If you are not currently using some kind of content marketing, I would highly recommend it. A lot of this has to do with the way the internet has changed the methods we use to market businesses. Most product information is searched out on the internet before consumers make a purchase. Ask your best clients this question: How many of them looked at your web site before they bought from you the first time? Probably most of them. Your web site is to your business what the old storefront display was to retail department stores. The thing about a web site is that it is a rather impersonal way to make a first impression on a potential client. Content marketing can help you over that hurdle. If you are smart about it, you can set yourself apart from your competition when you write about common problems that your products or services fix. Do this enough and you will be thought of as an expert in your field. In this way, content marketing helps lend credibility to your brand.

Content marketing typically has an interactive element to it. Post an article on your LinkedIn page, on Facebook, on Twitter or any number of other social media sites and viewers are encouraged to Like it, pass it on to someone else, or leave a comment. This has been some of the more valuable aspects of content marketing. It goes beyond just leaving information for the viewer, it encourages them to engage with the information. This interaction is all measurable. You will get a good sense of what is resonating with your target market and what is not. If you are paying attention, reviewing your stats will give you directional information on your next marketing steps.

In the end, all marketing is about making sales. Content marketing can help you attract new customers to yourself and keep the ones you have. How do you convert viewers into buyers? First, let’s take a look at the new clients. If you are attracting a group of people who are reading your content, but are not making a purchase, you might consider adding an action point to your content marketing. This is simply asking them to take some action that is leading to a purchase. It may be clicking a link to your contact page that asks them to give you some basic information about themselves in exchange for a price quote on the items you are selling. It might prompt them to leave a message on your Facebook page, whereby you can respond to their comments. Adding an action point helps the prospect take the next step and engage with you personally. That is when the sales cycle can begin.

Secondly, content marketing can help in retaining clients. I never want a customer to become a stranger after the sale. I want them to know me and my company. Content marketing can help you keep that connection fresh. E-blasting newsletters to your client list is a good way of keeping them engaged. Staying in touch by posting content to LinkedIn groups that they participate in is another way of keeping your name in front of them. But beyond brand recognition, there are continued sales to be made to current customers. If they bought from you once and were happy with you, you need to stay close enough that you can sell other items to the same clients. It is much easier to plant seed on fields that have been plowed, planted and harvested before than it is to plow and plant anew. You have an advantage here. You have already made the sale and (hopefully) the client was happy with your work. You already know what they were looking for when they made the first purchase. Smart marketers will send these clients the next logical purchase that adds value or functionality to the first purchase. You can create a niche market designed specifically to the customers needs. Content marketing can be targeted to such a niche.