Top 20 Reasons You Can't Afford to Avoid Content Marketing in Your Business

These days, it’s more difficult to get customers’ attention. Customers may not simply respond if a business owner places an advertisement in a newspaper. Today’s consumers want to compare before they buy and may look for the lowest price before buying. Some may have a trusted brand, but no company should rely on this. To be competitive, companies must create and distribute content that a customer thinks is valuable and relevant before a company or even one-person small business operation attracts a customer. It’s called content marketing and these days businesses cannot afford to avoid content marketing. They may think customers will buy their product because they have a website or Facebook page, but that’s not enough. Businesses need a strategy to get valuable information to their customers. Here are 20 reasons why businesses cannot afford to avoid or ignore content marketing.

Not building up your brand or gaining customer trust can hurt a business’s credibility

1. With a number of companies offering the same service, a company may have a hard time setting themselves apart. Did you know that moving into 2015, 69 percent of marketers prefer to have original content over content that is simply licensed? By having original content, marketers can ensure they have something their competitors don’t. It may take awhile to build up a brand and gain customer’s trust so that they buy your brand. However, the time invested in showing customers why your product is superior and gaining their trust is worth its weight in the increased annual revenue. 2. Remember, before you sell a product or a service, you must be genuine and earn customers’ trust. This goal cannot be accomplished without building a relationship with customers. One of the best ways is to have a website where customers can feel their opinions are being heard and their suggestions are taken to heart. Hire an employee or company who will manage your company’s online content and interact with customers, get their options, offer giveaways, contests, and answer their questions. It is important for customers to feel a company cares before they will trust them.

Forgetting the Millennials and being a ho-hum expert are common mistakes to make

3. With so other many websites on the Internet, it’s hard to convince customers to buy from or follow your company. You may need to ask another company who has gained authoritativeness online to offer a recommendation or follow your brand. Search Engine Optimization websites, such as Google, track authoritativeness by looking at content, page views, and use algorithms to encourage companies to keep increasing their page ranking resolute. By being an expert in the area of the company’s product, this may convince customers to buy into company products or services. 4. Millennials are the generation that isn’t marketed to enough, yet have the money to buy goods. What is one of the best ways to attract these younger buyers? Use marketing content to gain trust of one of the youngest age groups. With the Internet making up 57 percent of the worldwide marketing consumption, millennials are one of the hardest age groups to win over. They like to comparison shop before buying. However, they are perhaps the most loyal to their brand, once they do choose a brand. Eighty-six percent of millennials are willing to share about their brand online, meaning this is one way a company can become a top identifier and outshine their competition.

Ignoring sales numbers and not knowing a customer’s worth can hurt profits

5. Customers may not buy a product or service without being able to see the benefit. Original, online articles on websites, YouTube videos, and social media reviews, may be good ways for large and small companies to convert lookers to buyers. Using Google Adwords, and social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, is also an excellent way to get potential customers’ attention. As Mark Cuban says, “No sales, no company.” 6. It isn’t any surprise that one study found customers needed to hear a brand’s message between three and five times before they believed a company’s message. However, companies do need to consider metrics. What is the value of converting a single customer from a looker to a buyer and how much will it help the company if they have a loyal follower? Using tools such as Google Analytics is only one source to help businesses learn how to better shape their content using content metrics to attract more customers.

Knowing your audience and consistent marketing is key to success

7. Did you know that traditional advertising isn’t reaching as many customers as much as blog articles are? According to one survey, 80 percent of those surveyed said they interacted with companies through blogs and social media and 70 percent said they preferred to read articles as oppose to ads about a companies product. By knowing the audience, companies can tailor their content to meet customer’s needs. Ninety percent of customers surveyed said they found custom content useful. Having meaningful articles customers can comment on will encourage customers to not only buy a company’s brand, but develop a strong relationship with a brand with which they can identify. 8. With a strategy in place, it may be difficult to churn out great ideas that attract customers. Still, content marketing provides stability by allowing businesses of all sizes to adapt their marketing plans, and churn out great ideas to meet their customers’ needs on a regular schedule. It also ensures a businesses will be successful in the long run because they deliver the same high quality content consistently.

