Does Content Marketing Actually Work? Find out more.

Heard of the AIDA principle? It’s evolved a bit since first being introduced to the marketing world, but the premise is still the same. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Once the target audience’s attention has been secured through advertising, content marketing kicks in – building interest and desire to buy into the brand and what it’s offering. Content marketing is an important component of any marketing mix, so here’s what it really means, and a few facts showing that content marketing works:

Content Marketing Defined

Content marketing involves brands educating and adding value to the lives of their audiences through the sharing of engaging, inspiring digital information. For example, a bank promoting home loans offer a free house inspection checklist for download on their website. The marketing side kicks in when the bank starts drawing attention to – or sharing – the checklist across its promotional channels. Content marketing is not sales-focused, but can often lead to enquiries nonetheless.

Five Reasons Content Marketing Works

• Brand Recall
  

  Content marketing is often personalised, as this is what the vast majority of consumers want from brands these days. When content hits home with readers, they are far more likely to remember the brand. Mere exposure also comes into play, where a customer is exposed to a brand regularly will eventually commit it to memory – and will recognise the brand moving forward. A 2015 study by IBM revealed that over 56% of marketers believe that personalised content marketing yields higher engagement rates.

• Conversions

Still not convinced that content marketing works? Here’s a scary stat that might just change your mind: when content marketing adopters are compared to non-adopters, those doing content marketing enjoy conversion rates that are nearly six times higher! Like all marketing activities, content requires investments of time, money, and skills, but can award brands much better conversion rates for the same amount of money spent.

• Ad Blockers
  

  Before content marketing was realised as the ever-green conversion machine that it is, most brands that had the budget to throw at their promotional efforts engaged in online advertising, however, with the rise in concern around online privacy, more and more people are choosing to install ad blockers onto their computers, in other words, target audiences can choose to be exposed to branded adverts or not, content, on the other hand, is predominantly shared organically and thus cannot be prevented from being seen.

• Search Engines
  

  Ever heard of SEO? You probably know that it’s pretty important, and if you try searching for your brand on Google, but nothing comes up – your SEO could be in dire need of attention. Content marketing also works into an SEO strategy, where the brand is hoping to fill as many spots on the search engine’s first page as possible. With more content being written, uploaded, and shared about a specific topic – there’s a good chance that some of these items might appear when an internet user searches for related content.

   

• Return On Investment

Many marketers and businesses alike believe that content marketing is way too expensive for them. Content marketing is often cheaper than other traditional marketing activities. As it is so effective when done correctly, content marketing can lead to brands being able to reduce spends in other marketing channels. What’s more, content marketing costs around 62% less than outbound marketing, while generating up to three times more leads!

Content marketing takes a keen eye for trends and the ability to craft an amazing customer experience for target audiences.

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