Content marketing is vital to every business online.
One of the ways I find worthy copywriting clients is by looking at ads running on search engines.
Why do I pick on those companies?
Simple, they have a budget and understand the value of content marketing. They are easy targets for me to approach.
But I won’t stop there; I’ll do some investigative work first.
I will check out their About page to see how big the business is, and then I’ll peruse their blog posts and any other content they have.
Usually, 7 out of 10 company blogs need my services.
Why?
Most of the time, their posts are under 500 words, and to rank higher in Google, 2000+ words are a must.
And that is just for starters.
There are infrequent blogs that produce a post once every three months. Many businesses have poorly written posts without any keyword research in them whatsoever. Some companies do not use graphics, video, subheads, bullets, data presentations, or internal or external linking to relevant information.
So, as you can see, finding businesses that need my help isn’t too hard.
Why I’ll Take Content Marketing Over Ads
One reason I would take content over search engine ads is money. It costs a lot for clicks. I had an eCommerce company back in 2002, and ads were getting expensive to run then.
They are ridiculous now.
For instance, the term leadership coaching will run you over $3 each time someone clicks on your ads. So, if 100 people are just curious and want to check out your company, you are paying over $300 in clicks.
And by the way, the term leadership coaching gets a low search volume. Can you imagine what it would cost if you had a more competitive term like “Mortgage”? (Over $47 a click!)
Another problem with using ads is a thing called click fraud.
Click fraud is when your competitors go to your expensive ads and click on them so that you burn through your ad budget.
But click fraud can be worse because sophisticated competitors in your space can use a program to imitate computer users clicking on your ads. Of course, they have absolutely no interest in your business other than to kill your ad budget.
There is a way to fix this problem.
Some companies can track IP addresses for you to see if they are real or not. Once these companies identify the false clickers, you can send your ad provider a notice telling them to ban those addresses.
But of course, having a company track your clicks and report back to you will cost you more money.
Content Lasts for Years
Ads only work when you run them; content can last for decades. I have posts that I wrote back in 2008 that are still online.
And guess what? Those posts barely cost me a dime.
Do I get a lot of traffic from them?
Heck no, but I still get SOME traffic from them. If you add that up with all the other posts, article, pdfs, and other online content I’ve created over the years, it has helped out.
If I had known how to write decent blog posts and optimize them back when I first started, I’d probably get a lot more traffic from that old content.
However, there are dangers to this.
If your company is trying to build a reputation and your earlier stuff is crap, it will still be on the Internet. Usually your older stuff gets buried, but it is still out there with your name on it.
A good idea is to keep a well-organized file of all the posts, articles, guest posts, and other online assets.
Why?
I have had some excellent companies and entrepreneurs I have written for in the last decade who are no longer online.
For example, one of them was a lady who had a very successful site about blogging. I wrote one of my best posts for her, and for years it generated traffic from her site.
I had a link from my site to the post on her site, and one day I noticed that the link was broken.
So, I went to her site and found out that she had disappeared. Her site is now owned by someone else, and all the old content is gone. (Including my guest post.)
You Can Become an Authority in Your Space
You can become an authority in your niche if you have a content marketing plan.
High-quality, regular content will make you or your business stand out in a crowded marketplace. Believe it or not, people will respond to a well-written post or article far better than an ad. The Content Marketing Institute has reported that content is six times more effective than running ads. There are several reasons for this:
- People are more familiar with you and what you can do for them
- You can focus on your reader’s needs better than ads do
- It builds trust with your prospects over time
- You can get better clients and customers
- You can create raving fans who will stay with you longer
The Reasons Why a Lot of Businesses Run Online Ads
I don’t want to paint a rosy picture of how wonderful the world of content marketing is. There are a few ways running ads can beat a content marketing strategy.
Running ads can be a part of your content marketing plan. So, if you’ve benefitted from an online ad campaign and it works for you, fine. (You can still have a content marketing plan.)
If using ads is such a horrible prospect, then why are so many big-time companies using them?
The biggest reason is you can target your prospects with more accuracy. When you submit your ads to a search engine, you’ll be able to go right to the heart of your market. Paid ads are one of the first things your prospects will see in the search engine results.
When you post an article on your company’s blog, you have no idea who is looking at it or why.
And most of the time, people see your headline on a search engine, click on it, look at your site’s post, and then bounce out.
Ads are Easier to Implement
Another benefit of advertisements is they are much easier to implement.
With content marketing, you need a content marketing plan. Creating one is time-consuming, and you need to know how to design one that will be the most effective for your business.
Also, running ads takes a lot less time. Content marketing is a long-term strategy. You will either need to do one of two things. You will need to learn how to produce your content and optimize it for search engines (SEO). Or, you can hire an experienced copywriter to do it for you.
While I could go into all of the reasons why hiring a copywriter is a good idea, the main reason for hiring one is that it is a massive time-saving.
As a business owner, creating content yourself is a demanding prospect. You have to know how to write and market your content in a way that attracts a specific audience.
That is not an easy task. Hiring a decent copywriter will cost you money, but when you add up all of the benefits.
One other thing, you can create content for your business AND run advertisements. There are no rules or laws that say you can’t.
