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After our successful 4-part mini-series on Digital Marketing, I would like to introduce to you our newest SCA partner William Boland from Tailored Concepts www.tailoredconcepts.com.au

Ex-Army Officer and Executive, William brings a vast range of skills to SCA. He has a strong background working with SMEs, government, and not-for-profit organisations; successfully helping organisations to cut through the online noise, boosting brand authority and sales conversation rates.

According to the 2018 Telstra Small Business Intelligence Report, 83% of customers say the search is important when finding or considering a business, yet only 26% of small businesses currently use SEO and only 9% use Search Engine Marketing. This means that many businesses, (potentially yours,) are missing out on some fruitful opportunities to boost their businesses online.

The Importance of Content in Digital Marketing by William Boland, Tailored Concepts, www.tailoredconcepts.com.au, 1 August 2019

If the consistent written content is not a key part of your digital marketing strategy, then you’re barely even in the race. With so many entities competing for consumer attention in a highly contested online space, not only do you need to get noticed, but you need to effectively engage and gain trust.

Hubspot’s 2019 Content Marketing Statistics Survey found that businesses which prioritise content generation through blogging efforts are 13 times more likely to see a positive return on marketing investment.

These kinds of statistics paint a fairly compelling picture, worthy of more exploration. So, let’s look at 5 reasons why such content needs to be at the sharp end of your brand’s digital existence.

1. Boosts search engine performance

In recent years, Google has made a concerted effort to refine its search engine’s ability to match search queries with the most relevant information. Keywords still certainly play their part, but Google cares about context, usefulness and the quality of written content more than ever. Within this context, if you’re not creating written content on a regular basis, the chances of your business being discovered and driving organic traffic to your website are greatly impeded. On top of this, if your competitors are cranking out the content and ranking higher, chances are the potential customers will be caught in their net further upstream.

Not only does Google look favorably upon the freshness of this consistently produced content, but it also provides an opportunity to internally link within your site, further increasing your ascent up the SERP rankings. Furthermore, Google sees higher levels of on-site time as a key indicator of valuable content. So, the more useful and interesting your content, the more likely visitors will hang around on your site and contribute to the optimisation.

2. Brand awareness and authority

It’s not just Google rankings you’re influencing with your content. It’s also the perception your target market has of your business. By sharing interesting industry-related information and insights, you are showcasing your brand’s position at the cutting-edge of industry trends and developments. It also allows your brand to share valuable knowledge that can help readers make a more educated decision that they feel good about. By helping guide them on their consumer journey to a smarter purchasing decision, you are working to build trust and confidence in your brand. By consistently publishing content, you are also telegraphing that your business is active and vibrant, serving as a direct reflection of your success and trustworthiness as a business.

3. Strengthen customer relationships and brand loyalty

Depending on your business model, providing compelling content doesn’t stop after leads start becoming customers. With brand awareness and authority achieved, quality written content can flow on to give rise to brand loyalty, building a customer-base following as well as increasing repeat sales and growth. Written content such as blog posts and email newsletters give you a unique opportunity to share your voice in a more informal manner, allowing a deeper connection with your audience. You can tantalise your readership with exclusive information that they won’t find anywhere else. Give them a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your business, sharing your milestones and bringing them along for the journey. Some followers could go on to become powerful brand advocates. In the background, new buds will likely appear on the tree as your subscription list grows. If consumers taste a sample of your written insights through engaging content, they’ll be much more inclined to feel that your digital newsletters are worth investing their precious time in.

4. Gain insights into your customer-base

The production of content and follow-on monitoring of its journey is another huge benefit of cranking that content wheel. After publishing, you can analyse the performance of posts and see which ones achieved the greatest traction amongst your readership. It can also serve as an excellent wind-sock, informing the themes and style of content to come. In addition to this, content platforms like website blog posts create an opportunity for 2-way communication through comments. Issues of interest or concern can be aired by readers and then clarified. Of course, there is the risk of adverse comments. However, better such matters get knocked on the head on a platform you control, as opposed to a third-party forum. Far better also to be aware of otherwise unknown problems that could be white-anting your brand in the shadows.

Best of all, positive comments become a vehicle of free and unsolicited testimonials and referrals. Seeing the positive words of a satisfied customer-base could be that last nudge a visitor needs before conversion.

5. Generate new leads and improve conversions

Content generation allows you to reach out and draw passes by back to your business. This lead generation is critical for SMEs that rely on consistent traffic to grow their brand and boost sales.

Every time you publish written content, you’re creating material that can be easily shared on social media channels, next to your other platforms. Not only is it stimulating your SEO performance, but it’s then being cast out to hook those with interest before coaxing them back to your website or landing page. Depending on where they are on their journey through the sales funnel, you’ve then got your lead for hopeful conversion into a customer.  To give your content the best chance for conversion, be sure to build-in a clear call-to-action (CTA). Guide the reader to the next step in the conversion process, whether that be getting a quote, subscribing to further information or making a purchase.

Hopefully, this article has provided some good context on the integral importance of content marketing to your business growth. If you’d like to learn more about digital marketing, just give us a call.

Synergy Consulting Australia provides a large range of business consulting services which includes 4IR, Legal, Accounting, Marketing, Project Management, Migration services and many more tailored business solutions. This also includes full market research and feasibility report before investing. www.synergyaustralia.com.au

Synergy Consulting Australia is led by Ilona Solinska. Ilona has over 19 years of international business consulting experience.  She is a successful Business Growth Strategist, Educator, Keynote speaker, and Writer. Ilona has coached hundreds of businesses in the area of Marketing, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Operation, Change & Project Management and is a highly sought-after presenter on a wide variety of business topics.