Content marketing at it’s simplest is the use of great content on a website to promote your business.
It provides the most cost effective, long term way for you develop new clients or customers.
- A-Attract
- B-Build a relationship
- C-Convert
There are three aspects to content marketing-attracting potential clients in your target market by the quality of your website’s content, building a relationship with those people and converting those “fans” into clients.
People search the internet for many things but one of the most common types of searcher is one who is looking for a solution to a problem.
It may be a cure for some ailment, it may be to learn how to play the violin, it may be to learn how to get more customers for a business, it may be to find information about house training a dog or a solution to a legal problem.
Regardless of what business you are in if you are the one who provides useful, relevant information for that searcher then you have the opportunity to gain the visitor’s trust, build a relationship, demonstrate expertise and obtain a new client.
This form of digital marketing allows you to avoid making sales pitches as soon as your visitor lands on your site.
Done properly it allows you to gain trust and eventually make recommendations which are good for your business and your new client.
This form of marketing can be contrasted with slamming people with sales pitches as soon as they land on your site and allows you to build a long term client/customer base which will provide a fantastic return on investment over the long term.
You might also be interested in how to get more clients-a case study.
Alternatives to content marketing
The alternatives to content marketing include the use of paid traffic to drive visitors to your site and the hope that they will buy your stuff or engage your services. The return on this type of promotion is transient, short term and cost ineffective.
Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are great ways to draw attention to your business.
But that is as far as it goes-there has to be more to your relationship with your potential customers than car crash marketing.
Fans on Facebook?
Real fans are people who trust you, like you and recognise your expertise or the quality of your business’s offerings.
Unless you are competing on price alone you really do need to demonstrate authority, knowledge and build a relationship for the long term good of your business.
The good news is that content marketing allows you to do all of these necessary steps in an ethical way.
Which is good for your business and good for your customers.
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