Why You Need to Embrace Content Marketing

Today’s savvy consumers have learned to tune out sales pitches.

They fast-forward through commercials on their DVRs; they use pop-up blockers online; they sign up for the Do Not Call registry to keep from having to answer telemarketers.

Is it any wonder that B2B advertising messages can no longer effectively reach the same people when they’re thinking about buying your web design services?

No, of course not. But here’s another question: If your potential customers aren’t making purchasing decisions based on traditional advertising and marketing, how are they deciding what meets their company’s buying criteria?

You already know the answer to this one. Search engines have completely changed the marketing landscape by enabling consumers to find the information they want, precisely when they want it.

As a web professional, you’re no longer in control… Your potential client is.

And in order to effectively reach and influence those prospects, you need to provide them with the information they’re seeking.

That’s where content marketing comes in. By producing and publishing a steady stream of blog posts, articles, infographics, e-books, podcasts, images, videos, webinars, and more, you’re doing two things.

First, you’re exponentially increasing the chances that the search engines will discover—and index—your site.

Second, you’re providing exactly the kind of content that informs, engages, and builds trust with potential clients.

By creating content that can be found, instead of content that seeks to interrupt, you’re encouraging clients to start and build relationships with you because they want to…not because they made the mistake of making eye contact with you at a networking event.

The effort you put into that valuable, educational content will reflect directly on your company and demonstrate that you can be trusted.

Just as important, you can use it to show that you know what matters to your potential client’s business—a differentiator that can help you stand out when you’re selling against another web pro.

Be warned, though… You can’t just create content for content’s sake. In order to be effective, your content marketing must be informative, relevant, and useful to your intended audience. So you’ll want to take the time to develop an effective content marketing strategy before you get started, focusing on your target audience, their information needs, and your business goals.

Paradoxically, however, the more valuable content you give away, the more deals you’ll close. Marketing has been turned on its head, and the web pros who are going to rise to the top are the ones who offer the most content without asking for anything in return.