How and Why to Implement a Content Marketing Strategy

In today’s over-saturated market with an abundance of choices for nearly every type of product or service, finding new ways to stand apart from the competition is paramount in order to remain successful. One of the quickest and most effective ways to do that is by implementing a content marketing strategy. On average, conversion rates are six times higher for companies and brands using content marketing than those that aren’t.¹ Content marketing not only serves as a way to educate and inform your customers about your brand or product, but also helps to set you apart and establish your brand as an authority on the subject.

Adding original, relevant content to your website also acts as a lead-gen catalyst to drive increased traffic while allowing you to collect contact information from prospective customers. Whether it’s a blog they can subscribe to, or gated resources they must enter an email address to access, quality content helps you drive engagement while building your list of prospects. It’s also a great way to boost your email and social campaigns, providing useful information instead of just the typical (and often ignored) sales-pitch or ad. In fact, 80 percent of executives and business owners prefer to receive information about a company or service through articles rather than advertisements.²

Choose quality over quantity

While adding content as a component of your marketing strategy is a smart move, it’s also important to note that not all content is good content. In order for your efforts to be effective and produce results, it needs to be not only original and well-crafted content, but also highly relevant to your target audience. It doesn’t matter how many blog posts you churn out if they don’t offer anything of value to your customers and prospects.

There are a wide variety of content types you can leverage, yet don’t think you have to tackle them all at once – it’s actually a better idea to focus on producing a smaller volume of quality content rather than generating a large volume that’s lacking. Let’s take a look at some of the top-performing content variations and what they can do for you.

Types of content

• Blogs – One of the most popular and easiest to jump-start options is blogging, which can help to improve your SEO and drive increased traffic to your website. The more valuable and interesting your content, the more likely your customers will subscribe, which builds both your leads and brand loyalty. Plus, the topic possibilities are virtually endless – from product features and how-to’s, to industry news, and even highlighting the other content types that you might be publishing (like a customer success story).

• Case Studies – One of the best ways to demonstrate your company’s value or product superiority is by having the proof to back up your claims through the voice of your customers. Case studies are a great way to showcase your customers’ success with your product or service, and can often times surface valuable ROIs and quotes that can be used throughout your other marketing efforts.

• E-Books – While E-Books are longer and take a bit more work to produce than your average blog or case study, they are a great way to dig a little deeper on a particular topic and provide value to your customers. These typically are more informative in nature rather than sales-focused, identifying with your customers’ pain points and demonstrating how they can address those challenges. E-Books also make great gated content that help you to collect leads, which is why the content must be compelling.

• Whitepapers – While similar in length and effort to E-Books, whitepapers tend to be geared more toward the business decision maker and are more thought leadership and technical in nature – backed with data points, customer ROIs, and other elements that help to establish and validate your authority on a product or subject. Whitepapers are also another opportunity for gated lead-gen content.

• Videos – Video is quickly climbing the ranks of content that consumers are most drawn to. They’re more interactive and can often help make otherwise dry content more appealing – such as watching a quick clip on a product demo or customer story, rather than reading a lengthy document. Videos also help boost SEO and are more likely to be shared than other types of content.

Interested in learning more? Connect with us at Cadence Preferred to see how we can help with your content marketing needs.