Why Should I Invest in Content Marketing?

It seems as though everyone is publishing articles these days, but is it worth it? Articles, blog posts and other forms of content marketing add tangible value to your business for a number of reasons, from outranking your competitors in search engine results to encouraging sales and brand loyalty from your customer base.  

If you aren’t maximising the potential of a solid content marketing strategy, then now is the right time to start. Recent Google algorithm updates have heavily favoured sites with fresh and relevant content, meaning its impact on your quest to compete should not be underestimated. 

Below, we take you through some of the key benefits that wait for you when you action a strong content marketing strategy. Have any questions? Our Digital Marketing team can help you plan the best way for you to leverage a content strategy to give you the maximum SEO and branding boosts.  

Keyword Targeting & Relevance 

A cornerstone of any SEO strategy, targeting the right keywords in the right way can make all the difference when it comes to appearing in relevant search results. Appearing high-up in relevant searches from ready-to-shop leads means more of these leads landing on your site, which in turn means more business. 
 
Successful Search Engine Optimisation boils down to this: telling search engines that your site pages are relevant to users who are trying to find your product or service, by including a strong number of the terms these users are commonly searching. 
 
As well as optimising on your main site pages, such as your service pages and homepage, articles provide a fantastic platform for including these terms. Articles reinforce your key areas of relevance through regular use of your core keywords, while also allowing you to explore a far wider and more niche selection of topics. This means you can expertly target topics relating to your services, answering the questions users most commonly ask online. 

Keep it authentic 

Whilst articles allow you to respond to popular user queries and target common user search terms, it is essential that you keep your intentions in the right place. Google and other search engines are getting better at spotting a genuine article from one that only exists for SEO purposes.  

Clues they look for include: 

• Keyword stuffing – overusing keywords in a way that isn’t natural and sounds ‘spammy’. 
• Articles that offer little to no real value – they only exist to include keywords. 
• Articles that chase a current trend but have very little connection to your usual content. 

The best way to target beneficial keywords whilst providing genuine user value is to identify the commonly searched questions relating to your products or service, and drafting articles to address these. This data can be found using professional SEO tools, or can be found for you by your content marketing agency.  

Build Trust with Your Readers  

If you use them correctly, articles are about far more than keywords. When a new user lands on your site, they immediately start looking for an answer to this question: whether you can provide the product or service they’re looking for, and whether they should opt for your service over those of the other top-ranking search results. 
 
One way to prove your relevance and earn this important trust is through articles. 

Prove relevance

 A user is probably reading your article from one of two routes:

1. They found the article first, through a search engine query or having the link shared by a friend, because they are looking for an answer to a particular question. 
2. They found your site first and saw the article either promoted on your homepage or found it whilst searching your Insights or Blog section. 

If they followed path 1, then a strong article that shares useful information will be well-received, whereas a surface-level article that shares unhelpful answers (such as information that is incorrect, that everyone knows, or that leaves the crucial question unanswered) will lead to frustration and send them looking elsewhere. This is a perfect chance to demonstrate your expertise, and either resolve an issue for the reader or provide some interesting project/holiday/recipe inspiration that prompts them to explore your site. 
 
If they followed path 2, then they are in the process of deciding whether to pick you, rather than your competitors, for the product or service they need. The quality and usefulness of your articles play a critical role in this decision process. 

Answer questions – enable choices

Your articles are a perfect opportunity to demonstrate your expertise, answer questions the reader may have, and resolve any concerns or blockers that may be between them and making a purchase/instructing a service. For example, if you work in construction, readers might be considering an extension but are unsure what to do about planning permission. An article addressing this concern could: 

1. Remove this blocker for the user, by giving them the information they need to proceed with confidence. 
2. Prove your industry expertise, earning you the user’s trust. 

Earning this trust at the point of the user’s decision to proceed makes you the most likely candidate for them to contact for that extension. 

Share Your Brand Messaging 

Proving expertise is only a part of how your articles show a user who you are: they are also the perfect opportunity to further your brand messaging and identity. Your ethos and values, your unique selling points, your niche – whatever it is that sets you apart, your articles are perfect places to reinforce these ideas. 

As with all elements of brand delivery, consistency is key. Your messaging should be reflected by all elements of your company’s presentation, and this includes a strong content strategy. 
 
If you promote yourselves as friendly, approachable solicitors who ‘cut the jargon’, for example, but your articles are dense and difficult to understand, this undermines your messaging. However, if you write your articles to be clear, straightforward and focused on sharing value with your readers, then this proves your claim and implies that your services will be equally straightforward and helpful. 

Social Media Value 

Producing regular articles for your site has a fantastic bonus – that content can double up as a source of social mediaposts. 

It is important to keep your social media platforms active, both so users can see that you are active, and so algorithms register your engagement and make your posts more visible to wider audiences. However, it can be difficult to come up with enough content for your posts: this is where articles lend a very welcome helping hand. 

Whilst not all content will be suitable for all platforms (for example, links to articles aren’t exactly at home on Tik Tok!), links to articles on your site are perfect additions to your LinkedIn, Facebook and even X timelines. Not only will this help you to keep your social media busy (as well as full of value-adding posts that give users an actual reason to follow you), but it helps you to maximise the exposure of your articles, too. 
 

Call in the Experts 

Once you have a solid range of articles, is there any need to keep going? Yes – when selecting how to rank results, search engines will prioritise new articles over older one, as they are more likely to hold up-to-date information. On top of this, Google’s recent algorithm updates have all favoured sites that produce strong content regularly. For your content marketing to stay competitive, it needs to stay moving, or search engine rankings are likely to leave your pages behind. 

Using a content marketing agency can relieve this workload. At Netmatters, our content team uses a host of professional SEO tools to analyse your site activity data, popular search trends, market demographics and competitor activity to inform the creation of a targeted content strategy. 
 
We work closely with you to ensure that we convey the mission and messaging of your brand, that all content reflects your tone and company voice, and that we display your industry expertise in the right light. 

With offices in Norfolk & Cambridge, we serve businesses across East Anglia and beyond. Get in touch with our Digital Marketing team today and find out what our content experts can do for you.