Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was the first person to effectively use content marketing? In 1732, he created a yearly publication called Poor Richard’s Alamanack to help promote his printing business while providing valuable information to ‘commoners’. In the 300 years since content marketing has grown to be an essential part of running a successful business.
If you’ve read our Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing, you’ll already be aware of the content marketing benefits your business can reap. Here, we’ll dive deeper into the benefits of B2C content marketing and designing a specific and tailored content marketing strategy.
12 content marketing benefits B2C brands should know
Let’s split this into two sections — the overall benefits of content marketing for your business and how having a well-thought-out content marketing strategy can help you achieve your marketing goals.
All-around benefits of content marketing
Content marketing offers many excellent benefits for B2C companies. Here are just a few.
Better audience retention
Content marketing helps you build a two-way relationship with your customers. Rather than just shilling products through advertising, content marketing allows you to build a three-dimensional online presence. You’re creating positive experiences for your audience, encouraging them to stay around for longer.
Gaining an audience’s trust is essential — according to Edelman, 67% of consumers say they need a sense of trust in a brand before they buy its products or services.
Better search results rankings
The top-performing B2C content marketing efforts in 2021 and 2022 were short blog posts (under 3000 words) optimized for search engines.
Creating consistent, high-quality content will do wonders for your SEO efforts. Taking the time to conduct thorough keyword analysis, which can be applied to your blog posts and web pages, will help you rank higher in search engines. Pair this with a robust publishing schedule, and you’ll begin to see the traffic results in no time.
A chance to control the narrative
A 2019 study found that over 80% of shoppers conduct research before making a purchase, a number that’s certainly grown since the pandemic and economic downturn.
Having a chance to speak directly to customers before they make a purchase is a valuable position to hold. Content marketing allows you to do just that — to educate them and dictate the conversation around your industry and offerings.
80% of shoppers conduct research before making a purchase.
One of the main benefits of content marketing is that you’re opening a direct line of communication between the brand and your customers. You can read and engage with comments, you can ask for feedback, and share information about your brand and your products. This further strengthens the relationship consumers have with your brand.
Easier leads and sales
It’s simple — when customers view your content, they’re more likely to purchase from you in the future. And the more content they engage with, the higher the chance your lead will become a sale.
In fact, it doesn’t even have to be an ongoing relationship — 34% of consumers are more likely to make an unplanned purchase if a brand actively personalizes content.
Start out by giving customers free and valuable information through blog posts and web pages. Peppering calls-to-action (CTAs) throughout the text helps keep readers engaged. And the more engaged a customer is with your content, the more likely they are to click.
More authentic than traditional ad-based marketing
70% of people would prefer to consume information through blog posts than through direct advertising.
With content marketing, you’re sharing honest and relatable information with customers, which hopefully provides them with value. This authenticity humanizes your brand and keeps you top of mind when they make purchasing decisions in the future.
Plus, it’s way cheaper. Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates 3 times as many leads. It just makes sense.
Customers actually want to engage with it
We’re living in an age where online display advertising simply isn’t worth the cost anymore. Globally, over 763 million devices have ad-blocking software installed, so potential customers may not ever see your paid ads.
Meanwhile, the benefit of content marketing is that you’re providing people with valuable information, whether to educate or simply entertain. A Hubspot study found that while 73% of people admit to skimming blog posts, 27% of people consume them thoroughly. Either way, they’re reading your blog.
Easier customer service
If you’re beginning to notice that your customer service teams are constantly getting the same questions, you can answer these questions in your content to easily share with customers. This will reduce your communication backlog and make the customer journey much easier.
Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates 3 times as many leads.
As a part of your content strategy, you can keep an eye on commonly asked questions in your industry on social media and create blog posts answering those questions. This approach is a win-win-win — you answer potential customers’ questions, create content that positions your brand as an authority (more on that in a second), and make life easier for your customer service team.
Position yourself as an authority
One of the biggest content marketing benefits is the opportunity to establish your business as a credible source of information. This will do two things. First, it will likely help your search engine ranking, pushing your blogs and pages higher up in the ranking. Second, you’ll build even more trust with your audience by demonstrating your expertise in your field and answering your customers’ questions.
Content strategy benefits
Unfortunately, nailing a kick-ass content marketing plan isn’t as simple as writing a few bits of content and putting it online. Forming a specific, data-driven content strategy is essential. Here’s what you can expect from investing time and effort into your B2C content marketing plan.
Your content supports your goals
Every single piece of content you create should support your broader business goals. Otherwise, why do it? A long-term content strategy will help you reach targets, whether it’s engagement or sales figures.
A survey of marketers for B2C brands found that the three main goals achieved through content marketing are creating brand awareness, building trust, and educating their target audience.
You can track what’s working and change your plan over time
No matter how much initial research you conduct, you can’t always know for sure what kind of content will perform well. That’s why having a specific content strategy — which can be constantly analyzed and refined — is so important.
You keep everyone on the same page
Content creation isn’t a singular job. Many people are involved, from copywriters and designers to project managers and editors. Without a solid mapped-out strategy, miscommunications can happen. Keep everyone on the same page with a detailed process or plan and avoid future headaches.
You have a long-term plan for your content
As we’ve said, content marketing isn’t just a set-and-forget exercise. It takes consistency to yield results. With a content strategy, you can avoid one-off pieces and focus on delivering a long-term, cohesive message. This will keep your audience engaged and more willing to continue consuming your work.
The Manifest found that 51% of businesses publish new content daily, and 31% publish content weekly. Regularly creating and posting content across different channels helps ensure you don’t fall behind your competition.
But, you don’t have to do it all alone. In fact, 50% of marketers say they outsource some content marketing efforts.
Get help from the experts to nail your content marketing strategy
Because we practice what we preach, over at the Scribly blog you’ll find tonnes of resources about all things content marketing. From in-depth guides to specific how-tos, we’ll arm you with all the knowledge you need to grow your business.
Get started today, and reach out to Scribly for a content marketing audit and strategy tailored to your specific brand needs. With B2C content marketing experience for all industries and niches, Scribly is all about content marketing strategies designed to deliver results.
