As India is going deeper into the digital economy, content marketing is emerging as a viable tool for businesses to reach their customers and build customer loyalty. According to market research, around 70% of people share the opinion that content marketing makes them feel connected with the brands. In today’s cluttered marketplace, gaining the customer’s loyalty is a big challenge for the brands as brand switching has become more rampant than ever. So, more and more businesses are investing in building a content marketing program so that they do not have to lose a lot of business.
Sibi Paul is an entrepreneur and investor from India whose vast experience in the digital marketing space has made him one of the leading figures in the online marketplace. His growth hacking tactics and conscious leadership qualities have made him a role model for all new-age entrepreneurs who are looking to enter the Indian startup scene. Today, Sibi Paul is discussing content marketing in detail to help start-up businesses understand its importance in building a successful business.
- Helps with Audience Retention
Informative and engaging content is a great asset for businesses to capture the audience’s attention. If the website has great content, customers will naturally end up spending more time on the website, leaving a positive impact on the traffic and conversation. Effective content marketing on the website helps to provide visitors with a positive experience and they start to look forward to your brand as a solution to their problems. As a result, the target audience keeps coming back to your website and in turn benefits the business.
- Provides Better Traction on Social Media
In the digital marketplace, businesses must take the help of the power of social media in their brand-building efforts. Creating consistent and trendy content on social media channels helps the brands to reach their customers within seconds. At the same time, leveraging content marketing, businesses can easily build a community around their products and services, which is very important for creating a buzz around your brand. Furthermore, businesses can use these online communities to form meaningful customer relationships and better customer loyalty.
- Showcases Authority in the Industry
Today, customers are searching for solutions to their every problem online, thanks to greater tech penetration. As a result, publishing informative content helps brands assert their authority in their respective industrial space. Authoritative content not only allows the customers to make an informed decision but also helps them to stay on top of their minds. Moreover, when it comes to purchasing a product, customers prefer to buy from a company that publishes educational content instead of going for a company with no content at all.
- An Affordable Tool for Generating Better Leads
Sibi Paul perceives content marketing as one of the most inexpensive ways to lead the target audience to your brand. DemandMetric reports that content marketing generates about 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing tactics while being 62% less expensive than them. So, small businesses can easily rely on content marketing strategies to execute their lead generation. If a customer sees your content, they are automatically highly likely to make their purchases from you.
- Positively Impacts Conversations
Small businesses often find it hard to generate conversations despite having traffic on their website. Good and informative content can be a useful ticket to influence the conversation rate on the website. According to a study by Content Marketing Institute, almost 61% of US online customers make a purchase only after reading recommendations on blogs. Therefore, if you are educating your customers through your content, they will feel more connected to the brand and the conversations will improve. Moreover, must pay attention to your CTA to guide the customers to make a purchase decision, suggests Sibi Paul.
- Gives Brand Greater Visibility
In the modern online marketplace, brands must prioritize their SEO efforts to gain traction in the marketplace. If you are not ranking top in the search engine results, you are losing a significant amount of your customers and your brand’s online visibility. Content marketing can significantly boost SEO by creating SEO-optimized content. In fact, content creation is one of the most effective aids to SEO strategies. Great content does not only help to rank higher for more keywords but also results in higher on-site time, which can boost SEO thereof.
- Aids in Brand Reputation Building
There cannot be any second opinion on the matter that great content is the best way to build your brand’s reputation in the marketplace. If a brand is regularly publishing quality content, it helps the brand to gain the trust of the customers. This trust-building is the first step towards establishing a strong and positive brand reputation. If the content is adding value, it will no doubt make your brand trustworthy. Not only that, but the content also differentiates your brand from your market competitors and gives it a different identity before the audience.
As the online marketplace is getting bigger with every passing day, it has become important for startups and small businesses to secure a competitive edge in the marketplace. Without any competitive advantage, the survival chances of your business become significantly lower. Therefore, after in-depth research, Sibi Paul states that content marketing gives individuals a competitive advantage over their market peers. It is also, in the longer run, way more effective and affordable compared to paid advertisements, video marketing, and traditional marketing. So, there are no excuses to skip content marketing during a digital marketing campaign.
