Why Is Content Marketing Important? A Look at Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019 – Part 1
“You know it’s all about the content, ‘bout the content, ‘bout the content.”
Did you read that to the tune of “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor? If not, go back and read it (or sing it) again… because that's the point we’re trying to make.
Content marketing is everything and everywhere.
After day 1 and 2 of the Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019 in sunny San Diego, it was clear that the major player in marketing is content. But content marketing isn't just about copywriting—it's every piece of information on your website. So let's look at…
- What is content marketing?
- Why is content marketing crucial?
- How can you keep existing customers coming back by leveraging quality content?
But, take note. All of these methods will never work IF, as a business owner, you don’t put your customer first. You might have the best product or service available in your industry, but if your customers don’t feel heard, they will never listen to you.
We must be willing to step outside of our thoughts and beliefs about our products in order to grow.
What Is Content Marketing?
This year, the Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019 speakers challenged us to look beyond blogs and emails as content. Content includes…
- Videos
- Ads
- Images
- Infographics
- GIFs
- Memes
- Opt-in forms
- Landing pages
- CTA buttons
- Product descriptions
- Quizzes
- Lead magnets
- And the list goes on
Basically, it is anything that a customer consumes on your website through color, sound, image, or text.
And when you create it, you need to realize it has a purpose that goes beyond what you think. It's not just used to get awareness and to sell a product or service. It should captivate your audience, build trust and authority, and help in retaining current customers.
And it all has to be intentional, purposeful, and strategic. The intent isn’t just about driving sales. That is the by-product. The purpose is to build a relationship with your customer.
The secret to getting the best ROI on your content marketing efforts… Look to the end of your content to strategize your beginning and middle.
Now, this is important. PLEASE READ! Content should never, ever, ever, ever, EVER be created from beginning to end.
What does that mean? Let us give you an example.
“I’m going to start crafting the first page of this online quiz and work my way to the end, then offer my product.”
Nope. Major fail.
You have to start with the end in mind.
Positioning Your Content
You must reverse engineer your content by FIRST positioning your content. What’s positioning?
Positioning your content refers to the place a particular piece of content occupies in the minds of the customers and how it is distinguished from other pieces of content.
Ask yourself…
- What do I want to accomplish with this piece of content?
- What does my customer want from this content?
- How does this piece of content offer something different from my competitors?
- What is the content's strength?
If you can't answer these questions, it's back to the drawing board.
Why Is Content Marketing Important?
Content is what moves the needle. Today, companies can no longer thrive, much less survive, if they aren't building a relationship and making connections with their customers. This is done through content that tells a story, empowers, and makes life better for your customer than it was before. Your videos, images, ad copy, etc., need to reach the customer where they are, then encourage them to take action seemingly and effortlessly to get where they want to go.
Every piece of content you put on your site should engage emotions at some level because 80% of the population buys based on emotion. Raise awareness and engagement better than others in your industry, and you've made it through half of the battle.
Tucker Max of Scribe Media said it best: “… the currency you need to worry about is attention.”
That means, for example, every opt-in form and button need to be strategically placed in a way that grabs the attention of your customer at the right time.
Content Tactics
Also discussed were various tactics you can apply to your content—from using sticky headers with 2 CTAs to building opt-in forms in 3 parts rather than 1 bigger part. These tactics should all be backed with sound logic and data.
For example, Ryan Levesque, author of Ask, talked about offering quizzes on your site. Everyone loves to learn more about themselves. And quizzes are a great way to get your prospects’ attention and get them engaging with you.
But just buying the software and jumping in isn’t the best approach. Like anything, a blueprint needs to be developed before anything else. Then you can start to build.
In Ryan’s presentation that discussed getting potential customers engaged with a quiz, you start with your offer (after building the framework).
Second, develop your hook.
Then, you build out the bridge of how to get your prospect from the hook (that must be an irresistible invitation for them to learn more about themselves) to the offer in a way in which they feel you’ve heard their problem and have a viable solution.
T, C, & R Summit—What’s the “R”?
VS Team with Ezra Firestone of Smart Marketer
In a talk hosted by Ezra Firestone (also referred to as ”Man Bun Brain” by our team), he discussed the value of retaining current customers. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Therefore, if a person buys from you once, there is about a 27% chance of them buying from you again.
But if they buy a 2nd or 3rd time, the chances of them buying again jump to more than 50%.
Ezra argues it’s not just about traffic and conversion, but also returning customers.
So, content that nurtures, builds community, and makes the returning customer feel valued is crucial.
When you put all of your energy into content that is only about engagement and conversion, you end up taking away from the retention factor. You need a content marketing strategy that covers every step of the customer journey.
The Takeaway
Content marketing goes beyond your sales pages and blogs. Capturing your audience’s attention through various channels and platforms, and with multiple pieces of content, will put you above your competitors.
Content marketing is never a one-and-done deal. Never think that because you created a piece of content, it can be set aside and forgotten. If a piece of content performed well in the past, get it back out, refresh it, and optimize it. Fill in gaps with new information your customer is seeking, and place it in front of them again.
This is an ever-developing and changing industry. And to grow, you've gotta keep up.
The good news is that there is a lot of information out there about how to do it. The bad news is you've got to sift through and figure out what exactly will work for you and your brand. That takes time, energy, and expertise. But thank goodness we have proven strategies and tools available that work together to build and optimize sites better, faster, and more efficiently than ever before.
If you want to get some additional tips on content marketing (or a more comprehensive answer to “Why is content marketing important?”), check out our blog. And be on the lookout as we share some other valuable tidbits from the great minds at Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019.
At Viral Solutions we are committed to seeing YOU succeed. It is our goal to grow your business with proven digital marketing strategies that will help your business for the long haul.
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