You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘content is king’ and if you’ve been looking at ways to market your business, I’m pretty sure you’ve been seeing a lot about content marketing.

But what is content marketing and does it really matter?

Well, you know words are powerful – they can engage, enrage, make you laugh or bring you to tears. They can tell stories, paint pictures and they can sell. Boy, can they sell! I don’t think anyone would be terribly surprised to learn just how critically important content is to their marketing efforts.

But let’s dive in and answer some basic questions about content marketing

Q: What is content marketing?
A: In content marketing businesses use content (also known as copy, text or video, but you can call it ‘whatever word your company uses’) to attract and engage customers and/or prospects. A good formal definition can be found over at Wikipedia:

 “Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases.”

The overall objective of content marketing is to create a profitable action by your customer – simply meaning that they buy from you. But before that event occurs, content marketing is all about educating your customer and solving their problems. It’s about building relationships with your customers or prospects.

The result? They get to know you, like you, trust you and they reward you with their business.

Q: How do I deliver content marketing?
A: Your content plays an integral role in your marketing efforts year-round. How you use content marketing depends on how your customers and potential customers prefer to absorb information. Ultimately, your overall marketing strategy and your online marketing strategy will determine how your company will use content marketing.

Your content marketing strategy may include your website, social media platforms, blog, email marketing, newsletters, articles, video, custom magazines, landing pages, whitepapers, case studies, webinars, podcasts, free reports,  tutorials, and workshops – among other types of content.

Q: Why is content so important?
A: Content is what keeps people engaged. If your website hasn’t changed in six years, it’s out-of-date. Your potential customers will visit and learn about you, but they have no incentive to revisit your static website again, which means you won’t be ‘top of mind’ when it comes time for them to become someone’s customer.

Fresh, informative content gives them a reason to come back over and over again…and the more contact they have with you, the more likely they are to trust and – eventually – buy from you.

Q: What type of content should I share?
A: Your best bet is to share the answers to questions you consistently hear from customers. Another great source of content is the information your customers and prospects are looking for on the web.

For example, an online business selling automotive tires might want to share tips – ‘knowing when your tires need changing or rotating,’ ‘5 tips to improving gas mileage,’ ‘common cleaning chemicals that can damage your tires’…the choices are endless.

Knowing what to share means knowing who your target customer is and the type of information they find most valuable.

Q: Does content marketing work?
A: I know many service business owners react to the thought of sharing information about their business with a resounding: “No way! If I explain to my customers how to do what I do, then they won’t hire me – they’ll just do it themselves.”

Well, yes, that can happen, but you know what?

Those folks most likely weren’t your target clients anyway. And many times, after they’ve tried to do it themselves and it doesn’t quite look right or sound right, they’ll convert to your best clients.

Your target clients, however, will simply hire you without questions – because they understand that you’re the expert. Let’s throw in a few statistics for the non-believers: (Source: Roper Public Affairs “)

• 80% of business decision makers prefer to receive information from a company in articles (or blogs and newsletters) versus an ad
• 70% of business decision makers say that content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company and;
• 60% of business decision makers say that company content helps them make better decisions.

And when it comes to products, it definitely works. Think about how you buy. Companies like Proctor & Gamble, Microsoft, Hubspot, & American Express wouldn’t be using content marketing if it didn’t work!

Successful marketing and increased sales is all about building and maintaining relationships. If you aren’t feeding your customers and prospects information they find valuable, they have little incentive to stay connected with you.

How often do you add content your customers find interesting to your website and social media channels?