Back in the day, every town had a hardware store, a grocery store, a barber shop, and any other vendor you could ever need. Each of these establishments was run by someone who had likely grown up either in that town or nearby and was part of a multi-generational family who had called your town or area home for decades. These owners and managers were valued resources in their community, due to their community ties, personal attention to customers, and endless supply of knowledge about what their establishment offered.
Now, we live in an age of big-box chains and a cultural trend toward buying whatever we need online. Those helpful neighborhood business owners and industry experts have become more scarce and that personal touch with shopping and doing business with service providers has faded away. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to still get insight and opinions from those closest to what you’re looking to buy or use? Would you like to be able to give that kind of connection back to your customers but aren’t sure how?
What if we told you that that connection was not only still easily accessible to you as a business owner, but would also be an affordable addition to your marketing efforts and had the potential to grow your customer base for months or years to come? This magical marketing ingredient is called “content creation” and it’s a tactic every business owner who’s looking to be successful (who isn’t?!) should be utilizing. And here’s why …
Content Gives You a (Louder) Voice
Want to be seen as an expert in your field? Start sharing your thoughts! Consumers want to hear from someone they deem “genuine” and what better person to do that than the company from which they are potentially purchasing an item or service. Creating original content makes you and your organization seem like more of a person and less like a robot. If you’re a general contractor, write a blog post series about renovations that improve your home’s value. If you’re a bakery, create some Instagram stories of trending cake decoration. If you’re an accounting firm, post an article about the new repatriation tax and how it is affecting companies for this tax year. Think about what your customer might be spending their time Googling and then come up with some creative ways in which you can add your voice to the conversation.
It Helps Your Online Performance
Having regular original content going out into the digital space will also be beneficial to your online standings with search engines and social media platforms. Blogs give companies an ongoing opportunity to push new content and keywords onto their website, which will then help that company’s website be more frequently picked up by search engines and placed before more searching consumers. Michael Brenner with Marketing Insider Group encourages company websites to have “volume, value, and variety to rank for your customer’s important search terms,” which looks like increased content being pushed out, resulting in “more links you are likely to generate, which also boosts your SEO.” (source)
On social media, having content going out from your website provides numerous links back to your site. It also gives you and your message an opportunity to be discussed and shared by your audience. This organic boost in traffic and engagement can be a huge boost to your social media presence!
It Keeps You Relevant
Maybe it’s a new product coming out soon that your company will carry. Maybe it’s a new coffee brewing method that you’ll soon be offering in your shop. Maybe it’s an unearthed sound clip that’s causing arguments across the web and gives you, a local ENT office, the perfect “in” to talk about auditory tricks and what it reveals about a person’s hearing. Content gives you a quick and clear avenue to weigh in on trends that are shaking your industry. Gary Henderson with Forbes insists that companies “stop talking about [their] brand, and start creating content people want to read, watch or listen to.” (source)
Get creative! If you’re able to add your voice to the latest buzz topic, jump in and share your thoughts. Customers, current or potential, will appreciate your attentiveness to industry and cultural trends, and having content on your site with targeted keywords and phrases tied to trending topics will draw more people to your website. Who doesn’t want that?
Let content bring back those hometown business vibes to your marketing plan. We promise you’ll not only see improvement in your customer interaction and acquisition, but you’ll also have fun! If you’re ready to start using your voice and platform to give the people what they want to hear, contact us today at group@marburycreativegroup.com.
