Let’s say you want to remodel your house starting with your kitchen. Now let’s say you had the chance to line up two contractors side by side almost as if it were a presidential debate. You pose a question like, “What’s the best type of tile for my kitchen?”

You’re going to then listen to their answers and whoever has the best reply will probably win your business. But let’s go even further. Let’s say that when you ask the question, one of the contractors simply holds up a sign that reads, “Kitchen Experts-Free Estimate-Call Us Today” but doesn’t actually say anything.

Crazy right? Well this is exactly what’s happening in the world on online marketing. Businesses who are using content marketing, like a well written blog post or a step-by-step video, are dominating the businesses who do nothing more than pay for a 15 word ad only visible in the pay-per-click section of your browser.

People go to the internet to find solutions to their problems. Maybe they want a new kitchen for example. The person or business that successfully provides that solution is going to get the business every time.

This is the world of content marketing and it’s rising in popularity. In fact, many marketing firms are using content marketing more and more as a way to generate new business.

Content marketing consists mainly of blog posts, articles, white papers, videos (my personal favorite), powerpoint slides, photos, podcasts, online radio programs, and more. It’s any content that’s created by your company with the end goal of capturing more leads and sales.

Here are 8 really good reasons that illustrate why content marketing is one of the best ways to grow your business:

1. Demonstrates Your Expertise – nothing could be more convincing to a potential customer than actually showing them you know the solution to their problem! Maybe they need a new roof, or to get their dog to stop peeing on the carpet, or to learn Spanish. By actually demonstrating your knowledge through sharing your content, you’re going to land the deal every time.
2. Know, Like, and Trust – we all know we do business with people we know, like, and trust. By sharing your content, it gives potential customers a chance to get to know you. Through giving away your knowledge, it almost makes them feel indebted to you. You certainly become top of mind when it comes time to make a purchasing decision.
3. Cost Effective – most people know marketing online is a much more inexpensive than marketing through traditional channels like TV, radio, and print. But with content marketing, most of the time you don’t even have to pay! This results in huge advertising savings for you.
4. Always Working – once your content is up, it’s up for as long as the internet sticks around. In fact, many businesses have reported getting new customers from content they published even years prior. Contrast that to a paid ad that comes and goes depleting your ad budget and leaving sales reps wondering where their leads are.
5. Search Engine Optimization – no matter how many times the major search engines change things around, good content will always reign supreme. Keyword rich content helps your website rank better in the search engines because it’s doing what people are going online to do – find a solution. This is also empowering savvy businesses who do more than throw an ad up and hope the phone rings.
6. Quality Content Gets Shared – people like helping each other out and referring them to where they can find answers. By creating and distributing content that solves problems (the reason you’re in business) it has a very good chance of getting seen by huge numbers of people. In some cases it even has the chance of going viral. This may not lead to direct, immediate sales but it leads to brand awareness.
7. Leadership Role – you obviously know what you’re talking about when you share content because, well, you’re talking about it! Do your competitors know just as much as you do? Probably. But are they demonstrating that fact through targeted content marketing? By marketing your content, you have the chance to demonstrate your leadership role in your industry and beat out your competition.
8. Get Quality Leads – the most important job of any marketing activity is to generate leads for your business. Through sharing your quality content, you’ll be able to reach your exact target market. Not only that, by attracting customers through your content, they’re already lining up with your methodologies and it serves as a qualification process for you. This results in only the highest quality leads for you making your sales job much easier.

So, think about your customer. Are they going to choose your simple banner ad or PPC advertising? Or are they going to choose your article or video that exactly answers what they were looking for? It’s a no-brainer.

Put content marketing to work today and watch your business take off.

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