How To Use Content Marketing To Get New Customers
The aim of every business is simple: Sales. And this isn’t limited to online businesses.
Regardless of our chosen professions, it’s fair to say that we all want to build our businesses’ customer bases. It’s how we thrive. It is how we make sales. More customers equal more sales.
Project managers, Event planners, boutiques, mechanics, beauty salons, lawyers, farmers, restaurants, product stores, etc. all need to extend their reach to generate more leads.
So it’s only natural for us to want to market our products or services to everyone, in hopes of capturing a larger audience and thus making more money.
Here is the good news: Content marketing can be the answer to reaching as many as 10 million new customers when done rightly.
It involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in a variety of formats, including blog posts, news, video, e-books, infographics, case studies, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, etc. order to acquire and retain customers.
It is all about publishing informative and exciting content for the benefit of potential customers.
Content marketing is a communications tool that helps to make your business accessible to those interested in your products, especially those who have no prior knowledge of the existence of your product.
Let’s use a case study:
Company A is a skin and beauty company that produces body creams, deodorants, and other cosmetics. Their products are great, but no one but them knows this.
They have tried using traditional advertising, but customers are unwilling to take the risk of a new product from an unpopular brand.
Company A then approaches us at TrustOrRun and we pitch the benefits of content marketing to them.
Here is what we tell them:
1) It demonstrates how your product/service could be the only solution they need:
Publishing is a great outlet for showcasing your products in real-world environments.
Blog posts written by your team, photos from customers, and your own photo gallery can help to present products in as many ways as possible.
So, in the midst of the valuable information in your blog posts, you can also strategically promote your business by tactically integrating your services/product in some of the blog posts or advertising your services, products, events etc., on your website sidebar.
2) It helps you get found:
One key criterion of content marketing is that you need to have a spot on the World Wide Web.
Essentially, you need a platform to upload or post your contents. When done correctly, each blog post will add a new page to your website, giving you new ranking possibilities.
The more you publish, the better chance you have of searchers finding you.
Now, a successful blog with a hundred useful and engaging posts could attract millions of readers. Just imagine.
3) It builds your reputation as an expert:
An engaging business website or blog is another means of connecting with your customers. It can help build a lasting relationship.
When you give right answers to their questions or frequently asked questions potential customers have about your product or similar products, you become an authority.
They trust your judgment as an expert and will wait to hear from you before making certain decisions. Isn’t that cool?
4) It educates your potential customers:
Another way that content marketing gets you customers is that it allows you to be seen as a trusted resource in your target markets.
Customers are constantly looking for contents with the best solutions to their problems.
A blog is a way to provide answers. If Company A can create a great blog post on “how to prevent skin rash in under-5 children”, mothers will not only appreciate the post but will seek to find answers to other skin problems common to children.
Subsequently, these mothers are much more likely to consider you when they are considering buying a body lotion or powder for their kids.
5) It builds your brand:
Content marketing gives your brand an identity. It reveals your company culture.
Video blogging about what drives your company or a simple info-graphic can tell a story that words alone cannot.
These stories help create an identity that is marketable and attractive to a targeted audience.
After our successful sales pitch, we went ahead to inform “Company A” on how to dive into the world of content marketing.
Here is what to do:
1) Create a mobile-friendly website
If you don’t already have a website or a blogging platform, it may be difficult for your potential customers to find you.
Hence, if you don’t have a website yet, your prospective guests might instead go to your competitors who already have one.
So, the first thing to do is to get a good web developer to build you a professional looking website or you can make use of Wordpress to build a website in under 2hrs.
Before you start building, you need a good hosting provider and preferably a managed WordPress hosting platform.
Don’t forget to display interesting images, videos and other content that will give your website’s visitors a virtual taste of your wonderful place.
2) Join online social communities
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms offer free pages or channels for business.
Here are some interesting facts and statistics why you should leverage social media marketing for your business:
- There are 44 billion monthly active users on Facebook.
- Twitter has 284 million active users.
- Instagram has 300 million users.
- About 75 million users are on Pinterest.
- LinkedIn has over 352 million registered members.
Social networking sites allow followers to “share” or “repost” contents and comments made by others about a product being promoted.
Even better, you can reach more people by promoting your content using Facebook ads, Instagram ads as well as sponsored tweets on twitter.
3) Create irresistible contents
Writing authoritative, interesting content in your online platform will pay huge dividends over the long term. Create comprehensive or in-depth blog posts that will make your content the best content in your competition.
Publish articles that will always remain useful to its users no matter how many years pass by.
This type of content is constantly searched in search engines and shared in social media. That is why it also generates constant traffic. Successful content marketing now depends on content quality.
To get this right, let your focus be on providing value rather than on selling something.
Also, engaging images make your blog posts more interesting to read.
They help increase your search engine visibility because search engines also index them, especially if you will put the right alt (alternative) texts and descriptions on your images.
Furthermore, blog posts with captivating thumbnails shown in social media also get the most clicks and engagements.
You can Visit your competitors’ blog, social media pages and analyze how they create beautiful contents.
4) Promote your blog posts
Guest blogging and social media marketing are possible options for promoting your contents.
Guest blogging helps you to reach out to a targeted audience that can help generate leads.
Making engaging comments on relevant blogs also catches their authors’ attention, which can make them reply to your comments and even visit your blog in return.
If your target audiences are active users of Nairaland, TrustOrRun, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, then promote your blog posts to your followers in those platforms.
Encouraging them to share your posts will also increase traffic and generate leads.
5) Promote your products
Use your blog as a medium to demonstrate how remarkably awesome and result-oriented your product and/or service is.
Customers are eager to see what you have to offer, and a blog is a great outlet for marketing those product images.
Use posts written by your team, photos from customers, and your own photo gallery to present products in as many ways as possible.
Use posts written by your team, photos from customers, and your own photo gallery to present products in as many ways as possible.
But let them sample the wares with a free report, trial or download. If you give them something of value, and they like it, they’ll be way more inclined to actually buy.
Finally, creativity is very important. It is necessary to foresee the kind of contents that your potential customers will find amusing and worth sharing.
This can be a difficult task, but not impossible. So, when in doubt, ask questions.
So, when in doubt, ask questions. It is time to build a 5-star reputation for your business.