Content Marketing’s ROI is hard to estimate and calculate, and it doesn’t lead to a direct sale, so why should you spend valuable time on it? This is precisely why many marketing teams have a hard time persuading management to invest in Content Marketing, and by invest, we not only mean money but time.
Before we go any deeper, here are formats we associate with Content Marketing:
- Blogs / Articles
- How-to guides
- Case studies
- Whitepapers
- Webinars
- E-Books
- Videos
- Newsletters
- News
- Infographics & photos
- Q&As
- Podcasts
You are probably thinking this sounds like a lot of work, and it is. There is no doubt that creating quality content is very time consuming, but there are some great benefits that come with Content Marketing.
Content Marketing Benefits:
- Inexpensive to start
- Increases brand awareness
- Builds trust
- Creates brand loyalty
- Has lasting value (compared to temporary campaigns such as Ads)
- Promotes and demonstrates thought leadership
- Knowledge sharing encourages collaboration and strengthens partnerships
It is also important to note that Content Marking is not perfect, so it does present its own set of challenges:
Content Marketing Challenges:
- Writing quality content takes time
- Large amounts of content are required to build trust and loyalty
- Scaling Content Marketing is difficult because it can take a substantial amount of time and money
- It’s easy to get discouraged, as it may take 6 – 12 months before you see any meaningful results.
Great Marketing is not black and white; therefore, not every campaign should be measured or judged by simple metrics (e.g., short-term ROI). Providing valuable information to consumers may lead to a direct sale, but it often doesn’t. For example, content marketing is far more likely to plant a seed (for a future purchase) then results in an immediate sale. Therefore, heavy emphasis on short-term metrics is a mistake, because great content marketing not only attracts leads, but it also builds trust and creates brand loyalty.
How much value do you place on building trust and brand loyalty? Your answer will help you determine where Content Marketing fits in your Marketing plan.
