The Benefits of Content Marketing

It’s hard to do anything online anymore without running straight into an advertisement. Whether an ad is blocking you from reading the news, browsing products, or watching videos, they seem to be everywhere.

Frankly, consumers aren’t always open to ad interruptions. Fortunately, your best approach as a business has nothing to do with ads. It’s content marketing, which focuses on giving customers what they want when they want it.

Here is what you need to know about content marketing and the many benefits it can provide to your business.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the process of creating relevant, valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage your target audience. Today’s consumers are inundated with more marketing messages than ever. A well-crafted content marketing strategy educates, informs, and even entertains your buyers instead of pushing ads at them.

The Benefits of Content Marketing

There are nearly 2 billion websites online right now. How are you going to make yours stand out? Being what your current and potential customers need and expect is a good start. According to Hubspot, businesses that prioritize content marketing are 13x more likely to achieve a positive ROI than those who don’t. And Demand Metric says that content marketing generates 3X more leads but costs over 60% less than other digital marketing strategies. If you’re on the fence about content marketing, here are ten benefits of the strategy to help you see its potential.

  1. Boost Your Organic Search Traffic

One of the biggest benefits of content marketing is that it can help your website rank better on Google, which results in more organic search traffic. Since about 95% of all organic clicks come from the first page of search results, focusing your attention on rankings is critical. While you can certainly drive traffic through other means like social media and paid ads, high-quality content will continue to produce the results you want at no additional cost.

  1. Expands Your Brand Awareness

Posting quality content provides new opportunities for potential customers to become familiar with your brand. After all, you’re trying to bring people into your marketing funnel and move them to next step. Content can usually keep them moving.

Blogging works well at the top of the sales funnel. This is where people are in the early stages of investigating brands and thinking about a potential purchase. Thorough keyword research is vital to ensure you are focusing on the right topics of interest to your audience.

  1. Increases Your Engagement

According to one study, well over two-thirds of buyers admit they are turned off by content that seems like a sales pitch. You can engage your audience and avoid having to “pitch” them by giving them the information they want and need.

When you post content, leave space for comments and respond to questions. This allows you to build relationships that will continue to pay dividends.

  1. Better Conversion Rates

With improved search engine traffic, more brand awareness, and better engagement, you’re undoubtedly going to get a boost in conversions. Every piece of content you create can be an opportunity for a conversion. Even ungated content builds trust. Once readers trust you, they’ll be more willing to hand over their email address or phone number for something you’re holding back, like a white paper.

  1. Shortens Your Sales Cycle

Effective content marketing can also shorten your sales cycles. You can create content that specifically addresses common objections or answers frequently asked questions. Other content can serve as product demonstrations, use cases, or a roundup of testimonials. These types of content and more can supplement the work of your best salespeople and shorten the time necessary to close a deal.

  1. Establishes Thought Leadership

Google summarizes what it wants top-quality websites to deliver with a simple acronym – E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Establishing the first of these qualities is one of the benefits of content marketing.

When you post plenty of helpful and interesting content, you will eventually become known as an authority or expert in your field. And those are the brands that people want to approach with their business.

  1. Builds Trust With Your Audience

Another aspect of that acronym is “trust.” Customers won’t do business with you if they don’t feel they can trust you. In other words, they don’t want to feel as if they are being manipulated or tricked.

When you provide useful and engaging content consistently without asking for anything in return, you build trust. Sure, it’s fine to invite readers to contact you or even subscribe to your list. But you generally don’t charge for the content.

  1. Humanizes Your Brand

Instead of viewing your business as just another brand that wants to sell stuff, content marketing can show your organization’s human side. As you post content, you’ll have the opportunity to develop and showcase your unique voice. You can also use different types of content, such as video marketing, so that people can hear and see the people who work for your company instead of just reading words on a screen.

  1. Affordable Marketing Option

Simply put, content marketing is an inexpensive digital marketing option compared to things like paid ads, commercials, and billboards. This is possible because creating content takes advantage of low-cost tools like your existing website, social media, and SEO. It also has an incredibly high ROI since it will continue to produce results long after the content has been posted.

  1. Easy to Target High-Value Pages

One of the great things about content marketing is that you get to decide where you want to focus your efforts. Specifically, you can refer to your keyword research and identify the most high-value pages on your website. Then, create a series of content pieces that drive traffic to those pages.

Call Too Darn Loud Marketing to Learn More About Content Marketing Strategies

Now that you know the benefits of content marketing, what are you waiting for? Too Darn Loud Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency that helps businesses throughout the United States achieve their goals through a variety of marketing strategies, including content marketing.

When you work with us, you won’t get a cookie-cutter solution. We customize our approach for each client, so you only get the services that we believe will produce the best possible results. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and website evaluation. Our number is (800) 649-1764.

