Why content marketing can really boost your business
Blogging, articles, insights, profiles, case studies, white papers, infographics, videos … content marketing has quickly become an industry standard …and yet I still see professional services firms continuing to neglect it within their own strategies.
In professional services, developing content should be easy. You’re paid to give advice. You train your team to research, discover and advise – so taking this a step further and turning it into digital content is not such a giant step.
Content marketing isn’t going anywhere. It has quickly become a valuable form of digital marketing and is growing firm profiles the world over. The benefits are numerous; so let’s go over some of the most important reasons why content marketing can really boost your business.
Business explanations
First and foremost, content marketing can introduce your clients to your firm. When someone performs a web search on a topic and happens across a client case study, it may be their first introduction to your firm. Your marketing content should give them a pretty good idea of your firm’s approach and how you work with clients to achieve their goals.
Client support and benefit
Continuing on from this idea, your firm’s blog will typically offer value to your audience in a variety of ways. Tips, tricks, advice, case studies – all of these types of content showcase the support you offer the clients that you already have. They are proof that you are capable and can deliver.
It’s also important to consider your marketing content as an illustration of the benefits you can provide to someone, whether they’re a current client or not. This can bolster your firm’s value with current clients while simultaneously providing an indirect sales pitch to non-client audience members.
Delivering outcomes
Objectives are important in content marketing. Your strategies can’t be wholly focused on ‘what’ you do, but also on ‘why’ this is useful to your client. Your blog is where you illustrate the promises you intend to make to your clients, while also explaining how you plan on keeping them.
Personal touches
Your firm’s content marketing should, of course, focus on your business — but that doesn’t exclude blog posts from dissecting businesses down to their individual parts. Introducing yourself and others on a business blog or profiling them on your website adds a human element to content marketing, and business humanisation is extremely important in modern marketing.
Lead generation
Finally, your blog posts and content marketing should be individual lead generating machines. Including CTAs, or ‘calls to action’, in your blog posts can drive your lead statistics through the roof. A great blog engages your audience, delivers value and then offers an incentive to explore that value for them… by generating a lead.
Are you avoiding content marketing? If so, then why?
We’re at a point in the world of marketing where firms can’t simply ignore content as a vehicle for boosting sales, leads, visibility and a ton of other metrics. Skipping out on content strategies means you’re likely doing your business more harm than good.