Does Content Marketing Still Work? Yes!
Earlier this fall I had the pleasure of talking to journalism students at the University of Albany about content marketing as a potential career path, and one of the students asked me about whether or not I thought people were tuning out content marketing. In other words, “Does content marketing still work?”
It’s a tough question to answer. Content marketing came bursting onto the scene 10 or so years ago as the solution to banner blindness, ad blocking, and consumers’ general apathy toward ads. But now content marketing is nearly as ubiquitous as banner ads once were. But the truth is, content marketing was around long before the web and banner ads and will continue to be a staple of good marketing strategies for decades to come. Why? Because it’s useful.
That doesn’t mean the glut of content isn’t a problem you need to combat. You need to approach content marketing with a strategy that helps you stand out or risk becoming a part of the noise.
Marketers are growing their content operations
The numbers are in, and according to research from HubSpot, content marketing isn’t going anywhere:
82% of marketers report actively using content marketing in 2021, up 70% from last year
47% of buyers view three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep
So why does content marketing continue to be so popular? Well, websites with active blogs attract 55% more visitors. That. Is. Huge. If you can increase your web traffic by 55% just by posting a blog every other week, isn’t that worth it? Yes, it is. Marketers who emphasize blogging are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI from their efforts, according to HubSpot.
Content marketing isn’t all about blogging, but it’s a big part of what makes it effective. Creating informative content that answers your potential customers’ questions is a great way to draw people into your site, build brand awareness, and start those people down the content funnel. Blogs give you a place to post videos and create content around those videos. You can also repurpose your blog content to create fodder for your social media accounts. And you can do it all for relatively little money in comparison to your advertising budget. (Learn more about content pricing in our blog post.) It also has the added benefit of being good for your SEO!
The goals of content marketing
According to CMI’s 2020 B2C Content Marketing, the three most-cited marketing goals in the last 12 months were:
Creating brand awareness (84%)
Educating audiences (75%)
Building credibility/trust (65%)
Why content marketing still works — and is more important than ever
Why is content marketing still relevant — and growing? Part of the success is simplicity and flexibility. Content marketing takes many forms and can change and adapt to the latest outlets or formats. Blogs. YouTube videos. Instagram reels. LinkedIn posts. TikToks. They can all be content marketing. But part of content marketing’s success is also just the era we live in.
When 2020 went haywire and we all retreated to our homes to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, content became more important than ever — and I’m not just talking about “The Tiger King.” Yes, we all spent hours bingeing Netflix shows, but we stayed connected with our favorite businesses through content. If you can’t meet people in your store, at a pop-up shop, or at a trade show, how do you find new customers and engage old ones? Through content, of course.
Companies’ content operations were suddenly more important than ever before. From blogs to white papers to webinars, creating full-funnel content strategies was no longer optional — it was the main way companies were getting in front of new people and drumming up leads.
According to CMI’s research, not as many marketers are focusing on those deeper funnel content marketing concepts:
Nurturing subscribers/audiences (49%)
Generating sales/revenue (48%)
Building a subscribed audience (38%)
How to make your content stand out
For years, CMI has reported the fact that companies with a documented content marketing strategy perform better. This is largely because the company has thought about its end goal and how to get there. Maybe your goal is to just increase traffic to your website, but if you want to convert visitors to leads or sales, you have to think beyond the blog. That means digging deeper to understand your customer journey and how content can help users along the way. Too many companies launch into blogging without a plan for how they are going to move visitors from casual users to actual customers.
Using content marketing to convert website visitors
A new user visits your website based on a Google search query
The blog post points that user to a related case study that requires an email address to download
Now that you have their email and know what they are interested in, you have to nurture that lead with more relevant content — email them suggestions for related content
Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter to get more useful information and updates
Now that you have a new subscriber, send them a survey to find out exactly what kind of solutions they’re looking for and relay that information to your sales team
Your sales team has now secured a new purchase thanks to the info you were able to provide them with, and your job is to continue nurturing that relationship
Send tips and tricks for getting the most out of your product — as well as how-to videos to help them navigate your features
Cultivate a community of users to help support one another and create a culture around your product
This can go on indefinitely… but you get the point.
Content marketing is classic — it never goes out of style
I know I say this a lot, but content marketing is an age-old marketing tactic. Long before we had a name for it, Jell-O and John Deere were out there providing useful content to customers to cultivate relationships. For years after I bought my car I received a magazine from Subaru that had more to do with organic farming and rock climbing than it did with cars. I come back to these points time and time again because it illustrates the timeless nature of content marketing.
When you provide useful information to your customers, they will always appreciate it. The format and delivery methods may change, but the goal is the same. Prove yourself to be a valuable and trustworthy source of information, and you will always have an audience.
