From words to sales: content to help marketing

From words to sales: content to help marketing

05.04.2018

According to the Content Marketing Institute, many global brands spend about 29% of their marketing budgets on content creation, and 85% of US corporations attribute their success to content marketing. A Salesforce survey shows that 57% of respondents consider quality content to be the main driver of sales. So, what is this content and how can it help marketers and sellers?

Definition of content

Content can be understood as the entire set of information , which is used to promote your business - on a website or blog, in promotional materials, social networks. Any guides, product descriptions, instructions for use, secrets of experienced people increase the information content of resources, influence brand recognition and help win in the competition.

Even if you offer something completely unique and unparalleled, you still need to convey all the delights and conveniences of your offer are available to the user, otherwise how will he know that he needs your product.

You need to understand that content is not only text materials, but also images, audio, videos as well .

Content quality indicators

Any information , presented on your resources, both electronic and printed, must meet a number of criteria.

First of all, it must be truthful. Please check all factual material before final publication, especially if there are links to other resources. If the customer catches you cheating or inaccurately, loyalty will be lost.

The relevance of the information is the second important indicator. Nobody is interested in reading about research conducted in the century before last. Unless your product is related to antiques.

Novelty and originality are the most important criteria when promoting electronic resources. Thoughtless copying of texts leads to the fact that search engines begin to consider your site secondary and lower it in the search results lists. For this reason, people will visit your site only through advertising links. Saving on content will increase the cost of the advertising budget as a whole.

Users are also sensitive to the low quality of texts and similarities with competitors’ articles, and begin to consider your product secondary, like a low-quality cheap copy of the product from which the description was written off.

Make sure that the content is useful - articles about nothing that do not contain any significant data will cause rejection, and the potential client will not return to you. If useful information regularly appears on your resources, this will contribute to the influx of users, especially on social networks.

Of course, we must not forget about literacy. It’s better not to neglect a professional journalist or at least a proofreader.

Sources of content

As already mentioned, copying content from other people's resources is a thankless task. Therefore, it is better to involve your own employees (professional journalists, artists, photographers) in creating content, resort to the help of specialized content agencies, or use freelancers.

Another great option is to involve users of your resources in creating content. For example, they can write reviews about your products or services, or make video reviews. However, how to attract them is a topic for another discussion.

Why is all this needed

As stated at the very beginning, high-quality content is the most important marketing and sales tool. Traditional advertising in print media or television are losing relevance today. Most of the audience switches to the Internet.

Regular appearance of content on the site, blogging, and informative posts on social networks help increase the number of users and create a positive image. If the content is interesting for reposts and discussions, the user is involved in the communication process.

Do not forget that high-quality and unique content helps save on advertising, since frequently updated sites are better indexed by search engines.

Up-to-date information is also necessary for sellers themselves to understand the advantages of a product/or service, the general situation on the market, and conduct a productive dialogue with the client. Let's say, analytical articles are a great way to improve the skills of your staff. Thus, your content writing plan should include not only materials for promoting your services or products, but also materials necessary for internal use.

So, in the modern world, the importance of a comprehensive presentation of your product or service online difficult to overestimate. Almost always, a user who becomes interested in your brand will look for a more complete description, reviews and instructions. Therefore, unique and high-quality content is extremely important and greatly helps in promoting and selling your products or services.