As you have likely noticed over the past few years, content marketing has seen a dramatic rise in popularity for businesses hoping to widen their net in the world of digital. However, despite the emerging prevalence of online content, many startups and smaller businesses are still under-utilising this valuable addition to their campaigns.
Today, we’re here to discuss various ways that the written word can be used as a step ladder to boost your business into the digital market, hopefully giving you some valuable insight that can be translated into your next campaign.
On-Site Blogs
One thing that can be difficult, especially for newer companies that haven’t had time to define themselves in their field, is proving that you have a robust knowledge of whichever discipline you have decided to pursue. That’s one place where insightful, highly relevant on-site blogs can be invaluable for increasing trust in your offering, and drawing in an audience that may have otherwise been uninterested in interacting with your brand.
While this may not seem hugely beneficial, especially if these new visitors aren’t directly leading to conversions, the boost in audience exposure will cement you as a credible source of information and knowledge on the topic at hand. It also works to offer you something incredibly hard to come by online: the cherished gift of exposure.
Link Building
A form of outreach article, link building strategies are considered one of the cornerstones of Search Engine Optimisation, specifically as SEO link earning. This process involves linking from an external site to one of your pages, thereby boosting your relevancy for whichever keyword you decide to link from. This strategy also has the benefit of natural clickthroughs, especially when the article surrounding your link is well-written and engaging.
As mentioned, this is an important part of most SEO strategies, as link building is a great way to get search engines such as Google to acknowledge your website as an authority for whichever keyword you have decided to utilise. Of course, linking from one website is going to have a minimal effect overall, but once you begin building your brand in this way, you are sure to see improvements.
On-Page Content
While this term is sometimes used synonymously with on-site blogs, the two are completely distinct from each other, and both have varying benefits to the user experience.
While you may have the highest quality products, excellent customer service and speedy delivery times, none of this means anything if you don’t have a way to inform your potential customers about it. Content is one of the most important elements of website design and functionality, as it defines your brand’s tone, whilst also leading customers through the process that will hopefully end in a conversion. This process also falls into another broad category, known as Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO).
What is CRO?
CRO involves streamlining your website in a way that leads users seamlessly toward a conversion, and takes quite a bit of research and dedication to perfect. The main issue faced by those hoping to achieve the perfect CRO process is the fact that, while there are certain practices that tend to span the majority of successful strategies, no one thing will work for every website in the same way.
This is because, in most cases, your website and service are relatively unique, and therefore will not necessarily adhere to the same CRO blueprint as your competitors. With that in mind, well-curated content on each of your pages that guides your customers to your preferred destination will allow you to bypass many of the pitfalls often experienced in website design.
PR Marketing
While many of the options discussed previously have been focused on getting customers to interact with your service, it’s just as important for that same audience to see your brand in a positive light. That’s the appeal of PR marketing; it gives you the chance to unapologetically promote your service as one that is distinct from your competitors.
Of course, this will only be effective if you have something defining to discuss.
This is a chance for your business to do something outside itself, and reap the rewards in the form of extensive, positive publicity. This can involve standalone actions, such as sponsoring of events or donating to charity, but can also include less tangible contributions.
For example, an electricals company may boast a variety of energy-efficient lighting solutions that can save businesses money on a yearly basis. This is an excellent opportunity for the business in question to discuss the impact that standard lighting options have environmentally, and how their service is looking to resolve this issue. This style of PR piece can be informative, insightful, and introduces your brand to newcomers in an unequivocally positive light.
It may be difficult from the perspective of someone just entering the business world to know which strategies will be most effective. However, content marketing has seen resounding success for businesses across the globe, and its influence appears to be on the rise.