Is Content Marketing Just Another Fad?

There’s a lot of noise out there in the digital marketing world that content marketing is the ‘big thing’ if you want to dominate your marketplace. But is it something new or has content marketing been around for awhile and now seems to be getting more airplay. For businesses and solepreneurs we look at this ‘latest’ rock star of digital marketing and ask if it really has value or is just another fad cooked up by a couple of slick marketers wanting to sell us more stuff. And let’s face it, as business owners we are already jammed pack with gizmos and gadgets to supposedly make us …..rich.

How Long Has Content Marketing Been Around?

Most likely it was not referred to as content marketing but Michelin tyres established a guide to dining out at restaurants over 100 years ago. The Michelin tyre company knew travellers would appreciate great knowledge on the best restaurants in an area as they motored around. The Michelin guide became famous and when the traveller needed new tyres the name Michelin was top of their mind. Ingenious marketing!

So should you adopt a content marketing plan to brand your company? Here’s 5 reasons why we say YES.

5 Ways Content Marketing Will Benefit You

1. Outshine Your Competitors
   A great way to distinguish yourself from your competitors is to produce keyword dense articles, blog posts and videos that deliver value to your targeted audience. Keywords sourced via free tools like Google’s Adwords Keyword Planner are great but it’s important to have a plan that  shows relevancy for what you produce so you can connect with your audience.
2. Get More Website Visitors
   Google loves traffic and rewards you with better rankings making it easier to be found. If you are an author in the mystery thriller genre, you need to produce content around that topic.But great articles aren’t enough to be found. It’s a long process for the natural algorithms to find your ‘brilliant work’. Great posts require a push and you’ll need to share your content on social media, article directory sites and even run some online ads to boost your reach. The good thing though is that once found,  your content will continue to produce great traffic to your website for a long time (but not necessarily forever)
3. Build Your Brand
   As your content marketing strategy takes shape you you start dominating your market, so too will your brand improve. Your name or company will become synonymous with highly valued content that people crave.
4. Getting Customers To Buy Easily
   Content builds trust. Your audience likes you and they feel more secure when it comes to the time for them to buy something. Content that has already answered their questions gets them to the buying stage more quickly. A great read is They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan which spells out a great plan for you to follow.
5. Boost Your SEO
   Great articles produce opportunities to create more links back to your site. Relevant backlinks are great for SEO.

Ok so we can see why content marketing is important and it doesn’t look like a fad since Michelin got ‘into it’ about a hundred years ago, but who’s using it today?

I’ve already mentioned Marcus Sheridan but there are a ton of companies and marketers using content marketing to build their business. Most major companies like McDonalds, Coca Cola, General Electric regularly produce great content. In my local area Hays Consulting, Brisbane Marketing, Universal Store, CANSTAR, John Wiley & Sons, MAX Solutions and MCM Digital just to name a few.

Online marketers like Neil Patel and Digital Marketer are leaders in producing great content that reaps outstanding rewards for them. And then there’s the direct response marketers Dan Kennedy and Frank Kern who’ve flooded the market for decades with their products and services.

Is content marketing a fad? Is it the next ‘big thing’. Time tells us NO! You had better jump on board

*********************************************************************************************

Discover How I Got 3069 Reader Subscribers In Just 7 Days – FREE Report out now!

*********************************************************************************************