How to Leverage Content Marketing for Brand Growth
Statistical data shows that the average person spends almost eight hours daily consuming digital media. So, if you want them to notice and interact with your brand, you'll have to present them with high-quality, value-driven content that addresses their pain points and aspirations and effectively solves their needs.
The great news is that you can effectively reach, engage, and convert your target au with the right content marketing strategy. Moreover, if your business objectives include brand growth, you can use your digital distribution channels to achieve this goal.
Without further ado, here's how to leverage content marketing for brand growth, along with some great examples from which to draw inspiration.
Create a Market for Your Solution
The best way to use content to boost brand or product awareness is to study your audience. Once you've identified their pain points and priorities, you can start crafting resources to address and solve their needs.
However, the only way to do this in a way that will perform well on SERPs is to prioritize reader value over conversion potential. In other words, if you want to use content marketing to grow your brand, you need to hit the right balance between promoting your solutions and selflessly helping your prospects.
The obvious way to do this is by optimizing for user value. However, that can reduce your ability to draw your audience's attention to what your business offers.
Fortunately, there's a great way to overcome this content marketing obstacle.
By sharing helpful information that addresses the challenges your readers face and showing how your products can make it easier for them to reach their goals, you can create a new demand for your solutions that didn't exist before.
For instance, check out how Somewhere does it in its How to Hire a Lead Generation Specialist for Your Real Estate Business. This in-depth resource teaches readers everything they need to know about the business activity.
However, upon reading, most people will find that the process can be time, resource, and energy-intensive. That's why Somewhere uses the last section of the article to present a simpler solution — using the brand's services to hire and onboard professionals without going through the complex process of attracting, interviewing, and onboarding new team members. This tactic builds product awareness. Plus, it shows the brand's target audience that it's far easier to use Somewhere's services than hire and train candidates independently.
Differentiate Your Brand and Offer
When choosing what solutions to purchase, most consumers conduct at least some product/service research. More often than not, they compare several options. Why? Because they want to ensure they're getting the best value for money and an exceptional customer experience.
That's why it's a good idea to leverage content marketing to differentiate your business and offer and position them as the superior options in your industry.
Now, there are several ways to do this.
Something as simple as highlighting key value propositions throughout your content collection pages — as done by Soprano Villas in mentioning private swimming pools, romantic retreats, art and architecture, and culinary and viticultural delights in the area info section of its Tuscany Villas page — can be a great method of directing your audience's attention toward the unique benefits your business offers.
Or, you can achieve the same result with visuals and trust badges, using them to highlight key factors distinguishing your offer — free shipping, money-back guarantees, or third-party certifications.
Finally, if you want to take things to the next level, you could take inspiration from FreshBooks. By dedicating entire content pages to competitor comparisons, this business gains the opportunity to point out everything it does better (or differently) than its competition. This doesn't just make it easy for prospects to see what FreshBooks does best. But it also encourages conversions, which is, ultimately, the goal of this brand's content marketing strategy.
Target & Attract Local Customers
Content marketing is a great investment for businesses trying to attract global consumers.
However, even if you're only targeting local buyers, the right type of content can help you achieve your goals.
Optimizing resources for local SEO — using geo-specific keywords, creating location-relevant landing pages, or optimizing images with local tags — can be a great way to attract prospects from your area.
Or, if you do something similar to the Real Estate Skills guide on How To Wholesale R and produce resources relevant to a specific audience segment, you can effectively attract your target audience and boost your business outcomes in a specific location or area.
Provide Insights and Value to Support Brand Credibility
Did you know that most consumers consider brand trustworthiness when making purchase decisions? Edelman's research from 2023 suggests that as many as 88% of people think brand trust is an important consideration when selecting what solutions to invest in.
With this in mind, you'll want to adopt marketing tactics to elevate your brand's credible reputation. And the great news is that content marketing can help you do this.
Because trust is built through showcasing your business's dedication to customer experience, you can effectively leverage content marketing to show you genuinely care about your prospects.
Something as simple as being willing to give away your knowledge and insights — as done by Transitions Elite in its Complete Guide to Selling a Veterinary Practice — can be a great way to demonstrate your brand's credibility.
Alternatively, you can combine the power of content marketing with that of social proof. Produce resources that focus on your brand's positive track record of resolving customer pain points.
Case studies and customer stories — like this YouTube video from Kandji — are effective at highlighting your brand's (and solutions') strong points. They also allow you to back up your claims with real-life evidence, which is a great way to make your content more convincing and effective at inspiring conversions.
Develop Micro-Content for More Consistent Results
We already mentioned that people spend close to eight hours per day consuming digital content. But let's face it. Unless you have a fortune to spend on content marketing, there's no way for you to produce enough long-form resources to engage your audience every day.
That's why you'll want to make your existing content deliver more consistent results.
By transforming existing resources into bite-sized pieces of micro-content you can distribute via social media, you can achieve a better marketing ROI, but that's not all. You can also create a system that allows you to interact with your followers more often, which will help with three things:
automatically enhancing brand awareness and recall
building stronger relationships with prospects
maximizing your chances of converting new customers
Engage (and Learn About) Prospects With Interactive Tools
Choosing the right formats is essential for leveraging content marketing to grow your brand. After all, research consistently shows that some types of content (videos and visuals) outperform their simpler counterparts (short-form text).
However, if you want to maximize engagement in a way that will help with product awareness, consumer trust, lead generation, and audience research, developing interactive tools is an absolute must for your brand.
Data shows that interactive resources see 52.6% more engagement than static resources. And because these types of content require a more involved production process, they could be the best way for you to outperform your competitors.
As a rule of thumb, the best way to utilize interactive content is to do so in a way that removes a common consumer pain point. For example, Act'ble includes a What's My Size quizlet on its homepage to help buyers find the perfect fit before buying.
But, remember, interactive content doesn't just engage and benefit your audience. It can also be a great research tool, helping uncover unaddressed consumer needs or allowing you to learn more about the people visiting your website. If you use these insights to optimize your content marketing strategy, you can achieve far better results in reaching your ideal customers, making it easier to convert them into clients.
Final Thought
Successfully growing your brand necessitates a well-rounded approach. After all, you don't just want your business to boom. You want to secure a growth rate that's sustainable in the long run.
Content marketing can be an excellent method to do this. By following the tips outlined in this article, you can effectively boost brand awareness, establish a positive reputation, and show your audience they can rely on your business to solve their needs.
Of course, if you want the best possible results, don't just copy and paste the tactics from this article. Instead, do your best to optimize them for your specific goals. Ensure they align with your prospects' priorities. And track their performance to guarantee you're getting the best ROI from your content marketing activity.