Does your business have a content marketing strategy?

If you have a business website, then you had better provide good content for your visitors. Most online businesses are familiar with the term “content is king” in regards to making a website popular, but it is becoming increasingly true for online marketing as well.

Content marketing is fast becoming a very popular approach on the Internet, and is one of the foundations of success for any business wanting an authoritative website and the benefits that go with it. Content marketing refers to the technique of placing quality content on your website for the purpose of engaging your prospects and customers. The strategy behind this is that by delivering high quality and valuable information, you will build a positive long term relationship with your visitors. Once your potential customers view you as a friend, they are more likely to trust you, and therefore more likely to buy from you.

Great fresh content is what attracts regular visitors to a site. When I think about all my favourite websites that I visit regularly, one of the primary reasons that keeps me coming back is to read their latest interesting posts. When visiting a new website, within the first few minutes I will size up the quality of their content and determine whether it is of value and interest to me. I won’t be back if the content isn’t relevant and useful.

There’s no doubt about it, great content entices you to a website like a bear to a honey pot. If I enjoyed reading good quality content on a website, then the business has probably gained my trust even from just a few quick visits. It’s also likely that the business’s brand will stick in my mind better, and that I would have bookmarked the website’s URL for repeat visits.

If I continue to enjoy reading content on a website, my next step is usually to subscribe to their email newsletter to receive regular news and updates. I have also hopefully not been bombarded with any off putting high level sales pitch to buy the company’s products or services yet. Over time, I will continue to read their newsletters and visit their website, and when I am ready to purchase a product, I am likely to buy it through their company. All because I appreciate the content the company has provided for me, I have come to trust what they have to say, and I believe that they will be a good company to purchase from.

I like the approach of content marketing versus the more traditional methods of marketing because it is less invasive. The customer gets to enjoy reading content on a business’s website, and the business gets to build a positive relationship over time with the customer. There’s no need to resort to hard selling your readers.

I’d much rather make a sound purchasing decision based on credibility, trust and buying from a friend versus having been pitched to or interrupted to sell me something that I possibly wasn’t interested in anyway, from someone I don’t know, and so would a lot of Internet users. Many businesses are becoming increasingly aware of this fact, and finding the Internet to be the perfect place to build a long term relationship with their prospective customers.