In this article, Robert Caruso looks at 5 benefits of content marketing that may be less obvious to some. Among the 5, are domain authority and long-term traffic growth.  It is another in our “Great Articles You may have missed” series.

Content Marketing: The Obvious and Not-So-Obvious

With over 86% of both B2C and B2B marketers now using content marketing, it can no longer be considered something that an established mid-sized brand or startup can put off (Content Marketing Institute). The benefits of content marketing go well beyond establishing brand recognition or driving immediate website traffic. Marketers are well aware of the importance of Content Marketing within their organizations. So much so that 69% of them are creating more content than they were just a year ago.

How Much Content Is Needed To Be Effective?

For many mid-sized brands that we work with, their understanding of content marketing is initially quite limited. They frequently equate content to blog posts. And that is certainly a part of the content marketing equation. But when a new client begins to understand that we typically create upwards of 1-2 blog posts, 10 graphics and a couple of videos per week for an average client, not to mention writing email and static web page content on top of that, this changes.

The fact is that in order for content marketing to be effective, it has to be consistently created at appropriate volumes that can be distributed when and where your target audience will likely see it. Constantly delivering valuable content to your audience is one of the more important ways that content marketing will see results. So the sheer amount of blogs, graphics, video and emails that need to be produced represents one challenge. The quality, topics and production value of the content is the other. Both work together when done properly to establish brand perception, value and connection with your customers.

It’s easy to see how one could be overwhelmed with the details of content marketing and not see what the short and long-term benefits could possibly be.

So let’s cover 5 not so obvious benefits of content marketing that many businesses don’t fully understand.

Not So Obvious Benefits Of Content Marketing

Beyond the initial traffic when you create blog, graphic or video content, there are some additional benefits that you need to be aware of. Some of those content marketing benefits are:

Lifespan

Most of the content that you should be creating needs to be considered evergreen content. That simply means that it remains online and has a long lifespan. It is not connected to an event, date or specific timeline. When you are strategically creating evergreen content, the usefulness of that content can extend for years or even decades. And this adds to your overall website content, stickiness and value.

Long-term Traffic

When the content you are creating has long-term intrinsic value, it not only remains online but can achieve long-term traffic to your site through search, social media and visitor shares. Of course, not any content can deliver long-term traffic to your website. But when it is created using very specific best practices that get proven results and complies with various channel requirements, it can result in obtaining consistent traffic to your website over an extended period of time.

Reuseable

A huge benefit of content marketing done well is that it can be reused or repurposed over and over again. For example, a professionally created video can be shared and distributed on social media for years and get great results. Or another example of repurposing content is taking details that were contained within a blog post and repurposing those key points into a static graphic or animated video presentation. Either way, if the content that you are creating is of high quality, it can be utilized over and over. And it can be put into other formats that can extend its benefits in new ways.

Builds Domain Authority

When your website is constantly adding relevant content, it builds domain and subject matter authority online. This can have a great impact on your overall sites ranking in organic search. The relevancy that your domain has on certain topics while consistently adding such content tells many search engines more about your site and how everything relates to searches being made by consumers. Building your website domain authority is crucial for advancing your organic search efforts online. And great content does that.

Value To Visitors

Another overlooked benefit of content marketing is added value to your visitors. The additional content that you are continually creating can add “stickiness” to your website. It keeps your visitors there longer and navigating across more pages on your site. This benefit adds to the perceived value of your website and content to search engines and will affect your search rank positively over time, but it also provides additional time and opportunity to engage your visitor on your site. The longer your visitors remain on your site consuming content, you are creating additional opportunities to convert them into customers, leads or fans of your brand.

Content Marketing Benefits Your Long-Term Results

When you understand the multiple additional benefits that can be achieved with content marketing, results follow. Proactively planning, then leveraging your content at the point of creation with an eye for the not so obvious benefits of content marketing, will add power and longevity to your content marketing and increase your investment returns.

The challenge that most mid-sized brands have surrounding content marketing are the resources, expertise and time to get it done and done right. Too many overlook this component within their digital marketing efforts. Some simply have one of their team members start blogging, without a proper strategy or understanding of the required details that can produce the benefits above. Any content marketing is not a substitute for the right content marketing. It should have a valid strategy that can be integrated into all levels of an effective integrated digital marketing program.

Have Your Say

Do you have any comments on the above? Are there any strategy elements you’d recommend that weren’t discussed? Please be sure to share your comments, below.

 

Originally titled “5 Not So Obvious Benefits Of Content Marketing” and published on fondalo.com.  Republished here with permission.