Is content marketing worth it? Learn all the fruitful benefits, plus expert tips to kick your campaigns into high gear.
Here, you’ll find:
- What content marketing is
- Top benefits of effective content marketing
- Remarketing best practices to boost conversions
- Expert advice to reap all the content marketing benefits
Whether you’re researching new audience interests, juggling a packed content calendar, or staying on top of social media activity and engagement, the work never ends for busy content marketers.
But if you’re producing great content — content that oozes appeal, solutions, and originality for potential customers — the benefits of content marketing make every ounce of effort worthwhile.
We’ve seen brands make serious gains with the right content marketing strategy.
The best part? Increased sales and traffic are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the many benefits of content marketing.
Are you ready to generate results for your business? In this roundup, we’ll unveil the abundant benefits of nailing your content marketing strategy.
Plus, HawkSEM content marketing writer Josie Rojewski will shed some light on how to double down on your efforts to create unlimited potential.
What is content marketing & why is it important?
Content marketing involves creating targeted content that appeals to a company’s ideal audience while simultaneously fueling brand awareness, lead generation, and sales.
Ever read a clothing ecommerce brand’s blog about the latest styles? Or scrolled through a fintech’s Instagram for finance tips and news?
These brands demonstrate how to use content to educate and inform their audiences.
The world of content marketing is your oyster, with various types of content to choose from:
- Blog articles and infographics
- Social media posts
- Facebook and Instagram Reels
- YouTube videos
- White papers
- Emails
- Webinars
- Podcasts
- Email newsletters
- Case studies
Brands use this strategic approach to elevate their content into rockstar content marketing.
But it’s about more than just pumping out content. There is a strategy behind exceptional content that considers tone, goals, pain points, problems, solution, and demand.
“A strategy with unclear goals won’t get you anywhere,” says Rojewski. “Take time to consider what you want your content to do, e.g. lead generation, brand awareness, establish authority on a topic, etc. This will help frame the piece nicely and you won’t be putting out content for the sake of content.”
That’s why nearly 70% of brands that engage in content marketing also integrate a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
Without further ado, let’s jump in to the top benefits of content marketing.
Top 7 benefits of content marketing
Imagine posting a video that goes viral, or publishing a blog post that triples your web traffic — with each of these results, your brand awareness skyrockets. And once the ball gets rolling, there is no stopping the fruitful benefits of content marketing for your business.
But before you see massive ROI or build a cult following, you’ll want to create content that boosts your brand’s visibility.
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Increased brand awareness
Brand awareness is the immediate association your customers make between you and your product or service. It’s what helps your audience recognize, remember, and relate to your business.
Fact is, traditional marketing doesn’t put much emphasis on brand awareness and building trust. It’s more about hard-selling.
Content marketing is more about offering value, rather than directly selling to your audience. And this unlocks vast opportunities to connect to your audience.
How, you ask? Well, for starters, people in the U.S. alone spend 8 hours a day consuming content. That’s a huge window of opportunity to capture their attention through content marketing.
And let’s not forget about the myriad channels to reach them, whether that’s scrolling through updates on Instagram or watching the latest video from their favorite channel on YouTube.
Brands can ramp up brand awareness through:
- Search engines: A tailored SEO strategy helps your content secure prime real estate on Google’s search engine results page (SERP), making it easier for new customers to associate your brand with high-intent keywords.
- News sources: Say you snag a feature on an industry publication highlighting your expertise, or you generate buzz with a series of press releases about your company’s latest acquisition or offering.
- Social media feeds and DMs: A striking Reel or photo slideshow could pop up in your audience’s Instagram feed. Similarly, they could share that social media content with their friends— hello, referrals.
- YouTube: Don’t underestimate YouTube’s algorithms. If you share engaging, SEO-friendly how-tos or popular influencer collabs, audiences in your niche will find you! And once they do? Google says that 70% of them would buy from your brand.
But how can you ensure your content is maintaining that brand awareness even months after you hit publish?
“If your blog article to raise brand awareness isn’t getting much engagement, it may be time to optimize,” says Rojewski. “Pay attention to any seasonal or time-sensitive content that may be outdated and update where it makes sense.”
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Boosts customer trust and credibility
When you consistently create high-quality content, you tell your niche that you’re a thought leader. Do that consistently, and people in your network will quote your insights and include inbound links to your content.
