When we’re talking about the advantages of content marketing as opposed to traditional marketing there are several most important ones:
Content marketing offers some value to the customer
While the traditional ads tend to irritate and obstruct the target audience to that measure that they want to run away from it, content marketing is adjusting the content delivered to the user, drawing his attention and making him interested. Good content is useful and educating so the user will have no problem spending his or her time on learning a bit more about a brand. By doing this, the user will create a certain opinion about it and develop a relationship with a brand, even before he or she buys that brands product. 90% of buyers think of content as useful, and 78% of them think that organizations who are creating content have a bigger desire for developing a relationship with their customers.
Content marketing makes the buying decision easier
People often aren’t buying a product because they don’t understand the value it provides for them. Let’s imagine that content marketing existed when a prototype of a product like personal computer came out. When it first came out, people used to think that it’s obsolete and that its use won’t ever become a common tool for everyday work and entertainment. And why was that the case? When the first advertisement for the computer was published it said things like: “It’s available for use in your home” or “It’s finally affordable for everyone”.
Imagine how the use of the computer would have rocketed if it was advertised through the process of educating people not “What can they do with the computer” but rather “How can they do it”. The tools of content marketing such as blogs or videos can educate potential customers so that they would understand why do they need the product that’s being advertised. As high as 60% of product buying decisions are brought before coming to a store.
Content marketing builds relationships
When you’re providing a free and quality content to your customer, as is the case with content marketing, they will come back to the source of information, because he or she is learning and developing through it. This way, the customer is starting to perceive you as an expert in that area. The book written by Alexander Bard and Jan Söderquist called “The Netocrats” somewhat talks about exactly that. Money is no longer the main value
in the world. Information is.
Content marketing attracts customers organically
Rather than paying for the ads designed to attract the visitors on your page, with good content, they could be attracted organically. If you develop your content strategy well, the content you’re creating will last through your businesses entire lifetime and attract users through that entire time. The created content is exceptionally important because 42% of buyers read an article or a blog in order to find a recommendation for a product.
Content marketing helps with SEO
Each written blog is a new page indexed by Google. What does that mean? More blogs equal more indexed pages and with it, the possibility of showing the potential buyer your page rises. Companies that write blogs have 55% more visits on their websites from those who don’t.
Content marketing enables easier targeting
Content is primarily created for the targeted audience by a B2B copywriter. That way, the content is delivered to a more suitable audience who can become the buyers (and even promoters) of a product much easier. Also, when you compare the invested with returned, the average expense of inbound marketing in creating leads (users interested in product/service)
costs half as much than traditional outbound marketing.