Brands are out of their leveraging content online and in real life. The strongest content online needs a digital strategy to deliver sales from early users. Content marketing is important for growth because it brings people to review a business’ products and services but also delivers value to them that is free (upfront). To build tangible value content marketing, it pays to know how to use it in a way that captures early user interest and keeps their interest now until close of the sale.
Value Matters
The focus of any company should be on adding value to end-users. With content available online anywhere, anytime, it is an open, competitive market. To engage users means driving results by creating value. Some key things to consider:
- Create with intention. Don’t just pull together content and throw it into the digital landscape. Strategize what it is the business needs, how to add value to the end-user and think about what will engage them
- SEO performance is not everything. The purpose of content is to deliver value, not drive marketing stats. Focus on value first and the rest will follow
- People share what they love. When content marketing grabs people’s attention, they will share it with others and bring more people to the site
Recycling Content
The goal with recycled, or repurposed, content is to build a strategy that allows room for creativity. This tool works with less to build more. Think about this: a 30-minute podcast could be repurposed into several pieces of content across many platforms and formats. The podcast then becomes a series of blogs, video content, and social media posts. Distribute this across platforms and it delivers a double or triple whammy of repurposed content while adding value to the user. Recording one podcast, effectively, means gaining a week’s (or more) worth of valuable content.
Make the Sale
Early on, people like to look around a site for freebies. From newsletters to blog content, most users love free online material. From this, they might stay a bit, interact on the website and gain some knowledge about products and services. Conversion rates are generally low. The goal of a digital marketing strategy should be to focus on converting early users to sales. Think about the conversion funnel this way:
- User registers online
- User registers for product or services demo
- User purchases product
This seems simple but getting people to funnel from the top to bottom takes intentionality and strategy. Each state of the funnel adds a layer of value that drives them further down the funnel toward a purchase. If they like what they hear or experience, they are more likely to make their way down the funnel. A content strategy focuses on how many users it takes to visit a site, what percentage will convert to sales, and what deliverables get them to the bottom of that funnel. Web traffic is hit or miss because people will stop and browse, then hop to another site immediately if they are not enticed by the content. To keep them there, focus on content marketing strategies that keep people engaged.
Building a digital audience takes time. There is no right or wrong answer to how it should work. To start the process takes focus on a strategy, intentional content, and value-added deliverables. With these things, it is easier to convert early users to sales. Don’t feel intimidated by the process of conversion. The digital landscape is full of businesses seeking to grab people’s attention for their unique products and services. Seek out the content that people are looking for by doing research. Look up SEO and other strategies to find out what people are searching for. Check Google Analytics and specific products that focus on value-added content. With these strategies, early users will be more likely to check out products and services they will be interested in and, finally, decide to take the dive and purchase those for themselves.