This buzz will build trust and make you more credible to your audience.
Let’s take fintech company Wise for example. The international payment processor has smooth, solid-colored graphics to promote simplicity and ease reflective of their user experience. They complement this with engaging, effective content for their readers.
Check out this blog example below. By creating valuable content on topics like tax remittances and financial management for digital nomads, they tailor their blog to speak directly to their target audience of traveling entrepreneurs.
Image: wise.com
Additionally, they set themselves apart by showcasing the people behind each piece of content — a refreshing departure from the trend of AI-generated content. They also back up their claims with credible research and insights from industry experts, demonstrating a commitment to quality their audience can trust.
Of course, they beef up that credibility with social media content, too. Look at how their Instagram page communicates equally authoritative content, but in a digestible format:
Wise sets themselves apart by showcasing the people behind each piece of content. (Image: Wise on Instagram)
Check out their lightning-fast response time to social media users with questions or comments:
(Image: Instagram)
Prompt, accessible support helps audiences trust your brand even more, and Wise knows this all too well. That’s why they invest in the resources necessary to maintain a consistent digital marketing strategy.
You can’t establish yourself as a thought leader with outdated insights. If creating evergreen content is a challenge, get into the practice of revisiting and updating your posts every year or two.
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Leads to more brand loyalty
Brand loyalty is what your existing customers feel when they build an attachment to your brand values and mission. Think athletes who wear only Nike, or people who buy only Apple products.
This is different from customer loyalty, which is defined by repeated purchases or engagement. That said, we firmly believe that content marketing contributes to both.
With so many competitors vying for your potential customers’ attention, establishing consistency is essential for building loyalty.
Your secret weapon for doing precisely that is great content.
If you continue supporting your audience with niche research, expert advice, and engaging, useful content, they’ll build an attachment to your brand. Over time, the seeds of loyalty will flourish organically, leading to a devoted customer base and a thriving brand.
Just ask the 63% of marketers that attribute increased brand loyalty to content marketing.
So, how do you start leveraging content to boost brand loyalty?
Offer value, even if it’s free.
Mason Burchette of Best Buy Metals told Forbes that free value is a solid way to tell customers your brand “exists beyond transactions.”
Another effective way to build brand loyalty is through influencer content marketing.
In the eyes of consumers, influencer insights and reviews are more trustworthy, since they’re a step closer to an objective perspective. But be mindful of your partnerships. Collaborate with influencers that have a proven track record of high engagement and shared values.
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Inspires more social media engagement
It’s not uncommon for businesses to achieve explosive success on social media. After all, it’s every brand’s dream to catch a lucky break and be discovered by a mega TikTok influencer. Just imagine the website traffic spikes and subsequent sales that would follow. Game-changing.
But you don’t need to rely on luck or a viral TikTok endorsement to stir up buzz on social media. A well-planned social media content marketing strategy will do the trick.
Social media marketing can take time to catch fire, but with consistency and creativity, it has the power to ignite your brand’s growth and keep your audience captivated for the long haul.
Dedicate to building your social media presence and courting followers. Spark discussions with readers about important topics. Leverage every opportunity to put your brand in front of a wider audience, sharing industry insights and scroll-stopping content to capture even more attention.
If you’re consistent with your social media content and actively engage with your audience, you’ll see the payoff. Your brand will start populating your followers’ feeds, and with enough visibility, you’ll strike social media marketing gold.
Two short years of consistent Instagram marketing can turn 300 followers into 1,000 — that’s 700 new people to engage with your latest blog articles, podcasts, and more.
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Gives you access to a broader audience
While having well-defined buyer personas is important, multiple audience segments lie within one buyer persona.
What if a potential customer under your primary buyer persona has already seen your content? How would you market your brand to them versus someone in the same persona category who hasn’t seen your content?
Remarketing for different audience segments helps you catch customers at every stage of the sales funnel.
So, if your content marketing strategy places carefully curated content on their social media feed and search engine results? Chances are, they’ll consider you upon the second, third, fourth, or fifth visit.
In fact, DemandGen found that 44% of people consume three to five pieces of content before even reaching out to a brand or considering purchasing decisions.
And even if it’s the tenth read, that’s still a valuable conversion. Because if you multiply that by all the other readers who might convert a bit later, your content marketing strategy is working.