Why You Need a CRM and How It Can Help Your Marketing Efforts

Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions have become a must-have tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes. A CRM enables you to gain an in-depth understanding of your prospects and customers, build strong relationships with them, and deliver exceptional service. Here is what you need to know about this valuable business tool and how it can help maximize your marketing efforts.

What is a CRM?

The customer journey is rarely linear. In fact, it can take a lot of twists, turns, and detours. If you want a complete picture of your relationship with any customer, you need to use a CRM.

A CRM is a software solution that records and tracks every customer interaction. In marketing, it can be used to track leads, create personalized messages, send out targeted content, and optimize the sales process.

How a CRM Can Help Your Digital Marketing Efforts

On the surface, it sounds like a CRM might be just a glorified digital address book. But, these solutions go well beyond maintaining contacts. A good CRM system will transform the way you do business by improving your sales processes, unifying your data, and increasing profits. Here are some of the ways a CRM can maximize your digital marketing efforts.

  1. Centralized Database of Information

The first benefit of using a CRM is that all of your customer-related data is housed in a centralized database. This becomes accessible to anyone in your company who may have use for it, such as sales, marketing, service, or accounting. The database will include records of every customer interaction, saving employees the time and effort of digging through different systems.

  1. Managed Communication With Prospects

Nurturing leads can be a complex and tiring process, with many opportunities for touchpoints. A CRM can manage this process in several ways. It can automate some messages, such as personalized emails and invitations to view content. It can also send reminders to the salesperson to follow up with a phone call or consultation appointment.

  1. Improved Customer Segmentation

When you have a database of hundreds or thousands of contacts, it can start to get overwhelming. For example, how do you know which ones are interested in Service A or Service B? Which contacts were sent to you via referral or have already requested additional information?

A CRM takes care of this for you by segmenting your list based on your customized criteria. You can sort contacts based on age, gender, geography, buyer stage, and much more. And once you have those segments, you can create more personalized content for them.

  1. Increased Sales

Because a CRM helps you build a stronger sales pipeline, streamline your processes, and automate many tasks, you have the potential to produce better results. Instead of spending time on low-value marketing items, you can turn these over to your CRM and focus on opportunities to build relationships, upsell and cross-sell, and expand to new markets.

  1. Better Customer Service

When it comes to creating a winning customer experience, data is essential. According to the Microsoft State of Customer Service report, more than three-quarters of customers expect a sales rep to know their contact, purchase, and service history. Yet, historically only about one-third of sales reps have this data. A CRM puts all of this information at your fingertips, allowing you to maximize the customer experience.

  1. Improved Customer Retention

It costs much more to attract new customers than to retain the ones you already have. With improved relationship-building and customer service through your CRM, you can create stronger bonds with your current customers. They will not only stay loyal to your brand but also send you referrals, increasing the customer lifetime value.

  1. Higher Efficiency and Productivity

A CRM is going to make your sales and marketing efforts more efficient and productive. You can automate many tasks and free up your time to focus on more meaningful things like face-to-face meetings.

  1. Detailed Analytics

Having data about your customers is valuable. Understanding what that data means and how you can leverage it is priceless for your business. Most CRM software solutions have built-in analytics to provide you with data as well as give you easy-to-interpret metrics.

For example, HubSpot’s CRM gives you detailed insights on team performance so that you can take advantage of various opportunities. There is a reporting dashboard you can customize to give you the information you need when you need it.

  1. Drive More Upsells

In addition to closing sales faster and retaining customers, you can use the insights you gain from your CRM to boost engagement with your current customers and drive upsells. Your CRM has all of your customer’s past purchasing history and a lot of other useful data. With the right approach, you can continue to send personalized content to these customers with product updates and promotional deals that are the most relevant to their interests.

  1. Lower Cost of Sales

According to Pardot, 79 percent of leads don’t convert. A big reason for this is that leads are not nurtured effectively. Because a CRM can automate part of the sales process and make your efforts more targeted, it can reduce the cost of sales. Your CRM will show you what your customer is interested in and their objections so that your resources are spent wisely and are the most effective in closing sales.

How Much Does a CRM Solution Cost?

CRM software solutions can range in price. Many companies charge per-user fees, and you’ll pay additional fees for data. In fact, the pricing structures can be complex.

But, if you want to start using a CRM, the HubSpot CRM is 100% free. It allows you to manage up to 1 million users, contacts, and storage cost-free, without any expiration dates. It’s tough to beat that deal.

Get Help With Your CRM Implementation

While just about all businesses stand to benefit from using a CRM, companies that have marketing and sales teams or want to achieve more efficiencies should particularly consider using this solution. If you aren’t sure which CRM to use or would like assistance integrating it with your current system, we can help.

Too Darn Loud Marketing is dedicated to providing its clients with the customized solutions they need to be top players in their market. We are passionate about creating innovative solutions to your most pressing issues. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.