Content: A Proven Website Traffic Generator that’s Easily Outsourced
Getting found on the web is a growing concern for every business. Using SEO copywriting techniques, Content Marketing sends more targeted traffic to your website and isn’t expensive to implement. A growing trend in 2012 marketing plans and budgets, maybe the best news is this proven tool lends itself well to outsourcing. If you’re trying to “do more with less” in 2012, get a content marketing strategy in place.
What Is Content Marketing?
It’s creating and disseminating information (content) across many platforms to get your target’s attention and retain existing customers. Content marketing supports brand awareness and generates higher quality sales leads. The content supports your brand, extends your message, and should be compelling enough to be share-worthy.
Who Uses Content Marketing?
The trusted researchers at Marketing Profs just teamed with the Content Marketing Institute to find out. Their survey (B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends) polled 1,092 leading marketers worldwide and discovered 9 out of 10 B2B marketers now use content marketing strategies. Professional services firms lead the survey in the most use of content marketing (94%), with Healthcare following closely at 89%.
Why Invest in Creating and Distributing Content?
It helps your audience find you, which is called “inbound marketing.” It’s a very effective way to market directly to your specific audience. Other than the cost of developing the content (using SEO copywriting techniques), there’s no barrier to entry.
Where can I Market my Content?
Your content marketing strategy can cover marketing venues including:
- Articles, case studies and white papers (highlight your expertise)
- Presentations (make sure they are online and tagged for SEO)
- Blogs (write yours and promote it on others’ blogs)
- Social media (write posts strategically)
- eNewsletters (yes, it still works)
- Videos (YouTube is a huge SEO opportunity)
- Podcasts (be heard as well as seen)
- Electronic magazines and ebooks….and whatever will be created next!
How Much of my Marketing Budget should I Dedicate to Content Marketing?
Survey results showed B2B marketers spending 26% of their marketing budget on content development and promotion. Smaller companies spent more, and over half of the companies surveyed planned to increase that content marketing spend in 2012.
What’s the Best Way to Create Content?
Outsourcing to a content development pro was the strategy of choice. An increasing majority of B2B marketers (62% according to the study) outsource content marketing. Why? Struggles with knowing what to write (41% of respondents) and producing enough content (20%) lead to the need to outsource content creation. In our experience, companies can clear these hurdles by:
- Developing a strategic Editorial Calendar with leverage across every platform for each piece of content created: new website content drives a blog article, which creates an opportunity to tweet and post, etc.
- Creating a sustainable process for consistent content marketing: an interactive online Editorial Calendar assigns responsibilities and generates email reminders to maintain accountability.
- Tracking and growing content distribution: always seeking and cataloging more complementary sources for targeted traffic.