Content Marketing- How is it Profitable to Startups

What is Content Marketing

Content marketing is a marketing technique for creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience, with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Content marketing is creating and sharing valuable content or information to entrap and transform the potential audience into customers.

The sole purpose of content marketing is to create willingness among the prospective customers to purchase products from the company in the future and help retain brand loyalty and provide information to consumers. This relatively new form of marketing does not involve direct sales. Instead, it builds trust and rapport with the audience. Business, especially those who carry out major trade online use content marketing to attract audience and lead them towards a specific goal, to create and increase consumer base, to generate an increase in their online sales by providing relevant information to their audience, to increase awareness and credibility about their services and products and to engage an online community of users.

Content marketing has long been a traditional form of providing information and content to the audience about a particular brand or services. Organisations started using content marketing techniques in the late 19^th century after the rise in technology and communication with the hope of building connections with their customers. The frequency of advertising increased in the 1940s when television was at its popular peak. Businesses were more focused on increasing their sales rather than connecting with the people. But in the 1990s, after the invention of computers and internet, everything changes. Websites, blogs and social media sites began to flourish and gave way to the booming era of content marketing campaigns. E-commerce adaptations and digital distribution became the foundation of marketing strategy.

Internet also helped content marketing become a mainstream form of marketing. Traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, radio and TV started to lose their power in the marketplace. Companies started to promote and sell their products digitally. Content marketing helps build awareness among customers by providing them with all-round information about their needs and how one particular brand or service and satisfy their needs.

Consumers are usually unaware of what they need or what could help them solve certain problems. Advertising is just bombarding its audience with the brand name and its uses. It does not reach the deeper level of understanding its costumer’s needs and molding their expectations accordingly. According to research, the buying cycle has four steps-

1. Awareness- Prior to awareness a customer may have a need, but they are not aware there is a solution.
2. Research- Once a customer is aware there is a solution, they will perform research to educate themselves. For example, a car buyer will try to find out what different types of cars exist, and which one will fit their needs.
3. Consideration- At this point the customer starts comparing different products from different vendors to make sure they’re getting a high quality product at a fair price.
4. Buy- Finally, the customer makes their decision and moves forward with the transaction.

Content marketing helps business in the first two steps, to create awareness among its consumers about their needs and to prompt them to research and look for a solution to their needs. Whereas, advertising plays a more crucial role in the last two steps of comparing two products and ultimately purchasing them.

The Different Types of Content Marketing

• Blogs- Blog writing was originally started as a form of online journal or diary which consisted of a collection of posts which were short, informal, sometimes controversial and deeply personal. During recent years, the function of writing a blog for advertising and marketing has grown tremendously. A blog written for advertising and marketing purposes typically consist of a combination of texts, subtitles, digital images, links to other blogs and web pages and other media related to this topic. Blog content plays a major role in providing information to its readers, meanwhile attracting them towards that particular brand or company. Online businesses which mainly carry out their trades online and wishing to advertise their services or products use this medium of blog writing to inform and educate their readers about everything related to their subject or topic.

• Websites/Webpages- Web content refers to textual, visual and aural content published on a website. Web content is the key to targeting a specific audience for marketing purposes. Website content writing usually has bullet points which convey a clear message to its readers. The language is purely technical and to the point and does not have room for any elaborate writing. As the purpose of website writing is to educate its audience about its services and products, the content is written in the form of subtitles, bullet points and keywords which their readers can later use to search in the search engines.

• Images and Videos- Images and videos play a major role in attracting customers instantly. The text provides detailed information to its audience but colourful images and videos play a major role in attracting and catching the eye of the customers at a glance. Images and videos are also a powerful medium for providing visual information to its online consumers. They help the consumers get an idea of the products and services, especially regarding their looks and variety and a videos gives them the clarity of how a product works or what services that particular organisation is providing. A website which has a rich gallery which is filled with photos and videos related to the organisation attracts more audience as compared to a purely textual website.

• Social media sites (Facebook/Twitter)- In today’s technologically frenzied world, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter play a major role in attracting and retaining a customer base. People now have the ease of accessing social media sites from anywhere in the world through phones, tabs or laptops. This gives content marketing an opportunity to constantly update the audience with latest news and information about a particular business or organisation. Businesses can boost their products and services by creating a business page on Facebook or by frequently tweeting about new updates on Twitter.

