How Does Content Marketing Connect With Customers?
How Does Content Marketing Build Traffic and Generate Leads? Watch This Video.
In my experience, a lot of people have heard of content marketing, but few know what it is.
Best I can tell, the concept is attributed to marketing guru and author Seth Godin. In his book, “Permission Marketing,” he said traditional advertising was becoming less effective, and TV ads weren’t working because consumers didn’t want to watch them.
He suggested getting permission from consumers, and then sending them information they would actually want to read (or watch).
And today, that idea has snowballed into the content marketing methods that are so popular.
Content Marketing
In content marketing, companies create different types of content. It can take many different forms— how-to articles, newsletters, press releases, webinars, podcasts, infographics, and pretty much anything else that can engage, inform and inspire customers.
As for web videos (one of the more popular types of content), there are many different formats, including product demonstrations, employee videos, factory tours, interviews and testimonials.
Connect With Customers
So how does content help brands and businesses connect with customers? Here are some examples:
Conditioned Air – Cool Blogging
Conditioned Air is a Florida-based company that specializes in air conditioning products.
For years, Conditioned Air has run a blog. Every post is educational, highly effective, and offers fantastic reader value.
And it’s popular, too.
Conditioned Air’s blog is a good example of how marketers can post content, and promote it on social media, to build business. Blogging is one of the most cost effective ways to do content marketing. It’s also an evergreen form of content, meaning once a blog post is published, it can keep bringing in customers for a long, long time.
The Home Depot – Viral Video Marketing
Here’s another great example. Home Depot was an early adopter of content marketing. Their YouTube channel offers hundreds of instructional How To videos covering a wide range of topics.
For their customer base—Do It Yourselfers—this is a textbook example of how content marketing works.
Content Marketing Results
Content delivers an incredible ROI compared to traditional marketing. According to Demand Metric, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates three times as many leads.
Independent research by Convince Your Boss (CYB) has shown, for most companies, this averages out to a savings of $14 per qualified lead over direct marketing.
Even starting a company blog can have big benefits.
The same research by CYB shows 82% of companies that start a blog for marketing reasons see a positive ROI. And according to Hubspot, companies that blog 15 or more times a month generate five times more website traffic than companies that don’t blog.
Effective Content
So in conclusion, content marketing has grown into one of the most popular and cost effective marketing tactics. It’s used by brands and businesses of all size, and enables marketers to compete even when they’re being outspent by a wide margin.
Are you interested in creating content for your brand or business? If you have any questions about video creation or production, give Content Puppy a call.
About the Author:
Harry Hayes is the owner and executive producer at Content Puppy Productions, a corporate video production agency based in Charlotte. Before starting Content Puppy, he spent 20+ years as an advertising writer and creative director.