Let’s look an example of buyer personas:
Example template of audience segments.
Now, what should you do if you know Buyer Persona #1a is reading your content but isn’t inching closer to a transaction? You might add a more personalized call-to-action (CTA) to the content they’re reading or offer incentives for subscribing to your newsletter.
How about Buyer Persona #1c? They’ve already checked out your product pricing page and made inquiries, so they’re at least curious about purchasing. Perhaps a promo or follow-up from your sales team could seal the deal.
With our proprietary tech ConversionIQ, we see these insights on behavior after people interact with your content. With these metrics, you can tweak your strategy to foster higher conversion rates.
Bottom line? Remarketing audiences are more likely to buy your products, and content marketing helps you create those audiences.
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Works within your marketing budget
Let’s talk about ads for a second. If you’ve taken a peek at your Google Ads’ daily reach, it’s hard to discount the sheer awareness and traffic potential of an ad strategy.
At HawkSEM, we believe the best search engine marketing strategy involves SEO and paid ads to reach their audience.
If cost-effectiveness is a top priority, ads may not be the best place to put your marketing dollars. If you’re competing for broad keywords in saturated niches, you’ll pay a pretty penny for Google to place your ads above competitors. Maybe you can make it work short-term, but if you’re a new small business or startup? That seed fund will go fast.
With content, slow and steady builds long-term results. This is consistent with HubSpot’s findings that 83% of marketers value quality over quantity for content, and maintain that preference even if a brand doesn’t post as frequently.
While creating content for online marketing channels definitely takes a chunk of your budget, you can start off small. Your audience wants consistency, and you can present that with, say:
- One weekly blog post
- Three weekly Instagram posts
- One monthly podcast
Curious about more specific cost breakdowns? Check out our article about search engine marketing costs.
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Helps you stand out in competitive markets
Creating standout content in the sea of online noise is a challenge for all brands, especially in the SaaS and ecommerce spaces. Why? Because you have to consistently produce high-quality content, and make it shine against your competitors’ content.
A robust content marketing strategy will make your blog posts, videos, case studies, and every other piece of content rise above the competition.
Let’s say you’re an edtech SaaS brand that sells subscriptions to expert lectures and other types of lessons. A few key players come to mind when we think about the online learning market, like Masterclass and Udemy.
Examples that stand out in competitive markets:
Udemy loves to promote internal company culture with blog content:
(Image: Udemy blog)
While Masterclass creates compelling video marketing campaigns on YouTube, featuring popular figures like Esther Perel to garner interest:
Example of Masterclass’s YouTube marketing campaign. (Image: YouTube)
These brands have their content marketing strategy down, but there’s still ample opportunity for other niche players to differentiate their brand. Content marketing gives you a million ways to do that.
For instance, you could heavily lean into your niche, like this education SaaS does with parenting content:
(Image: Kutuki blog)
Or you might create a series on a streaming service to promote your offerings, like Duolingo’s dating show where nobody speaks the same language:
Duolingo’s Love Language ad. (Image: Peacock TV)
To get started, do some digging. Talk to your audience, send out surveys and tap into their minds via social media chatter. Discover what they’re saying about your competitors, and use that information to create unique content they can’t find anywhere else.
Pro tip: Be careful not to compete with yourself.
“I’ve seen lots of sub-par strategies that really just amount to ‘we know we need this so we’ll just publish a bunch of whatever,’ which is a good way to wind up competing with your own content,” says Rojewski.
So, how do you avoid that?
“Make sure that your blog articles are addressing specific, relevant search queries,” says Rojewski.
The takeaway
We get it; content marketing is a beast. If you feel spread thin, just remember all of the benefits your efforts will ignite.
That research-heavy ebook will reward you with credibility and die-hard customer trust. Your strategic social media calendar will take you from hidden gem to desirable diamond.
Brand awareness, loyalty, conversions, and sales don’t come without consistency and strategy. If you need an extra helping hand to ensure positive outcomes, consider hiring the pros.
“Content writing is at its best when content writing is all you’re doing,” says Rojewski. “The biggest benefit of outsourcing is that you get years of experience, not to mention a team dedicated only to your content.”
At HawkSEM, we create bulletproof content marketing strategies that deliver exceptional search rankings, engagement, and revenue.
Bottom line: We leverage innovative tech and decades of expertise to kickstart real results, reach out to us today.