Marketing is expensive, especially when you skimp on quality

9. Don’t buy the myth. Some smaller companies may not think there is a budget for them to spend much on content that advertises the company brand. But, a company may not be able afford to ignore the benefits of content marketing. Did you know one company spent 86 percent of their budget on television advertising until they discovered online advertising costed only a quarter of their budget? They also reached 50 percent more of the younger market, age 35 and under, advertising online. 10. However, it won’t do to have a blog that doesn’t have high quality content. Many would-be buyers read a blog and associate the blog with the product. If a company doesn’t have a quality blog, some customers may not buy a company’s product. Eighty-eight percentage of small businesses should use marketing content to attract customers and a first impression should create a good impression. The awful truth is that it can cost six times more to have a new customer than retain customers a business already has.

What’s an ROI have to do with it?

11. It may be hard for companies to justify content marketing because they do not see the long term returns on investments or ROIs. However, without a long term strategy, how can a company expect to be successful? There are several SEO tools a company can invest in to increase returns on investments, such as using free SEO tools: GTmetrix, SEO Quake, Wordstream Keyword Tool, Remove’em and more. These tools help companies correct errors that may make their website load slowly and could cost a company sales. 12. Some customers may need a little prodding to buy a company’s products or services. However, using a subtle approach may influence potential customers to buy without directly suggesting they need a content marketing plan or solution offered by a professional. This is where a call to action can be useful content marketing advice.

Targeting mobile customers and choosing best keywords boosts sales

13. Content marketing that ignores mobile customers may mean a company loses out on a percentage of sales because content isn’t being broadcast as far as it could. It doesn’t help to increase your social media influence and garner sales. More than 60 percent of consumers use their Smartphones to find products or services online, so catering to these customers is crucial. This is why businesses shouldn’t ignore the need for products and services that are targeted mobile customers. 14. It may be easy to choose keywords that have something to do with a company’s product or service. But, these words may not be the best keywords. Search Engine Optimization can be a great tool for helping a business build content if it is used correctly and formatted to fit screens of computer, tablet, and mobile users’ devices.

Get customers involved and know these topics in the workplace should be shared

15. Content marketing isn’t a black hole where companies have topics on their blogs and never ask customers to share. It’s opportunity to get customers’ opinions. Companies who want growth will invite customers to share. Some company professionals may not truly understand the function of content marketing. Blogs, articles, e-books and other media content may be opportunities to get readers and customers’ opinions regularly. 16. However, some bloggers make the mistake of turning their platform into a place to launch their own crusade. With 2.73 million blog posts a day, it may be easy to feel lost in a sea of blogs. However, bloggers and content writers need to use this as opportunities to connect with customers and readers. Not only is it an opportunity to improve a weakness, companies can also build better relationships with customers.

Use the ‘pro’ in professional and don’t expect customer to magically ‘appear’

17. Businesses may not realize incorporating content marketing strategies into their websites is a smart idea. It is true customers base their first impression on their first glance. This is why business owners need a professional to design their websites and not a family member. While a family member may be good at designing websites, do they have all the knowledge to optimize a website the best and still draw in an audience? 18. Don’t believe that old adage, “If you build it, they will come.” With 2.73 million blogs and over 860,000,000 websites worldwide, it isn’t as easy for develop a following or have great authoritativeness overnight. With time, it is possible to have great content and to reap the benefits of content marketing correctly. This is why business heads shouldn’t believe the idea that if a new website is created customers will magically appear.

Don’t concentrate only what customers want and realize content is long lasting

19. Many businesses may think content marketing is a temporary marketing ploy. However, once you have content posted on a blog or on the Internet, it lasts. It is yours and because of this businesses must be careful about how and what message that they present to customers. Businesses shouldn’t avoid content marketing because they are afraid of how customers will respond to their marketing and SEO effects. However, businesses do need to realize content marketing, once started, should be continued so that a business can reap the full benefits. 20. Another mistake a business makes when they create a Facebook account or have a company website is to focus on the “now.” But, the best way to deliver content that will keep readers coming back to a company blog is to be able to predict the trends and create content that enriches lives and makes potential customers want more. Use free SEO tools that will give your website and marketing content the highest conversion rates. Then, use the data gathered from using Google Analytics and SEO marketing campaigns to stay ahead of the treads, attract the people you want, and build a reputation as a company that leads.