As Jon Buscall famously said: “Content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.” We know that content marketing works, but not if it is half-hearted.
When we work with clients who are still ‘scatter-gun’ spending on a wide range of paid for traditional/digital advertising, marketing and PR activities, we sometimes have a difficult job persuading them to stop the SEO, PPC and media relations campaigns, that are not generating outcomes for their business and instead focus on what will really have a long term impact on their bottom line. This makes it nearly impossible for us to demonstrate the tangible outcomes of what we do because it always easier to claim that the results came from elsewhere. But for those who go the whole hog, have the confidence to stop doing everything else and just focus on delivering valuable, engaging, topical and relevant content aimed at just their most valuable and relevant audiences, there can be no doubt that it saves time and money and delivers a much greater return on investment over the long term.
When we started working with one of our local retail clients, they were spending on technical management of a poor, outdated website; ill-targeted blanket SEO and PPC campaigns; and the odd over-priced advertising slot in local media. We suggested a trial period where they solely used our services, and since working with us they’ve seen a 12 fold increase in traffic to their website which is translating into a huge increase of both online and in-store sales for a fraction of the cost. Our client can see a direct correlation between the activity we are carrying out, and the amount of enquiries and sales coming through the door which can’t be due to any other form of marketing than what we’re doing. Who said you can’t measure the impact of so-called ‘fluffy’, ‘non-salesy’ pull marketing vs ‘force fed’ push marketing?!
The reason it works: Customers really value an organic form of communication, more so than churned out press releases and adverts full of content that is created for the sake of coverage. Identifying and joining the conversation so you’re speaking with your customers rather than at them is key. Yes content marketing is an investment, but the return on relationship from your customers can be huge if you play your cards right. And it doesn’t just apply to digital and social media – it can form part of an integrated approach so that the PR or advertising you do is based on real customer insight about the things they want to hear in the right place, at the right time.
Want to see a change in your business and give it a go? Get in touch and we’ll help you put together a tailored strategy for success.