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How Content Marketing is an Integral Part of Business Development Strategy?
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“Content marketing” are words that get thrown around a lot when talking about search engine ranking. Often, the speaker links them to SEO and business development. content marketing and business are related, But no one really explains the difference between the concept and a content marketing strategy, for example. Most people use the terms interchangeably, even though they are not. What is content marketing? In this article, you will read about its definition. But more importantly, about its role in guiding the audience through the so-called sales funnel. Of course, we will discuss what a sales funnel is and how it relates to business growth as well.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a process. In detail, it involves the creation and distribution of content to attract new customers. When coupled with other tactics, you can use the content to retain customers and offer them special deals. But the prime goal of the content -meaning blog posts, photos, podcasts, status, videos, etc.- is to create brand awareness. In other words, to make your business visible when someone uses a search engine or social media.
How Does It Differ From a Content Marketing Strategy?
Usually, the distributed content leads viewers towards a profitable action. But not every piece of content must include a call to action. Why? Because the process is about nurturing your followers and new audiences. Creating a balanced distribution of valuable content and sensible calls to action over time is what we call a content marketing strategy.
The Sales Funnel
A funnel is a simple tool you fill by pouring a liquid into the top, which filters down to an end destination. Likewise, a sales funnel is a structure that welcomes new visitors and tries to make them come out on the other end. That is, to the purchase of your goods or services.
Content marketing is a simple method to create a sales funnel. After all, you create content and make your company visible. And depending on your content marketing strategy, you will see different business development rates.
A sales funnel has three parts:
- Top of the Funnel. At the top, you can find qualified prospects and casual viewers. The numbers of likes and views tell you how well your SEO and content marketing strategy works.
- Middle of the Funnel. During this phase, potential customers go through a series of steps to become customers. It may involve putting a link to your product or other web pages, depending on the complexity of the chosen strategy.
- Bottom of the Funnel. At this point, it is all about the final step that converts prospects into buyers. It focuses on sales management strategies.
The Buyer’s Journey
A sales funnel is only successful when you understand the buyer’s journey. That is, how people search for content and end up buying products that relate to their needs. Sometimes, people buy things they do not need on impulse. But the majority of times, they search and find specific solutions to their problems. This is why we have to focus on SEO in the first place.
- People mainly search for solutions to their problems and not only products.
- They may turn to diverse content because emotions sell better than dull lists of features. For clarity, they seek motivation.
- Sometimes, they just want the hottest product or follow a trend. So, they search for information and educational content.
From Simple SEO To Business Development
When you integrate SEO into your content marketing strategy and use a sales funnel to mimic the buyer’s journey, you increase traffic and conversion rate. The whole idea is to create the ideal setting for the visitor to take action by focusing on:
- Awareness. At the top of the funnel, content marketing means creating videos and posting articles to appear on search engine result pages. People find the blog, site, or social media profile that hosts your content.
- Consideration. To explain, the visitors receive or access case studies, ebooks, or image galleries that provide all the necessary steps to initiate the last phase. At the middle of the funnel lie the means to gain potential customers’ trust.
- Conversion. Helping interested viewers take that final step that results in profit and, ultimately, business development. For example, offering a free consultation or special discount to get nearer to that last, precious yes.
Focusing on increasing the SEO rank without a proper strategy will result in many clicks but no customers. On the other hand, a well-designed sales funnel without fresh content cannot attract traffic on its own. The hard part is to find that perfect balance. And this is why most people prefer to hire professionals to save time and recover the investment faster.
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash