3 Reasons for Your Brand to be a Content Producer
Online marketing is changing and with every Google algorithm update, it’s becoming more clear that content is key to success on the Web.
What Good Content Can Do for You
1. Drive Traffic to Your Website
As Joe Norton explained in No Shirt, No Content, No SEO Service, content and SEO have a truly symbiotic relationship. If you don’t regularly offer fresh, quality content on your website, your potential customers will have a hard time finding you. Updating your website with engaging, topical content helps improve your ranking in search engines. And the more relevant and interesting you make it for your audience, the more likely they are to keep returning and referring others to your site.
2. Engage Fans and Build Your Brand
Content on your site can help keep visitors there longer and give them reasons to look through more pages of your website. Potential customers get to know your brand as you supply them with content that has personality (your brand’s) and builds trust. Do more than just talk about your products. Talk about what your customers would be interested in. For example, if your target market is families with young kids, talk about activities they can do, places they can visit, things to do on a rainy day—and if you can associate those activities with your products, even better.
Content also gives you fuel for your social media sites and is shareable by others in social media. Look at Target’s On the Dot page on Tumblr. This page serves to let consumers see Target as more than just a lower cost retail store; it gives them reasons to associate Target with quality brand names and fashion. And, it reminds other brands that content isn’t just the written word. People respond best to photos and videos, especially real, behind-the-scenes looks at your business.
What’s the stumbling block in closing the gap between how you are perceived now and how you want to be perceived? Fill that gap with content that helps turn the tide.
3. Be Seen as a Thought Leader
You run a business. You’re good at what you do. How can you let people know that you’re an expert? The answer is to prove it through blog posts, speaking engagements, video demonstrations and more. Again, this entails not just content on your website but content elsewhere—in-person interaction, guest posts on other blogs, articles in trade magazines or publications your audience reads.
Everything you do and every piece of content you present positions you in a certain way in the eyes of your potential customers. You get to control how they see you by deciding what relationship you’re going to build. Offering limited or no information makes you easily forgettable. Providing “me-first,” sales-oriented copy only positions you as selfish, potentially spammy and memorable for all the wrong reasons. Giving your audience trustworthy information they can use positions you as an expert and someone they want to do business with.
How Do You Manage to Make Time?
Creating content is scary for many people, but it doesn’t have to be. The number one way to reduce that fear and make producing content easier, is to have a well thought-out content strategy. This strategy considers all applicable variables, like time commitment, content types and content creators.
You create content already everyday, even if you don’t realize it. You’re on the phone giving solid advice to a client—that’s a blog post or a quick video demonstration. You have to give a presentation on a topic you have expertise in to a client or the rest of your company. That can easily be turned into a SlideShare presentation by taking out any client references or other confidential information.
You can also hire a marketing agency to help. Philly Marketing Labs can help you develop a content strategy that fits your business needs and attracts your target audience. We can also help you create the content. Simply contact us to get started.
Post any content questions you have below and let’s talk about how to overcome any obstacles in your way.
