8 Reasons to Invest in Content Marketing in 2019

8 Reasons to Invest in Content Marketing in 2019

It’s 2019 and if you’re still not doing content marketing, we are surprised you made it this far without (a) wasting a ton of marketing dollars, and (b) losing out on opportunities.

Simply because people no longer buy the way they used to before, your chances of winning them over with traditional marketing tactics are fast declining. With more control over what they would like to see and read before making a purchase, customers are actively choosing to bypass in-your-face advertisements. They switch channels, run off to grab snacks or take a toilet break during TV commercials. More than 615 million devices have some type of adblocker installed on them. 91% of people feel ads are more intrusive today than before and over 70% hate being subjected to pop-up ads. Not surprisingly, Google hates them too.

Instead, 70% of consumers choose to learn about a product from an article rather than an ad. They want to have all the information they need to make an informed choice. And, they are not quick to give away their trust to businesses.

The scenario is not too different in the B2B landscape.

According to a Forrester report, 60% of B2B customers don’t prefer to communicate with sales reps as their primary information source and 68% of them do online research on their own. They no longer fall for the silver-tongued sales pitch.

These are some of the reasons why content marketing is far more effective (and cheaper) than traditional advertising and marketing approaches. With the right content marketing strategies, you can create awareness about your brand, attract leads, convert them into loyal customers and encourage them to become lifelong advocates of your brand. No wonder, more businesses than ever are investing in content marketing.

According to Content Marketing Institute’s latest survey report, both B2C and B2B businesses are increasing their content marketing budget in 2019. If you haven’t stepped into this arena yet, here are some of the biggest reasons for you to do so this year.

1. Content marketing works for less

There’s enough evidence that content marketing works and it works for one very simple reason — it’s what customers want. Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, but generates about 3 times as many leads. It even topples paid search — one of the fastest traffic-generating marketing techniques today — in terms of cost-efficiency and returns. Content marketing is estimated to cost 31% less than paid search campaigns for a mid-sized company but delivers 3x more leads than paid search per dollar spent.

2. It is way less intrusive and annoying

As we mentioned, people hate advertising. They don’t like being sold to. Content marketing, on the other hand, is way less intrusive when it comes to making people aware about a brand, product or service. It helps you to educate and entertain your audience, enabling you to build their trust while subtly putting your brand in front of them.

3. Content marketing serves both your audience and business

Few marketing techniques can be aligned as brilliantly to your customers’ needs and your business goals as content marketing. When you’re doing it the right way, it gives your business an edge over competition, helping you grow your leads and sales. Simultaneously, it also delivers the value your audience desires and deserves. Simply put, it’s a win-win.    

4. Content marketing supports what Google wants

Brands and businesses scramble and fight to grab the coveted top spot on Google’s search engine results page (SERP). But the search engine giant has one very simple goal when it comes to ranking websites: It wants its users to find exactly what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Content marketing, when done right, follows Google’s footsteps in helping readers find the most relevant, useful, and interesting information. When you are able to achieve this through your content marketing efforts, you have better chances of being preferred by Google and making your way up on the search rankings.

5. Content is essential for SEO success

You must have heard that you need SEO for building a solid web presence. That’s true but it’s also a fact that you cannot succeed doing SEO without content marketing. SEO and content marketing are not the same thing, but they go hand in hand. If you’re hoping to see results simply by doing SEO, you’ll probably see a small improvement in your site’s ranking but it won’t take you any further.

6. It brings your customers to you, rather than you chasing them

If you’ve done cold calls or sent cold emails, you know how hard it is to get customers to listen or pay attention, let alone respond to your proposal. The biggest problem with cold sales outreach is that it’s almost like shooting in the dark. You don’t know whether you’ll hit the target.

Content marketing helps you target potential customers in a way that drives them to you when they are ready to buy. Instead of forcing a customer to buy, content marketing is all about creating value. Through useful and relevant content, you can build your reputation as a though-leader and reputable entity in your industry — one that customers can trust and turn to when they need a solution.

7. Content marketing impacts your sales

As a business owner, marketing that can increase sales is probably all that matters to you. Content marketing has proven to be winning strategy in this aspect too. Businesses that rely on content marketing enjoy conversion rates 6x higher on average than those who do not practice any form of content marketing. The immediate impact of effective content can be tremendous — more than 60% of online consumers made a purchase after reading recommendations on a blog. In fact, Nielsen reports that, today consumers are 5X more dependent on content than before.

8. It works for all

Content marketing works exceptionally well for all types of businesses. Unlike traditional advertising mediums like TV and billboard ads that are often beyond the reach of small businesses, content marketing levels the playing field. While it enables startups and SMEs to compete with bigger brands, it helps big businesses to break into niche markets. So whether you’re a big fish in a small pond or a little fish trying to fight it out with the sharks, content marketing is worth a try.   

It’s hard to ignore these benefits of content marketing if you’re planning to make 2019 a successful year for your business. But if you need a head start to plan out an efficient and practical content marketing strategy or engage a partner who can do it all for you, get in touch with us.