What results can I expect from content marketing?

Content marketing has long been considered an important part of the marketing strategy, but what concrete results can you really achieve if you focus on content marketing?There’s a reason why 93 % of B2B marketers in North America are using content marketing. Information is an important part of the modern purchasing process, and it is your responsibility as a marketer to be in the right place at the right time with the information your personas are looking for.

Today's content marketing is about providing relevant content to your personas no matter where in the buying process they are. The benefits of having this as a key strategy in your marketing activities are many – and the disadvantages of not doing content marketing are even more.

So what results can you really expect from content marketing?

5 concrete results you will achieve with content marketing

1) More traffic to the website 

Today's buyer often has a challenge he needs to solve and is, therefore, looking for the best options to solve this challenge. To find these options, he searches for answers in Google and clicks on the first results that appear.

Perhaps his marketing department is not going too well at the moment. The team doesn’t reach the goals for website visitors, and therefore they cannot convert enough leads for the company to reach their overall sales goals.

The buyer, who is the Marketing Manager in the company, has realised that he needs to do something to solve the situation, but is not sure which solution he should go for. After searching in Google for "How to get more traffic to the website," an article about inbound marketing appears.

He clicks on the article, reads about the methodology he might already be familiar with, and finds the content so interesting that he continues to navigate his way around in different blog posts to read more – before downloading a premium content that will give him a full introduction to inbound marketing.

This might be your website and your blog – if you have one, that is. Because this is the purpose of content marketing: Increasing your website’s visibility in search engines (if you are in control of your SEO, of course) so that you can attract more visitors and answer their questions.

By having the right content in place for the people you want to reach out to, you will not only attract more visitors through organic search; You will also get more direct traffic because you build up a brand, and you will get more referrals because the readers and evangelists will share the content with their friends and networks.

But, it doesn’t stop here. In addition to attracting more traffic, you will also convert more leads. Which brings us to the next point.

2) More leads – and more relevant leads 

Did you know that 47 % of buyers read 3-5 blog posts or other content before contacting a salesperson? In other words: Content is important in the purchase process.

Content marketing is a major part of inbound marketing. The inbound methodology is about attracting visitors, converting these visitors into leads and then to customers. Last but not least, it is about engaging existing customers (we will talk more about this later in the article).

Content plays a major role in all of these steps. We've already looked at how you use content to attract visitors, but how do you use it to convert visitors into leads?

The answer is simple: We create content for all the steps in the buyer’s journey and always have a recommended next step for the visitor. Let's go back to the Marketing Manager who has understood that he needs to do something about the marketing, in order for his department to achieve their goals.

In order for the Marketing Manager to access the premium content about inbound marketing, he goes through the following journey:

1. He reads a blog post about inbound marketing and finds a Calls-to-Action (CTA) at the bottom of the blog post where he can download "The ultimate guide to inbound marketing".
   
   
2. He clicks the CTA and is sent to a landing page. Here, he submits a form to receive the premium content.
   
   
3. As soon as he has submitted the form, he gains access to the premium content – whilst at the same time, he is registered as a new lead in HubSpot.

By directing visitors through the buyer’s journey, it is far easier to get more leads because you have many conversion points.

At the same time, it will lead to more relevant leads who are actually interested in the information you provide and who are more informed about the solutions you offer – which in turn simplifies the company’s sales process.

3) More customers 

You saw this coming, didn’t you? With good content, you get leads who are more relevant, more enlightened and ready to buy at the time they are forwarded to the sales department.

And more sales-ready leads can only mean one thing: More closed deals.

The more relevant content a lead has read on your website, and the more answers he has gotten, the easier it will be for the salesperson to build trust – but also to understand what solution the lead is actually looking for.

In other words, it’s a win-win situation. The salesperson can more easily adapt the solution to the individual prospect, while the actual sales process is also much easier for the salesperson.

4) More satisfied customers 

In addition to getting more customers, content marketing will help you get more satisfied customers. It’s not like your job as a marketer is over as soon as the contract has been signed. You should always aim to provide added value in form of content, even after the customer has been closed.

The advantages are many: Not only will it be far easier to sell more products or services to existing customers if they are satisfied with the follow-up, you will also get more ambassadors who can recommend your company further.

Referral marketing rewards is one of the major content trends for 2018, and it is about exactly this: the ambassadors. The strategy is based on using the network the company already has, in order to attract new leads.

According to Ambassador, 74 % of buyers admit that word-of-mouth is a decisive factor in their purchase decision, while 82 % rely on recommendations from others.

You may, for example, attract new leads by having your existing customers share your content with their networks so that you get more referrals to the website.

 In exchange for your ambassadors to recommend you to their networks, you, in return, can give the ambassadors benefits.

5) Thought leader 

If you read quite a lot about new industry trends or concepts, you most likely have your favourite pages that you always turn to for new information. We humans like what we know, and we’ll gladly stick to our old preferences.

The same goes for blogs. If you provide sufficient information about certain themes and publish new articles on an ongoing basis, chances are that you can eventually position your company as a thought leader in your industry.

To do this, you’ll have to write about the things people are actually wondering about and find interesting. Make sure that the information you publish is always valid and up to date.

Write about the most popular trends, but remember to also focus on evergreen content that can strengthen your position as an expert – and act as a lead-generating machine for a long time to come.

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