More Important Reasons Why You Need Content Marketing for Your Business
Your Prospects, Clients, and Customers Will Trust You
There’s an old saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”
That might be true in personal relationships, but it is not in the world of marketing. Just think of the billions of dollars spent by the world’s largest companies. They will make ridiculous commercials to make sure you get their attention.
If you don’t believe me watch the commercials by insurance companies like Liberty Mutual, Progressive, and Geico; you’ll think you’re watching a comedy series. The only reason they run junk like this is to get your attention long enough to remember who they are.
Their goal is to make sure you remember them and eventually check them out – that is all.
However, this kind of strategy is for the big players with deep pockets. They can afford to play this game, but the rest of us have to work on a deeper level.
So, producing high-value, engaging content is one of the ways the average business can develop trust with people.
How to Get People to Trust You
Here is a bullet list of what you’ll need to do to gain the trust of your followers with content marketing.
- Share stories about your business and customers
- Get involved with your clients and customers. Address their concerns, answer questions, and solve problems. Address any negative feedback
- Create a voice your audience can relate to and stick to it
- Don’t focus on promotion – add value to your followers’ lives
- Create content that focuses on your audience’s pain points and intentions
You Can Demonstrate Your Expertise with Content Marketing
One problem with running ads is they do not demonstrate your expertise.
If you want to be a thought-leader in your niche, ads might get someone to look at your offer, but it won’t demonstrate your talents.
If you create a content marketing plan, you can dominate your marketing space by producing high-quality, relevant content. If you plan out your content, you can be everywhere people are looking by finding popular keywords and phrases in your area of expertise.
Also, you can use information drawn from personal experience. People like reading posts that draw on personal experience and trial and error stories. Doing so will let people know you and become familiar with you, thus building trust.
However, if your content looks like you are merely rehashing stuff extracted from the Internet, people will figure it out.
Please, Don’t Be a Disrupter
Do you hate it when you go to a site loaded with advertisements?
Or do you use a search engine search and click on the top result only to find out later that it was not what you wanted because you clicked on an ad?
The problem with advertisements is they interrupt people while they are reading. Good content won’t do that. People click on your posts because they have volunteered to read them, not because you got in their face.
However, if your headlines don’t arouse curiosity and excitement, your posts and articles will be ignored. It is the same with writing posts. If your posts are boring and are valueless, readers will bounce into your posts and then bounce out.
You Own Your Content and Control What is Said
When you use online ads, you have to play by the rules of the sponsoring company. If you write your own blog, you have the opportunity to control the direction of your message.
This is an important aspect of content marketing because if you are selling a product or service, you can guide your prospects through the entire process.
Phases of the process:
Step 1: Let the world know who you are through social media blog posts and other interest generating processes.
Step 2: Once you have their attention, get them on your mailing list and send them email messages, newsletters, and other subscription-based communications.
Step 3: Keep their attention and help them get involved with your business. You can use more content-based influences like whitepapers, eBooks, email campaigns or a video series.
Step 4: At this point, you now have your prospects at the edge of making a decision. You can focus on the intentions of your message more by providing them with demonstrations and a tour of what you can offer them. This is the point where you can make your irresistible offer known.
Step 5: After the sale is made, your work starts all over again. You need to retain and sell more and better products to your customers. Remember, your best customers are the ones who know, trust, and have already done business with you.
How You Can Beat Other Experts in Your Field
I’ll bet you are thinking, “What if everyone else in my market is using content marketing?”
Well, there are ways you can still beat the pants off of them. Based on my 15 years of writing posts, I can tell you that hardly anyone is going above and beyond.
I know for a fact that most company posts:
- Are under 1000 words. (Google likes posts above the 2000-word range.)
- Are not creating relevant infographics
- Barely use subheads
- Are not optimizing for search engines (SEO)
- Do not use relevant pictures or graphics
- Lack of images in their posts
- Have no videos to enhance their posts
The way to beat your competitors is to out-perform and overdeliver to your target market. Right? So, when you check out what the competition is doing with content marketing, you should do more than what they are doing.
For example, if you see a list post by a competitor who has 2,000 words, then make yours 4000 words with infographics and video. Make your posts and content plans far better than what your marketing adversaries are doing.
Content Marketing Will Enable You to Become a Master of Your Domain
If you practice what you preach and constantly learn and upgrade your skills, you can create content based on what you know.
I know what you’re thinking. You are thinking: if I tell everyone my trade secrets, they’ll do it themselves.
Nonsense!
Every Saturday morning, I can watch Bob Ross on PBS. He teaches people how to paint landscape pictures, and everyone loves watching his program.
Guess what?
95% of the people who watch Bob will NEVER pick up a paintbrush.
Once you start to consider everything you have to do to paint a picture, you’d rather watch Bob do it.
When people start to consider the things they have to do in your content marketing business, they’ll throw up their hands and hire you. So the more you share with them, the better off you are.
Time is your prospect’s most precious resource, and if you can show them how your product or service can help save them save more of it, you can make the sale much easier.
Conclusion
I hope this post has answered any questions on how content marketing can help your business. Yes, content marketing is a slower process than running ads, but in the long run, it is far cheaper and more valuable.
If you have any questions or comments about this subject, please leave them in the comment boxes below; it will make my day.