Content marketing is considered as “the new black” in marketing and advertising. A lot of brands and businesses have made it a huge part of their marketing arsenal. It not only gave companies a lot more mileage but it also created thousands, if not millions, of jobs around the world in the digital marketing and content creation industries.
This is why it has increased in popularity and became a prominent presence in the fields of advertising and marketing. While it’s not exactly a new thing as it has already been around for years, a lot of people and business owners still do not have a clear understanding of why it is very important today.
Let’s take a look at some of the things that make content creation essential for brands today.
It has the upper hand in traditional advertising.
Like it or not, the efficacy of traditional advertising, such as TV ads, print media, and other traditional formats, has gone down significantly over the years.
With the proliferation of fraudulent ads and even ad blockers, marketers are faced with the unique challenge to make significant connections with their target markets.
Their dilemma is no longer about reaching far and wide because the internet has already provided a lot of open doors for them to connect to millions of people. No. Their main hurdle right now is how to reach consumers in new and creative ways that are not threatening and annoying.
Content marketing allows marketers to have a fresh approach that is educational, informative and adds value to the product in ways traditional advertising cannot.
Imagine what your site or social media account would look like without content.
The internet has come a long way from how it used to be since the internet became accessible to the public. Web sites are no longer just about having some sort of digital presence. Site owners no longer maintain that passive stance where they just wait for traffic to come to their sites.
Content gives brands and businesses the chance to be aggressive and go after their target market in non-threatening ways.
Just imagine any website or social media account with no content? No articles, no videos, no nothing. Any platform that is empty and vacant will not get any visits at all. And websites and social media accounts need those visits for businesses to reach as many people as they can and educate them about their products.
The culture of content creation is an empowering culture.
Content is beneficial to a lot of people in different ways. The brands and businesses that utilize content aren’t the only ones that reap its rewards nor is it only for marketers.
Content originates from different aspects of an organization. From the executive to product development to HR to sales to customer service, people within an organization can be publishers.
Basically, anyone with a phone and access to the internet can speak on behalf of a brand, whether they’re employees or not.
For instance, a car dealership marketing plan may seem like it will only benefit the dealer. While it is true that dealerships can get a good return for content marketing, the real winners of this deal are actually both the dealership and the prospective buyers.
Remember that content marketing is all about education and information, not just promotion.
Content marketing that is executed well for this particular car dealership will give customers and prospective buyers all the information they need that’s related to cars like where to look for the best deals, how to troubleshoot car problems, different ways to raise funds to buy a car, and a whole lot more.
The bottom line here is that content marketing is beneficial to brands because of the traffic it brings; to digital marketers because of the jobs it provides; to employees, because it gives them a voice; and to current and prospective customers because of the information it gives.
It gives brands opportunities to be relevant.
Content marketing allows brands to address consumers’ questions and concerns about their products and their line of business. By giving consumers what they need instead of force-feeding them with hard-sell ads, brands can strategically put themselves in a better position and edge out the competition. The ability to make yourself totally relevant is something that traditional advertising cannot do without the hard sell.
Content marketing, given the reasons stated above, is here to stay. It is not going anywhere in the near future. It will find ways to adapt to the changing times and continue to serve both businesses and consumers in practical and relevant ways.
