As consumers become inundated with advertising messages and overwhelmed by service promises and special offers, they become more difficult to engage.

So, how can we get in front of our customers without competing in the endless (and expensive) world of digital advertising? The answer is content marketing.

No doubt, you’ve heard the statement “content is king”. In the world of digital reach and consumer engagement, content marketing isn’t just king, it’s the whole kingdom.

What is Content Marketing?

In simple terms, content marketing is the creation and distribution of content to your audience that delivers value to them.

The way your audience defines value will differ from business to business, as will your ability to deliver valuable content. This will be defined by your brand, your products and services and your market, but above all else, content creators must focus on relevance, quality and consistency.

The ultimate objective is to publish content that will not only provide an opportunity to engage your audience (so you can convert them to customers), but will also motivate them to share it across their personal and social networks (broadening your audience and potential customer base).

Effective content can include: Blog posts; Videos; White papers; Presentations; Newsletters; Podcasts; and Infographics.

What can content marketing do for you?

Content marketing is a fantastic inclusion in your marketing strategy because it can provide a swag of benefits, like these.

Brand Awareness

Sharing valuable content with someone who is not aware of your business is a non-invasive and highly effective way to introduce your business, services and products.

Increase Search Engine Traffic

The more popular your content, the higher your site will rank with the search engines, opening doors to a wider customer base. There are other factors to consider around getting the most from search engine results. But, in basic terms, the volume of content, consistency of publication and the freshness of the content all contribute to strong search results.

Drive Traffic

Undoubtedly, the most important function of your content marketing efforts is to drive traffic to your website. For this reason, your content must be relevant and aligned to your overall marketing and brand strategy. If you publish a piece of collateral that goes viral, but isn’t aligned to your core brand strategies, these new visitors won’t stay long enough to engage with your business, or really understand the connection in a way that boosts your brand appeal.

Understand your audience

The bigger the audience engaging with your content, the more chances you have to understand them, their priorities and needs. This information can be invaluable, providing you use it to adjust and target you content to meet their needs. Over time, this will result in improved returns because you’re consistently publishing relevant, popular and valuable content. These insights may even help shape the development of your future products and services.

Content marketing is here to stay, and isn’t going to be replaced any time soon. If you create and share high value content as an integrated component of your overarching marketing strategy, you will see very real and positive results.

If you’re ready to start building your content marketing strategy, check out our guide “How to Create Your Content Marketing Strategy”.