Some businesses are struggling today. They’re losing business, and as a general business rules goes, you have to keep adding new customers to continue growing.
Where can you get new customers today?
Many businesses are finding new customers with content marketing.
New Customers And The Next Generation
A natural progression for any business is that your business ages with your customer. In order to keep growing, you have to attract the younger generation.
Research shows that 93% of young adults (ages 18-29 years old) are actively online, and of those young adult users, 72% of them are on social networking sites, Facebook being the most popular.
The Internet now plays a part in millions of lives around the world, and consumers are leveraging it in all sorts of different ways. Some are using it to be social. Others rely on it for research and information. Many more use it to save time by purchasing products online without having to step foot from their homes.
The Internet provides an opportunity to reach consumers and increase sales with content marketing.
If your business is struggling, implementing a content marketing strategy might just be the cure-all for your problems.
Here are five reasons established enterprises and startups are using content marketing to get new customers.
1) Content Marketing Is A Cost Efficient Way To Advertise
Like advertising, content marketing has a cost.
But unlike advertising, the content you publish online lives there forever. For example, if you a certain amount for an online advertisement it would last the length of the contract. With something like a blog post, you could spend the same amount (or the equivalent in time) and the post would last forever.
Online content attracts new potential customers through various channels including social media, search, email and more. You put in the effort to build an audience. Then the audience helps you promote each new piece of content. You earn each person’s trust by providing helpful content and they return the favor by becoming customers and by helping share your content with more potential customers.
And not only do you get more for your investment with content marketing, you reach more people. According to Neil Patel (founder of KISSmetrics and QuickSprout), 70% of consumers learn about a company through its blog versus ads.
Action Steps:
- Identify your (new) target customer
- Create a budget for content marketing
- Start creating helpful content for your target customer; content that is better than anything else currently published on the topic
2) Content Marketing Increases Your Website’s Visibility
Having a good presence on the web isn’t an option anymore. It’s a requirement.
More than 80% of the online population has purchased something on the Internet, and 73% of those consumers say they do it because it saves them time.
Naturally, these time-sensitive consumers are buying from the most convenient, most visible sites.
If consumers have to jump through virtual hoops to find to you, they’re not going to bother looking.
Having good visibility is imperative to your organization’s success, and online marketing is the best way to increase that visibility.
Content marketing allows you to be in the places your customers are looking.
Action steps:
- Determine your current online visibility using tools like Marketing Grader, MajesticSEO, and SpyderMate
- Identify common keywords in your industry
- Identify long-tail keywords in your industry
- Create a content calendar for each keyword – determine what keywords deserve blog posts, videos, evergreen content, etc.
- Bonus: Keep these tips in mind
3) Content Marketing Helps You Build Better Relationships
Getting new customers is the focus of this article, but today’s customers seem to be less loyal than in the past.
The Internet is great, but it also provides choice.
So you have to focus on getting new customers and keeping them.
Some experts say that a 2% increase in customer retention actually has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10 percent.
Relationships are really that important. It’s not just about the first sale; it’s about a customer’s lifetime value, which you can only capitalize on if you have relationships with your customers. Online marketing provides the perfect channel to interact with them and build these relationships.
The marketing landscape has changed. People don’t want to be talked at anymore. They want to be apart of the conversation. Every consumer has a voice online and they want to be heard. They’ll appreciate it if you take the time to hear them and to interact with them.
Giving away free information on a blog or providing timely customer service via Twitter are two simple marketing strategies that can make all the difference for your customer relationships. It’s not just how people view your products anymore. It’s how they view your organization as a whole.
Do they trust you?
Do you have an active relationship with them?
An content marketing strategy can help you answer, “Yes.”
Action Steps:
- Find out where your customers are hanging out online
- Do they use certain hashtags (see Twubs)? Are they looking at certain blogs? Using certain forums?
- Stop selling and start interacting – answer questions with social updates, blog posts, videos and more
4) Content Marketing Allows You To Maintain Communication
Content marketing helps support and build your email list.
Unlike social media, you have control over the channel with email. You can’t determine the changes Facebook or Twitter will make, but you can control the channel with your email subscribers.
A long list of customer emails provides a great opportunity to keep an open channel of communication with them. People want to hear from you. One study showed that 27% of consumers would prefer their favorite companies to invest more in email. After all, they willingly signed up to receive information in the first place, didn’t they?
It’s hard to understate the power of a good email list. Last year, 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase based on a promotional email.
Even more impressive, one study showed that for every $1 spent, email marketing returns $44.25 on average.
Developing an email list is one of the most beneficial aspects of online marketing. Using that list, you can engage with your customers whenever you want, and you can take advantage of their willingness to respond to your interaction with them.
Action Steps:
- Make it easier for customers to sign up for information (don’t know where to put the signup box on your site? This will help)
- Create content that has value to your customers; we’ve mentioned that you can start a blog. Use blog content in your email. Also provide additional tips and helpful information exclusively for email subscribers.
- Be consistent with your communication so consumers know when to expect you each week/month
5) Content Marketing Gives You Credibility
Without credibility everything you say can be questioned. Consumers like to know that they can trust you. There’s a reason people don’t like car salesmen. They don’t think they can trust them.
The Internet is a great platform to improve your organization’s credibility. You can use it to demonstrate your product’s value, your industry knowledge or your area of expertise.
By providing useful information through a blog or a newsletter, you can show that you’re confident in your ability to solve their problems—so confident that you’re not afraid to give out a few tips for free once in awhile.
Similarly, you can publish product testimonials or case studies. You can also interact with consumers and listen to their feedback. If you make an effort to show people that you’re not just listening to suggestions but are actually implementing them, it’ll go a long way toward convincing them that you have their best interests at heart.
Online marketing makes these resources readily available to customers, and as your incredibility improves so will your sales.
Action Steps:
- Open yourself up to suggestions from consumers
- Contact customers you have worked with in the past and ask them for a positive quote you can put on your website
- Even better, interview those customers and design case studies around their issues and how you helped solve them
Final Thoughts
Many businesses are struggling because they’re not taking advantage of the opportunities that the Internet provides. Millions of people are on the Internet, and with online marketing you have the potential to spread your message to those millions of people.
It’s one of the most cost effective ways to advertise. It allows you to engage consumers in conversation and build relationships with them. It gives you an easy way to keep in touch with them, and through it all, it helps build your organization’s credibility.
The Internet is a tool you can leverage to help your organization succeed.
What advice do you have about online marketing?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Going Out Of Business Image Credit
Social Media Image Credit
