What is Content Marketing?
First, let’s talk about the marketing funnel. The marketing funnel considers awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation, purchase and loyalty. Traditionally speaking, awareness of your product or service would be driven through billboards, TV ads, and other methods of traditional media. Something has to spark a consumer’s interest for them to consider your product or service, this is where they start circling down the marketing funnel. The interested consumer may consider stopping into your place of business or talking to their friends about what you have to offer and decide if they want your product or service. They evaluate their options, your competitors, and all other sources at their disposal. At this point you have usually met with the consumer either directly through them visiting your business or offering a proposal for your services – you have already begun to build your relationship with the client. Here is where the consumer makes their decision. Do they want to purchase? Do they have a need for your product or service? This leads us to the final step of the marketing funnel, now it is up to you to retain your relationship with the client and keep their loyalty. This was the logical progression of the consumer decision making process and was heavily rooted in consumers’ direct relationship with your company. But now, all of that has changed. According to LinkedIn, people are now 60-90% of the way through the marketing funnel before they ever reach out to you! The internet has made information so readily available that people are now guiding themselves through the funnel with content they find on social media, in blogs, in ads online and Google. The world is at our fingertips and as a business, you need to be where the rest of the world is looking in order for your company or service to be considered by the consumer. Enter, content marketing. Content marketing insures that you are showing up throughout this funnel now that the funnel has gone digital. In order to be where people are trying to find you, you need to have content for them to find. Blogs, videos, graphics and social media posts all work together to educate your potential customers about who you are and why they need you. This allows you to control the conversation around your brand and results in qualified leads and great customers. People don’t want to be sold to anymore, they want to be able to easily find you when they need you. They want to be looking for home organization tips and find your amazing closet organizer. They want to be searching how much money they should be saving and find your financial consultant business. The point of content marketing is to be showing up where your customers are already looking instead of disrupting their lives in any way, and it works! We have seen our clients’s business flourish when they employ a content marketing strategy, and we want to know if we can help you too. If content marketing is something you are thinking about, give us a call. We will give you a free content marketing consultation and discuss how we can help you achieve your business goals.