As a local business, creating a content plan and sticking to it can be difficult and is not always viewed as an essential element to your marketing plan. Time and resource may be stretched, however the importance of content marketing can make or break your relationship with customers and can mean the world of difference to those all-important sales.
Still not convinced? Check out these must-know statistics to understand why content should be an integral part of your marketing and how it can help drive trust and loyalty from your customers.
1) 68% of consumers feel more positive about a business after consuming content from it (Source: The Website Group, 2017)
What this means for you: Creating a positive image of your business is a key part of winning more customers, so keep this statistic in mind as creating content can be one of the most effective ways to showcase your expertise.
There are a variety of content types that you can use to keep your readers interested and coming back for more, such as videos, blog posts, social media, guides and more. Keep your customers’ needs in mind and use this thinking to shape a content plan that will always be relevant to your readers.
By having a long-term content plan, you’ll earn the trust and loyalty of your readers which helps to create a strong reputation within the local community. As a result, people will be more likely to turn to your business when they look to buy.
2) 94% of people who share posts do so because they think it might be helpful to others (Source: Impact, 2017)
What this means for you: This statistic shows how important it is to create content that is actually useful for your customers. Sharing helpful content, such as blogs or articles, allows you to demonstrate your expertise and be known as an expert in your field; this is what will help you to become the first choice for your customers.
For example, a plumber might create an article around ‘What to do if you have a burst pipe’ which offers information on how to tackle the problem immediately before you have a chance to call a plumber to fix it. If customers find this useful and know people that have had the same problem, the likelihood of them sharing it online is much more probable.
By customers sharing the content you publish, you’re able to reach a much wider audience which can be a powerful way to raise awareness of your business, your expertise and help increase sales as a result.
3) 78% of people looked at case studies when researching purchases in the last 12 months (Source: DemandGen, 2017)
What this means for you: Case studies are a great way to promote your business and offer valuable insight from the customer’s perspective. A message promoting the products or services you can provide is much stronger coming from a customer than it is from yourself.
Ensure you follow up sales activity with a thank you or by asking customers to provide feedback. For example, a local restaurant might choose to take email addresses as part of bookings. They could then use these addresses as a way to email customers after visiting, asking them to provide feedback on the service they received providing they have permission to do so. The restaurant could then share these on their website or via social media to communicate the customer’s positive experience and promote the fact that they provide quality customer service.
4) 47% of buyers engage with as many as 5 pieces of content before contacting a business for more information (Source: Clicky, 2017)
What this means for you: It’s important to realise how your customers want to find out about you. What are the ways they will be searching for the types of products and services you can provide? With 47% of people engaging with up to five pieces of content your business offers before even contacting you, it’s essential you’re producing interesting content that will help you get found in advice-related searches. Without a content strategy, you’re at risk of losing potential customers to your competitors who can provide solutions to their problems.
Use articles to demonstrate your expertise with ‘how to’ and ‘top tips’ guides to help customers learn about what you can offer. However, simply putting content on your website isn’t enough - you need to promote it through other means such as social media, email, etc in order to get as many people reading it as possible. By investing time in sharing your content across different platforms, you’re able to reach more people and encourage repeat visitors to your website.
5) Companies using content as a way to advertise their business are three times as likely to generate more revenue (Source: State of Inbound, 2016 report)
What this means for you: The purpose of content marketing is predominantly to inform and educate your readers, however don’t forget a long-term content plan can develop into sales too.
To do this, you could include a call-to-action in your content to help achieve your business goals. Remember though, content should always primarily remain educational, so be subtle with your call to action and don’t use it as an opportunity for a hard-sell.
For example, a local interior decorator could write an article on top tips for tiling your kitchen, but their call-to-action could say ‘If you’re pressed for time and need a job doing quickly, why not give us a call so we can take the stress out of doing it for you?’ This is an effective way of linking your services to the content you can offer, helping to drive more sales to your business.
Content marketing shouldn’t be something that your business fears; instead, embrace the benefits it presents. Demonstrate your business expertise and use it as an opportunity to set yourself apart from your competitors so that you become a potential customer’s first choice when they look for products or services that you can provide.
If you’re unsure about where to begin though, there are plenty of options out there to help get your business started with content, including our own sponsored content service.
For more articles and advice on content marketing, you can read the following articles:
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