving away free tips and advice. Think of it as immediately eliminating the question of whether or not your company, product or service is the best. Customers can read all about your knowledge, opinions and expertise without having to even pick up the phone.
If you’re serious about producing professional and creative content to give something of value back to consumers, contact us at ClearRiver and we’ll hook you up with one of our writers, our photographer, or web designer. Please call us at 989-631-7977 or post a comment on this blog post.
23 Reasons content marketing trumps traditional marketing
(taken from Inbound Internet Marketing Blog)
If what I said above didn’t convince you that content marketing is crucial, I bet you won’t be able to ignore these cold hard facts about why traditional marketing just isn’t working anymore:
- 200 million Americans have registered their phone numbers on the FTC’s “Do Not Call” list.
- 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted into.
- 84% of 25-34-year-olds have left a favorite website because of intrusive or irrelevant advertising.
- 86% of people skip television ads.
- 44% of direct mail is never opened.
- 61% of marketers will invest more in earned media (content marketing) in 2011.
- The average budget spent on company blogs and social media has nearly doubled in the last 2 years.
- The number of marketers who say Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has increased 83% in the last 2 years.
- 2/3 of marketers say their company blog is “critical” or “important” to their business.
- 67% of B2C companies and 41% of B2B companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
- 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.
- 42% of businesses have acquired a customer through Twitter.
- 57% of companies have acquired a customer through LinkedIn.
- 48% of companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
- Content marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional marketing.
- 3 out of 4 content marketing channels cost less than any traditional channel.
- 55% of companies who blog reported leads from their blog were “below average” in cost.
- 47% of companies who use social media reported leads from social media were “below average” in cost.
- 39% of companies who leverage SEO reported leads from SEO were “below average” in cost.
- 27% of companies who use PPC reported leads from PPC were “below average” in cost.
- Trade shows were reported as being “above average” in cost by 47% of respondents.
- Direct mail was reported as being “above average” in cost by 27% of respondents.
- Telemarketing was reported as being “above average” in cost by 21% of respondents.