How Content Marketing  Works

As we discussed before, the main goal of content marketing is to provide appropriate information to the online audience about a particular business. In order to do so, it is very important to have a step by step structured plan on how to create the best form of content which will attract and retain a maximum customer base. Content marketing strategies may vary according to the type of business, the characteristics of the target audience and nature and form of the content. But a general outline as to how the content marketing strategies and planning works is as follows-

1. The first and the foremost step is to identify and research content opportunities of value to the target audience. Creating a list of content ideas and topics to write about must be the beginning of any content marketing planning. The content that we choose must be relevant to the client’s business and must catch the eye of the target audience. Creating a mind map with all the ideas and topics goes a long way in carving a clear path for us to work on. Researching the marketing needs of the organisation as well as the needs of the consumers and incorporating this in the content is of utmost importance. Listing and mind mapping all the ideas help us to keep a stock of topics to be updated regularly online.
2. The second step is to regularly write and create content from the list that we have created of the potential topics and then publish it on the businesses website. The regular updates with new information helps to keep the online audience hooked to the page as they actively read the new information which helps to increase the customer base of the organisation.
3. The next step is to follow good search engine optimisation (SEO) publishing guidelines so our content is findable in search. The biggest and the most popular search engine is Google. It provides its researchers with ennumber of options when they put in the research keywords. But the users generally do not go beyond the first page of options as these are considered to be best. Therefore, it is very important to follow the SEO guidelines for our content to appear at the top of the search.
4. The fourth step is to incorporate an appropriate call to actions at the end of our content to further engage visitors. This could include newsletter sign ups, registration links or contact details with an email address. This helps to lead the potential customers towards the action of actually contacting the organisation to buy their products or consume their services.
5. The last step is to communicate our content via appropriate social media posts such as Facebook, Twitter or Whatsapp. The appropriate marketing of our content must be done through social media posts as they are the most powerful medium of reaching a large audience. We can also communicate our content through email marketing and newsletters. It is our ultimate goal to reach as much potential audience as possible through different mediums of communication.

How Content Marketing is Profitable for Businesses

Content marketing can prove to be extremely beneficial for any business. Especially for a new startup, people are unaware of its products and services as it is brand new and yet undiscovered. Content marketing helps new start-ups to reach more people and let them know about this new business in market which can be the solution for all their needs. 

It describes and paints the new organisation or business as very appealing and brings to the costumer’s notice its creativity and updated services. Thus, content marketing can boost the new businesses to make them popular among the online audience and can be profitable for start-ups. It helps them to earn more engagement by engaging the audience in the brand and website. Consistent high-quality content helps the start-ups to get repeat visitors, increases the time people spend on their site and decreases bounce rate, an important SEO factor. It’s about giving people what they want, desire and value. With the new and advanced technology, many digital tools such as 3D images and virtual tours can be used to make sure that potential customers stay longer on the site and are impressed by its unique approach.

If people like the content may it be textual or digital, and are impressed by it, they are very likely to share and recommend it to people around them which helps the business to gain more customers. Content marketing also helps to build credibility through consistency.  Through a consistent flow of updated information, business can increase and retain interest and credibility among consumers. It also helps to stimulate consumer interest with good and persuasive content. Content marketing helps start-ups to build a solid trust with its customers by being transparent about their transactions and giving them all the information they need.

Customers begin to trust the products and services through testaments given by other consumers online, case studies provided on the website and other informative, experienced content. Content marketing plays a major role in increasing conversion rates and sales. Companies that invest in content marketing have higher conversion rates, more leads and sales than those who don’t. The website conversion rate is nearly six times higher for content marketing adopters than non-adopters.

Content marketing generates 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing. Brands that create 15 blog posts per month average create 1,200 new leads per month. Companies that produce great content are often viewed as premium. That’s why they’re able to sell their products or services for much more than others on the market. Content marketing also lends a major hand in creating and spreading brand awareness.

Thus, content marketing can prove to be advantageous for businesses especially start-ups. Content marketing came into existence in the late 1990s and has developed tremendously in the past decade. But as it is still a relatively new concept, it still has a lot to change. Content marketing has brought a change in the way businesses operated and it has completely taken over the digital world. May it be a small business or a multinational corporation; they all use the medium of content marketing to boost their trade.

Content marketing provides start-ups with many positive aspects such as building interest and credibility in the consumers through good and persuasive content, it helps the businesses to build trust and loyalty among its customers through reliable content and personal experiences, it builds brand awareness and helps them to increase their conversion rates and sales. All of this can be done through strategic content marketing. Every business is different, and so it's strategic planning, publicity and outcomes will differ. Choosing the right path and benefits that make sense at different stages of the business will help ensure maximum profitability.

“Traditional marketing is telling the world you are a rock star. Content marketing is showing that you are one”- Robert Rose