A Guide to Content Marketing – What’s The Big Deal?

22nd May 2024

Let’s get straight to the point. Content marketing is a key part of any successful digital marketing strategy. If you’re unsure what content marketing is, what it’s for, or how it can add value to your business, then stick with us. We’ll explain all things content marketing right here. 

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a strategic approach used to attract, engage and retain a target audience. This is done by creating and distributing rich, relevant content such as blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, and other media.

It’s a crucial part of a digital marketing strategy, but why? Well, for starters, it’s a great way to showcase brand authority and support the process towards getting your website to the top of Google’s search results. Not only that, but it’s an affordable way to market your business. The power of good, helpful content marketing can yield amazing results at a pretty exciting price point.

This high return on investment is in part because of the following:

• Content is long-lasting. Blog posts, articles and videos stay online, consistently attracting new viewers. With well-planned optimisation, a piece of content can bring in fresh engagement year after year, and it’s pretty low-maintenance.
• Content is shareable. Strong, engaging content can be shared across platforms by viewers, organically expanding your reach for free.
• Content can help increase your organic traffic. If your content is quality and relevant, it can improve your search page rankings, particularly for those long-tail keywords. It can provide another route to get in front of more searchers without paying for ad space.

You may have heard the term ‘content is king’, and it’s true. We’ve been harping on about this for the last decade or so. Google’s latest core update (which rolled the previous helpful content updates into one) is focusing on ridding our search pages of low-quality content. It’s looking for content written or made by people, for people, not for search engines. It will be interesting to see AI’s impact on this, but that’s for another blog post.

The emphasis on content being a huge stepping stone towards success can’t be ignored, so it’s time to hop on that rock and cross the river.

Why is content marketing important?

Without content, your website won’t have much on it to bolster your offering. Every piece of text, every image, every video – it’s all content to help answer both new and returning customers’ questions. And don’t even get us started on social media. Without content, you’d be posting a blank white square without a caption.

The bottom line is this: You need content to run an online business, but you need good content to run a successful one. 

Let’s get briefly into what content marketing can do for you.

Visibility and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Written content, like blog posts and articles, offers excellent SEO opportunities. Content written by humans, for humans, can be optimised in such a way that search engines favour them over other content available on the web.

Long-form content is the best platform to answer questions and long-tail keyword searches. Both of which are considered low-hanging fruit in the SEO world, enabling you to introduce yourself to customers earlier on in their browsing journey. This is a strategy we’ve been implementing into a lot of our clients strategies. For example, inVoke is a local digital signage and advertising company who encounter many questions around their services before a user is ready to make a decision and it’s important we answer these questions whilst a user is at this stage. Otherwise, we run the risk of not getting in front of them, building their trust in us and losing them to competition.

This, combined with other SEO best practices, can boost visibility and brand recognition, leading to increased traffic and conversions.

Driving traffic and conversions

Content marketing complements SEO by driving traffic and conversions. Engaging content can turn website visitors into customers by influencing their decisions and connecting with them at different stages of their journey. Quality blog posts, informative videos, and interesting articles help build trust with viewers, which can greatly increase the likelihood of conversions.

Here’s a fun fact: Businesses with blogs receive 67% more leads than others (DemandMetric). Is that more than you thought?

It’s important to align your content with the searcher’s journey if you want to see conversions, which is why it’s key to develop a proper content strategy. Digital marketing agencies such as ourselves (Oh, hi there) can do this for you. Why not give us a call and we’ll talk you through how we can strategise content marketing and digital PR for you?

Building brand authority

With informative, helpful content, you can help demonstrate your expertise and build trust and authority with your viewers and within your industry. This is a fantastic way to establish a name for your brand. You can also use content to educate and empower your visitors, which can solidify you as a knowledgeable source. This helps build trustworthy relationships with your customers, too. For example, document storage company Archive Vault, builds trust by sharing expert content that positions them as leaders in the industry.

Audience engagement

Audience engagement is super crucial for the success of your business. Without interest, what’s to say customers or visitors will value what you’re offering or stay put long enough to listen? By engaging your audience, you can build a relationship that may encourage loyalty, resulting in more conversions and, hopefully, return customers. Engaged audiences are more likely to advocate for you, helping spread the word without any extra investment from you.

The power of storytelling

This tool is excellent for creating a deeper connection with your audience and fostering authenticity. To evoke emotion in the visitors to your site or social platforms, a compelling narrative can help by providing relatability, capturing attention, and leaving lasting impressions. Storytelling can set you apart from the competition by strengthening your relationships with customers in a crowded marketplace.

Content is king

Did you know the quote ‘content is king’ was actually made famous back in 1996 by Bill Gates? It was the title of an essay he wrote about the internet and its future and how important he believed, even back then, content would be. Well, he was certainly right about that. The list of content marketing benefits is almost endless, and the amount of investment involved is more than affordable in the long run.

There is no business that wouldn’t benefit from some element of content marketing, from consistent, informative blog posts to how-to videos on product pages and social accounts. If you think your business might benefit from a solid, well-structured content marketing strategy, then don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and give us a call. We’ll tailor the perfect plan just for you, helping catapult your business into the limelight where it belongs.

Chat to our lovely team by calling 01603 859007, shoot us an email at hello@nuimage.co.uk, or use our online form and someone will get back to you to help.