Why Your Marketing Campaigns Must be Centered on Content Going Forward The pandemic has challenged the fundamentals of business and marketing practices.
By James Jorner Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The coronavirus outbreak challenged and shook the fundamentals of business practices and functions. Marketing, which is at the center of managing growth and revenue, has mostly felt the brunt — and is thus expected to scramble for newer ways to connect with and convert prospects.
Based on the changes we have to adopt in the new normal, it's expected that content will play a pivotal role and emerge as the most important lever for any marketing campaign. In the pre-Covid world, your marketing campaigns revolved around content, even when you had to employ experiential or influencer marketing.
Now, with new ways of doing things, you must understand the importance of focusing your marketing campaigns on content. Entrepreneur reported on a study of Covid-19's impact on consumer behaviors and attitudes: Reach3 Insights found that 76% of respondents have recently picked up new habits, behaviors, and routines as a result of the pandemic.
Out of that number, 89% said they plan on keeping some of their new habits, while 36% will want to go along with the new brands they've tried since the start of the pandemic. In either case, what matters is the story you tell your consumers.
The American Association of Advertising Agencies revealed in a study that 43% of consumers find it reassuring to hear from brands. While 56% said they like learning how brands are helping their communities during the pandemic, only 15% said they'd rather not hear from companies.
Campaign US advises that instead of focusing on sales, brands should build and reinforce relationships with customers. The best way to build solid relationships with your customers is through your content — information you get across to them.
Due to social distancing, you may not be able to continue some old practices such as experiential marketing campaigns. This is one of the new norms businesses must learn to live with. But content can still help power your business through.
In the new normal, more people will rely on search engine results for brands to conduct business with — and your content is one surefire way of getting your brand on top of that list.
If your content can solve a big problem for your readers, they'll remember it. This enables you to get loyal subscribers and potential brand ambassadors, especially now that the display advertising and search advertising space is very cluttered with an increasing number of advertisers.
Getting hundreds of thousands of visitors is nice — but not if low-value content keeps them from turning into customers.
These three factors will help make good content the focal point of your marketing campaigns in the new normal.
Related: Make Your Branding and Marketing Content Pop with This Easy-to-Use $30 Digital Illustrator
1. Educating your customers is key to good marketing content
Your content should primarily be intended to educate your customers. Now that the internet expanded their choices, they can easily determine whether your company is right for their consumption. They will want to fully understand what you have to offer before making a choice.
Despite tools like Northfy, which algorithmically tweak the variables so that your content is prioritized for customers to see, you still need quality content. This can be in the form of blog posts, product pages, your home page, and your company's "About" page.
The more you include tutorials, reviews, infographics, and other resources to help customers make good purchasing decisions, the more educational it will be. Quality content addresses the concerns and pain points of customers.
Your target audience should not have to seek content from other sources to satisfy their needs and wants. Your content should clearly communicate how you intend to solve their problems and make their lives easier.
Related: 3 Ways to Avoid Mediocre Marketing Content
2. Good content boosts SEO
Consumers use search engines any time they want a viable resource. Optimizing your content to appear in relevant searches will be a big boost in attracting new leads to your website. You must ensure your content is always of high quality in order to boost your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy.
SEO is centered on keyword placement, backlinks, and website visitors. And only quality content will enable you to create web pages that fuel each of these components.
Content enables you to utilize keywords that draw customers to your pages, and ensures that your target audience is regularly engaged and finds the value they seek.
Good content and SEO can help put your business among the top search engine results.
Related: Content and Content Marketing Are Not the Same. Here's How to Frame the Top 11 Content Formats.
3. Content creates an avenue for social media feedback
Sharing content on social media platforms is an effective way of reaching your customers, but you must tread carefully. Once your content is available on social media, anyone — including your competitors — have access to it; and if your content lacks quality, a backlash can harm your business.
Interactions and customer feedback can be insightful and enriching. Social media is also a good means of attracting new leads and conversions for your brand. Compared to a Facebook post or tweet, you can do a comprehensive analysis that will further enlighten customers with your content.
Quality content gives you the leverage to better connect with customers who visit your website. The data you gather from such visits can be useful in bringing them to your sales funnel.
Whatever social media strategy you employ, your content should provide value to your customers, as well as allow them to participate. If your content is insightful, it will generate backlinks from other websites.
In order to generate backlinks and ensure your information stands out, your content should offer unique perspectives on issues. Infographics and videos will ensure that your content is rated highly.
In the new normal, quality content should be the foundation of any marketing campaign you embark upon. It will be your most effective tool in attracting leads and converting them into loyal customers.
