In our first edition of the Silx Mini Blog, we address five important aspects of content marketing. Each article will take you less than a minute to read, and by the end of it, you will be able to make better business deicisions. Happy reading everyone.

FIVE REASONS WHY CONTENT MARKETING IS A MUST

The jury is in. Content marketing just works.

But if you need numbers, there is more than enough hard evidence to show how it can help position your company above competitors, and stretch your marketing spend.

1. It gets 3x the leads of paid search and is a sustainable way to attract customers.
2. Small businesses with blogs see 126% more lead growth – and almost 80% of web users read blogs.
3. Branded content achieves 72% higher ROI compared to magazine ads. Giving people useful information and advice builds long-term brand loyalty.
4. 95% of B2B buyers view content as trustworthy (almost 70% of consumers distrust advertising). High-quality content makes your brand relevant, authentic and credible.
5. 62% of marketers outsource at least one part of their content marketing activity. You can achieve better results, scale quickly, and save money.

WHY CLICK-THROUGHS ARE NOT THE ONLY GOAL

It’s easy to become obsessed with click-through rates.

But take a step back and ask yourself this: what is the overall goal of your content marketing efforts? And are you focusing on certain numbers at the expense of others?

Your reader may receive an email or glance at a social media post. But they don’t click the link. So no click-through is recorded. Disaster, right? Well, what is the actual experience they just had and what does it mean for your brand?

First, they saw your name and logo. They also saw a summary of the article’s content. If well-written and properly front-loaded, then they actually took away a great deal of information.

Because even if they didn’t click-through, they still got a sense that your company has authority in this space, and is someone worth listening to. Down the line, you may find those impressions become clicks.

MOVE FROM MARKETER TO CONTENT MARKETER

Here’s three ways to be a successful content marketer:

1. Give the audience what they want! Start with an ongoing exchange your audience can fully engage with. Obtain insights to create more of the content that resonates with them. And use engagement stats and audience comments to guide your future idea-gen journey…
2. Think like a journalist: If you haven’t worked as a journalist, you can still appreciate the art. Journalists aren’t bound by a promotional approach; they have great research skills and a hunger to educate. Plus, journalists appreciate feedback on their work (so content marketers should, too).
3. Never slow down: Content marketing is endless. From the great idea to putting pen to paper, distribution to capturing leads and monitoring your efforts, there’s barely time for a cup of coffee. Constantly refine your content marketing processes – getting the most out of every stage.

WHY DOES CONTENT BUILD TRUST WITH CONSUMERS?

Let’s start with Brian Sutter’s Want To Be Successful With Content Marketing? – he outlines that the content marketing approach should focus on teaching not selling. From snappy blog posts to in-depth white papers, the content’s purpose is to help existing or potential customers by answering questions and solving problems.

Of course, traditional advertising has its place… but it disrupts and interrupts, essentially SHOUTING at you. And, as its reach has increased alongside digital technology, it has attracted criticism for being an unwelcome intrusion.

So let’s say you’re ready to buy a product or service and are facing a choice of brands. Who would you trust: the company that only reaches out to you when it wants something in return, or the one that consistently provides you with useful advice for free?

You see, strong content marketing helps to build trusted relationships with potential customers, in turn building stronger brand loyalty.

BLOGS: 50% OF CONSUMERS READ, THEN BUY

That’s right, to be precise, a whopping 61% shopped online after reading a blog post.

Over half of consumers trust blogs to inform their purchasing decisions, so it’s easy to see why blogging has become one of the most popular forms of content marketing.

Editorial pieces providing useful information or advice help to build trust with your audience. After reading them, people not only learn to have faith in your knowledge and expertise as a business but also see that it helps solve their problems.

If you can get your potential customers thinking positively after reading your blog (“Wow, that really helped me! Now that’s a brand I can trust!”), the stats prove that you’re already more than halfway to a sale. Winning!