Content Marketing And Why It Will Work For You

If you Google, “what is content marketing?” you’ll end up with pages of search results filled with opinions by various sources. Some experts claim that content marketing can be traced back to early cave paintings, using images and visuals to tell a story, but realistically it only gained traction in the early noughties and since then, it’s changed the way the marketing world thinks about brand messaging.

So what is content marketing?

Content marketing is a strategic marketing tool that is based on the creation, publishing and dissemination of content that is useful and relevant, with the aim of building engaged content communities and converting those communities into business-drivers.

Why is content relevant in the digital age?

The digital age is noisy. As consumers, we are constantly being bombarded by information from all angles. Search engines have literally given us access to the sum of all human knowledge at the click of a button. And social media has enabled that information to reach us even when we’re not really listening. Brands have information to share too. They want us to know why we should choose them over competitors, why their products or services are superior, why you should become a loyal customer. So how do they transmit a clear signal that cuts through all the digital noise? That is the question and it’s where content marketing solves the challenge.

Content marketing allows brands and companies to position themselves as experts on specific subject matter. It allows brands to build communities rather than applying a hit-and-miss approach by shouting out overly branded messages to the masses. Very strategically, content marketing takes a brand message, surrounds it with relevant and useful content, packages it as information that will add value to the life of the consumer and delivers it via the channels that reach the right people, at the right time.

Here’s how content marketing addresses 3 major marketing pain points:

1) Pain Point: Budgetary Constraints

Big ideas often require big money – the kind of budgets that smaller businesses or start-ups may not have at their disposal. Content marketing strategies are usually long-term strategies. It’s about distributing a sustainable amount of relevant content across multiple channels and building a content community over an extended period of time in order to build valuable, long-lasting relationships. So instead of short bursts of big money, content marketing strategies that play out in the long term, require smaller and often more manageable investments over a longer time period, with excellent return on investments.

2) Pain Point: Time Constraints

In the age of technology, time is our most valuable resource, and most of us are always running out of it. The great news is that content marketing is an ever-morphing beast. It could manifest in the form of a blog article or in the form of a podcast. However, it can also be something as simple as a social media post that delivers some tips or an opinion, or a GIF that communicates a competition or a giveaway.

3) Pain Point: Marketing Fatigue

If it weren’t for the “unsubscribe” button, most of us would never survive the rate at which email marketing is dominating our inboxes. The same goes for social media marketing, re-targeted ads and even traditional forms of media like TV adverts that demand our attention at sometimes the most inconvenient times. The majority of consumers are all “marketed out.”

That’s where content marketing provides a refreshing alternative to being spoken at rather than spoken with. Yes, it’s important that content marketing is imbued with a brand message, but it’s equally as important that it adds value to the consumer’s life – that after engaging with it, the consumer feels inspired, informed and entertained. The best examples of content marketing always do those three things very well.

A case study: Somerset Lakes

The challenge: PURE was briefed with the task of launching and marketing a new property development that had generated little brand awareness and was experiencing low sales volumes.

The PURE solution: We proposed a strategic combination of branding and content marketing across multiple channels. This approach included social media, blog articles, explainer videos, animations, a custom property magazine, newsletters, illustrated floor plans and development brochures, web design and development and SEO campaigns that drove traffic to the website and generated leads for the sales team.

Results:

– Over 2750 potential leads were generated

– In 3 months, property sales increased from 20 per month to 134 per month

Client Testimonial:

”PURE is a top-notch, premium agency based in Cape Town, with a flair for quality design and excellent creative thinking. They provided us at FTI Consulting with excellent, printed and digital collateral and strategy for a complex client project that needed a fresh relaunch. Highly recommended.”

Wayne Louw, Senior Director, FTI Consulting

What’s in it for you?

Here are some REAL benefits of content marketing:

– Better brand awareness for your company or brand
– The delivery of a targeted message to a targeted audience
– A chance to bring your brand to life and be ‘smart’ in a way that is meaningful
and engaging
– The fostering of brand loyalty through trusted shares
– A deepened relationship with your existing customers and a widening of your new
client base,
– Increased revenue from existing clients and new clients
– A deepened sense of personal relationship between your brand and its customers
– The generation of positive perceptions about your brand and what it stands for
– Education and value for subscribers
– The ability to influence customer behaviour to such an extent that the target audience:
– Wants to read it
– Reacts positively to it
– Keeps it and refers back to it
– Shares the content with their peer group (pass on virally) thereby endorsing the       product/brand with their trust, encouraging a faster buying cycle

= Brand Awareness + Trust + Loyalty + Engagement = SALES AND BOTTOMLINE GROWTH

Written by Andrew Burke

New to content marketing or in need of professional advice from an award-winning content agency?

Contact PURE on accounts@purecreative.co.za or call on +27 (21) 4242 6918 to set up a complimentary 20-minute consultation, let’s create something great together.