In today’s digitally connected age, content marketing is increasingly becoming the most effective way to not only attract new prospects and customers but also drive sales. You might be wondering, what exactly is content marketing and why does it work so well for building your audience and increasing sales?
In this blog, we’ll explain how to use content marketing to increase sales.
What is Content Marketing?
If you’re new to content marketing, here are the basics:
- It is a form of storytelling that helps businesses connect with their target audience by sharing valuable information.
- Content marketing is meant to attract and retain customers.
Content marketing can be used to promote your products, services, or even a brand in general. The goal is to create valuable content that will appeal to your audience and encourage them to share it with others.
Understanding the Buyer’s Journey
The buyer’s journey is a framework to help you understand the process buyers go through before they make a purchase.
It’s comprised of three main stages:
Awareness: Awareness is the first stage of the buyer’s journey, in which customers recognize that they have a problem or need to fill. They begin by conducting a broad search to gain information about your offering.
Consideration: During the consideration stage, potential customers are assessing your value and looking for proof that your solution solves their problem. They need key information on how to buy and why they should.
Decision: The decision stage is where qualified leads decide whether to buy your product. It’s also sometimes called the purchase or conversion stage because it’s where leads can be converted into customers. Prospects in this stage already know what problem they’re facing, and they’re aware of possible solutions.
Each stage requires different content to attract buyers and move them through the sales funnel.
Understanding where your customer is in the journey will help you craft content that speaks directly to their needs at each stage.
Create Brand Awareness
One of the biggest reasons content marketing is so effective at driving sales is that it helps you establish your business as an authority in your industry. This means that people view you as someone who knows what they’re talking about, which gives them confidence in your products or services.
Content marketing also helps boost brand awareness by building relationships with customers. These days, consumers are bombarded with ads from companies trying to sell them something—but when they see a company that’s offering valuable information for free (or even charging for it), they’ll pay attention because they know there must be something good about it.
Demonstrate Expertise
Content marketing is a great way to demonstrate expertise. If you’re in the business of providing advice or services, it helps people see that you know what you’re talking about, which will make them more likely to trust your brand.
In addition to demonstrating expertise, content marketing can also help you position yourself as an expert in your field by publishing valuable tips and insights. You can even use content marketing to establish yourself as an authority in your industry by showing other professionals what makes your company unique—and how they can benefit from working with you.
Boost Engagement with Your Audience
The best way to increase engagement with your audience is through content that’s relevant and engaging. If you’re creating blog posts, make sure they are interesting, timely, and relevant to your audience.
When you’re interacting with your audience on social media, it’s important to respond to comments and questions in a timely manner. This can turn an online interaction into a real-time conversation that drives traffic back to your website or blog post where they can discover more information about what you have available for purchase.
Generate More Leads
Content marketing is a way to generate leads by creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content. This can be done through blogs, e-books, white papers, checklists, and more.
Here are some tips for using content marketing to drive sales:
1. Create a blog that addresses customer pain points. If you’re not already blogging on your website, start now! Blogs are a great way of providing value to your target audience and building trust. If you’re not sure where to start, check out our blog post on how to create an effective blog strategy. Your readers will appreciate the useful information you provide them with and will be more likely to engage with your brand.
2. Publish an e-book or white paper that helps solve customer problems or answers questions they have about your industry or product. You can also create an e-book or white paper around a specific topic in your niche that you know will resonate with your target audience.
3. Create a checklist that helps prospects implement what they learned from reading your e-book or white paper. This can be as simple as a 5-step checklist that they can print out and keep on hand while they’re working through the content you provided.
4. Create an infographic that illustrates how your product or service solves customer problems or answers their questions.
5. Create a video that explains how your product or service solves customer problems or answers their questions.
Let Content Marketing Streamline Your Sales Funnel
Content marketing is a key component of any company’s marketing strategy, but it can be difficult to know where to start. Once you understand the buyer’s journey and how each stage affects your content, you’ll be able to use it effectively in your marketing plan. Need a hand creating your content marketing strategy? Our team would be happy to help you do just that. Schedule a free 30-minute strategy call today, and let us show you how content marketing can work for your business.
