Why Content Marketing is so Hot Right Now

DIY Sprocket Solutions

Nobody wants to be pitched to, sold to, advertised at, etc. We’ve been there. We’ve seen and done that. We are in the age of fast forwarding through every commercial –to the point where watching live TV can be downright painful. We skip computer ads. We hang up on telemarketers. We don’t have time for that. We know what we want and, if we’re looking for a certain product or service, we’ll go find it for it ourselves thank you very much. Enter content marketing.

What is content marketing, you ask? Don’t overthink it. This is content marketing. Right here. This article that you are reading. I have created original content on a subject relevant to this brand and relevant to what my customer base is looking for. Boom. I’m not trying to sell you something. I’m educating you on a subject that you might need to know about for your own company or brand. However, I can promote this particular blog article on all my social media outlets and link you right back here to our website –instead of linking you to a similar article on someone else’s site. Maybe while you’re here you’ll poke around and decide that you need our services or one of our products. Perhaps you’ll find that content marketing is a service we offer. You see, that’s the benefit for us. The benefit to you is education on a subject you want/need to know more about. Voilà! I’ve created original content to benefit my customer base.

You can do this with any subject. What is your business? What is your brand? What is it that your customers want to learn from you? What questions might they have? These are all potential doors to open to create original content beneficial to your own customers.

Now, let’s break down why it is exactly that content marketing is so hot right now:

• Content marketing helps customers/clients feel closer to the sponsoring company –there is less separation
• Instead of selling to your customers, you are providing information to them that is catered to their needs
• Content is key to driving inbound traffic and leads (especially from social media accounts)
• Marketing is impossible without great content
• It adds positive value to your website and online presence when your site is continually updated with fresh content

It just works. The purpose of content marketing is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content and providing that content to consumers. The consumers learn from that content and make some sort of change moving forward –which leads to a benefit to your company. 

Ex: A tire company starts a blog. In addition to advertising their tire sale, they write a blog post about the importance of changing your tires and signs to look for to know when it’s time for a change. Meanwhile, you are sitting at home one day thinking your tires may need to be changed, but you’re not exactly sure. You poke around online and find this article, you go to the site and read about the signs of worn tires, you realize your tires need to be replaced, and you then buy new tires. If the strategy was perfectly executed, you would go back to that same company to purchase your tires. See what they did there?

Content marketing isn’t in your face. You’re not muting the TV or furiously clicking “skip advertisement”. Consumers go out looking for information that they need –companies just have to find a way to use that need to a) benefit customers and b) benefit themselves.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Feel free to comment below!

This article has been updated on 8/3/2021 with the article entitled “Content Marketing Is Still a Thing - and Worth Your Efforts.” 

Breanne BannonBreanne Bannon

Breanne is a Content Writer, Social Media Marketeer, and Sales Associate for Sprocket Websites.

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