“The main purpose of content is to help accelerate the sales cycle.”
Content rules the world, the marketing world
You might have heard the phrase “content is king” before. This statement is absolutely true, but why?
Instead of going into an elaborate explanation of what content is, we will cut to the chase and tell you what you came here for, why you should care. The main purpose of content is to help accelerate the sales cycle. That’s right, content helps generate and close sales.
Although accelerating the sales cycle is the main purpose, content also helps you establish your brand image and improve your SEO rankings. It is important to include throughout each phase of the sales funnel. We’ll start at the top of the funnel with how content helps generate leads.
How content helps generate leads
According to Inc.com, “96% of consumers don’t trust ads.” In addition, according to Oberlo, “81% of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase.” So, if consumers don’t trust ads but conduct online research before making a purchase, how do you attract buyers to visit your site and purchase your products or services? The answer is organic content. Social Planner reports, “About 74% of companies are sure that their increased leads are thanks to content marketing.”
Your SEO ranking, one of the scariest acronyms in marketing, is basically how search engines rank your website and can be improved with a proper content marketing strategy to get you on the 1st few pages of the search. How often do you find yourself scrolling to the 15th page on Google to find what you are looking for? We are temped to say not often at all.
SEO brings in natural, organic traffic as opposed to paid strategies. Incorporate different types of content including written pieces, images like infographics and videos to appeal to the different kinds of internet searches that customers conduct.
The key to increasing your SEO ranking is consistency. Commit to at least posting once per week. We suggest choosing a day and creating a theme so that your customers anticipate your weekly posts. Something like Technology Tuesdays or Words of Wisdom Wednesdays.
Influencing your customers
Once your customers visit your page, they typically spend some time browsing a few pieces of content before purchasing a product or requesting further information about your services. Gist reported, “47% of buyers view at least 3–5 pieces of content before they contact a sales representative. 74% of companies find that lead quality and quantity went up as they introduced a content marketing strategy.”
The pieces of content you produce should match with what your company sells. This does not have to directly relate to a product or service but could also involve news and other pieces of content that impact the industry you operate in.
Closing the deal
Your goal with content is to influence your customers, through the piece, that you are an expert at what you do and towards the end, direct them to where you want them to go next. This does not always have to go directly to your product page, instead you can direct them to other areas of your website like customer reviews or case studies.
I’m convinced, where do I begin
- Determine your topic. We suggest choosing something that matches with the problem that your business solves. For example, Spartan Marketing Group helps small and medium sized businesses with their business plans and marketing strategies. Our first posts were related to the importance of branding and having a written business plan.
- Format of your post. Content does not have to only be in long-form. Create step-by-step and how to guides, informational visual content like infographics, and videos to capture your audience’s attention.
- Platforms to post. You want to host as much information as you can on your main website and social media platforms. Speak with 3rd party industry sites to see if they would be willing to publish your articles on their site. Some of these opportunities may be at no cost. The last thing we suggest is to collaborate with others in the same industry to do joint posts. This way you are sharing audiences and in turn also sharing leads.
Need specific advice on your content marketing strategy or looking for overall assistance with your business plan? Contact Spartan Marketing Group to see how we can help your business grow.