Since experts in marketing have been pushing content marketing for the last few years, it's not surprising that more companies are seeking information on how to drive sales and customer engagement through content marketing. A great content marketing program will absolutely drive sales for your company, but it's important to be reasonable and understand that you won't see a 1:1 correlation between blogs posted and sales generated. That's not how it supposed to work.
Storytelling is powerful marketing tool because it helps create strong personal relationship with readers. Let's look at five ways that solid content marketing can help you to build a solid sales base that will drive profitability.
Position company as thought leader
A thought leader is an expert in an industry who influences how other people think and feel about a product or industry. Seth Godin is a thought leader in marketing, and Brian Goulet is a thought leader regarding fountain pens.
Both of these people have excelled in their fields not just because they know their product incredibly well, but also because they spend a great deal of time giving away information for free. Godin's blog is one of the best resources on the Internet about the concepts of thought leadership, permission marketing, and developing business strategies for the new millennium. Goulet as spent years compiling infomration that compares various fountain pens, educates customers about basics like weights of paper and differences in ink types, and reviewing products that he sells.
When you position your company as a thought leader, you give away a lot of information. You also show your customers that they can trust you, which encourages them to buy from you.
Engage customers to spend more time on your website
The amount of time your customers spend on your website correlates to their likelihood to buy - eventually. Again, we're building a long term sales pattern here, not seeking out viral results that won't last. When your customers spend more time on your website, this is a sign that they're enjoying and educating themselves, which shows that they're interested in what you have to offer. Readers are getting tired of content that doesn't sound natural and doesn't matter to them.
Answer more questions before your customers reach sales
Modern customers tend to be self-researchers. Long before they contact the sales department or reach out to support, they will be searching your website for more information to get answers to their questions. If they can easily find solutions there, they will save you dollars by not calling with questions that are simple and direct to answer.
In terms of the sales funnel, when your audience sees you reaching out to other clients and solving problems with them, whether that happens on Facebook, Instagram, or your blog, they have faith that you will also work with them to find answers.
Expands audience and builds relationships
When you created your website, how much time did you spend considering what would bring customers to your website. You might have done some basic keyword research, SEO and link acquisition campaign, targeting things like (your industry) in (your city), but otherwise, not have done much. That's completely fine for a basic website launch.
Having regularly updated content also helps create relationships between yourself and your customer. When your customer reads your thoughts, knowledge sharing, and informational videos and posts, they will feel more connected to you, which will help you close the eventual sale.
Expand your reach beyond your blog and social media channels
When you build up content on your own site, you are also more attractive to other information channels for guest posts and created content. By guest posting on other sites, you increase your reputation, and you make sure that more people are exposed to your ideas and content. In a perfect world, they follow you back to your own social media channels so that they can consume your content on a more regular basis, but at least they've now heard your name.
Content marketing is a driving force behind sales for any modern business. When a business invests in engaging content marketing, it is building a sales strategy that will help it find customers among the newest consumers in Millennials and Generation Y. Content engages customers and intrigues audience members, and helps you create a culture where your clients are interested in what you have to say, waiting eagerly for your every update.
What connections has your business experienced between creating a solid content marketing strategy and driving sales goals?