Using Content to Drive Leads and Sales

For a lot of companies, content marketing falls to the wayside.  This is one of the biggest marketing failures a company can make.  Why?

Most consumers do most of their research online without the help or influence of advertisements.  People surf the web for information about products and services that they are interested in, and that information can easily be found within the body of some well-written content.

Instead of focusing the majority of your energy on advertisements that most people will try and avoid, why not create content that they will go looking for?

A Blog is Your Best Friend

While a blog can be extremely useful for SEO purposes, a blog can also be your richest source of content.  Blog posts can be filled with extremely interesting and useful information that consumers actually want to read.  Advertisements can be great for bringing awareness to your brand, but a lot of the time consumers are trying to close out of your advertisement as quickly as possible.

With a blog, however, you can provide all of the information that consumers are looking for!  Write really great content and then include some really compelling Call-to-Action buttons on your page, which will help you drive those leads.  Here are some interesting stats:

  • Blogs give sites 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links (Content+)
  • Companies that blog 15+ times per month get 5 times more traffic than companies that don’t blog (Hubspot)
  • Companies with an active blog report 97% more leads. (Content+)

Engage with Customers through Social Media

Social Media is a great way to share the content you are publishing with everyone who follows you on social media networks.  It is also a great way to engage with customers who have questions about your company or products, or customers who simply want to compliment or critique you.  When customers see that you are actively engaging with them, it will give your company a better image and help ensure more leads and even future sales.  Did you know:

  • Content from reputable sources is most shared (UCLA)
  • 90% of users listen to recommendations shared from friends (Voltier Digital)
  • Clicks from shared content are 5 times more likely to result in a purchase (Voltier Digital)
  • 87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content (Content Marketing Institute)
  • 80% of users prefer to connect with brands on Facebook (Huffington Post)
  • People spend more than 50% of their time online with content and an additional 30% of their time on social channels where content can be shared (AOL & Nielson)

Save Some Money and Write More Content

Content Marketing is one of the most cost effective methods of marketing.  Think about it.  How much does it cost to write compelling content and distribute it?  Virtually nothing when you compare it to the costs of advertising on Google.

Traditional advertisement methods are still necessary because they do work, but as many marketers are saying, “Content is King.”  Content Marketing is cost effective, and it caters to the needs of today’s consumers by providing them with useful AND interesting information.  Here is some food for thought:

  • Interesting content is a top 3 reason that people follow brands on social media (Content+)
  • 70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles over ads (Content+)
  • Sources providing full-text content are 2.3 times as likely to have users return for a second visit (Pulse)
  • 68% of users spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in (Content Marketing Association)
  • People want to be in control of the content they receive: 86% of people skip tv commercials, 44% of direct mail is never opened, and 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted into. (Content Marketing Institute)
  • Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing

What sort of content marketing strategies are you using for your business, and how are they working for you?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *