Savvy consumers are looking beyond traditional marketing to inform buying decisions. Content marketing, which helps educate consumers, is providing companies with results by building and maintaining customer relationships through valuable content. Content marketing costs 62 percent less than traditional marketing and generates about three times as many leads.  The customer journey has changed and they are now in control.
With 60 percent of company content guiding the consumer to make better decisions companies now have budgets allocated towards content marketing to increase business goals. So what does this mean for you? Is your business utilizing the power of content to implement this cost-effective marketing trend to attain profitable results? Here is a break down of what you need to know.
What is Content Marketing?
In a definition by the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Take a look at these four important facts on how content marketing can benefit you.
1. 37 percent of marketers say blogs are the most valuable type of content marketing.
Consumers begin their research online and, as mentioned previously, are immune to traditional marketing. Posting relevant blog content that interests your target audience will help guide them down the pipeline of purchase. Keeping your blogging consistent and informative should be a part of your blog content strategy for a clear plan to reach business results.
2. Interesting content is one of the top three reasons people follow brands on social media.
With a majority of businesses using social media to effectively reach their audience, this inexpensive tool has produced results in B2B and B2C channels. The use of analytics integrated with creative content is a major part of your social media presence. You are able to apply these measurable results to future campaigns and effectively gain leads. To see what social media platforms are best for your business read our recent blog.
3. People spend more than 50 percent of their time online looking at content.
Consumers are spending time dedicated to researching and discovering new content. A laptop is slowly becoming irrelevant, as consumers have full access to web through their mobile device. Information is just a search away. Capitalizing on this trend with your business will give you the opportunity to reach a mass amount of consumers via social media or allow you to provide the content they are looking for through blogging and other media. You will see a growth in content marketing development in companies that are now allocating budgets for this trend that is here for good.
4. 61 percent of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content.
Building trust in your consumer allows them to make better decisions about your brand or product.  Providing that valuable content rather than just an ad is appreciated by consumers and makes them more likely to buy. This will make your customer connection stronger. After reading your company blog, social media post, white paper, or other forms of content, they are fueled with new knowledge that is relevant to them and leaves a long-lasting positive impression for your brand.
Making content marketing a priority for your business already gives you a head start in entering a new chapter in marketing. Investing in content marketing and involving it in your entire marketing process will give you results that prove it works, and continue to evolve long term.
esd & associates is here to help you get the results your business deserves. Check out more about the Customer Decision Journey in our recent whitepaper.

Written by Amanda Garcia

Amanda Garcia, a University of Texas at San Antonio graduate with a degree in marketing, is currently serving as esd’s Communications Intern. She has contributed to event planning, social media and content development efforts for a variety of client and internal projects.