Why Is Good Content Important for Your Business’s Website?
If you want to start a business or branch out from traditional marketing to digital marketing, you might wonder why it is so important to post relevant and engaging content on your website. After all, you might think, people, visit my website to learn about buying my product. Can’t I just put an informative blurb about my product on the website and rely on advertising to draw in customers?
Traditional product-centered advertising can still work in the modern world, particularly for established brands that already have a following. However, consumers have become increasingly savvy about recognizing the methods marketers use—and often no longer fall for them. Unless a potential customer already plans to purchase what you’re selling, they might tune you out before you even get to your pitch.
Good content in blogs, email newsletters, or other digital formats can change that dynamic and lead them to seek you out instead of deciding to ignore you. The new conventional wisdom says that only 20% of your marketing effort should include a pitch for the product or service. The rest should provide information for the consumer’s benefit—to inform, entertain, and engage. Let’s review four reasons why this content will pay off, even if it has little to do with what you’re selling.
Good Content Is What Your Customers Want
Consumers aren’t the captive audience they were fifty years ago. They have constant streams of media content at their fingertips. They do not—and will not—spend their valuable time reading boring sales-oriented advertising copy. Engaging content, such as tips, quizzes, opinion pieces, or even humor consistent with your brand, gives consumers a reason to gravitate toward your site. Once there, they’ll likely become more receptive to the occasional sales pitch.
Good Content Defines the Brand Beyond a Sales Context
What does your company stand for? If your company only focuses on selling products, it will be more challenging to get consumers to relate to your brand. They don’t spend every waking moment selling products, and they wouldn’t hang out with someone who did. Good content makes your brand about more than the product.
If your business is a law firm, educate your audience about the law in an approachable way. If you run a lawn care company, write helpful articles on landscaping, outdoor family gatherings, or anything else to help your audience enjoy their lawns. Content turns your brand from a salesperson into a mentor or a friend. Companies can also connect with potential buyers by sharing their commitment to popular causes and charities, such as the environment or cancer awareness.
Good Content Generates Buzz and Free Exposure
When people see good content, they want to share it and talk about it. Consider, for example, all those insurance ads on TV, the ones with strange mascots and weird antics. They often don’t have much to do with the product, but they entertain. Consider a lawn care company that holds a contest in the community to reward the best holiday lawn decorations or a cookware company that showcases their customer’s best recipes. If you put content on your site that people want, they will share it, and in the internet age, that can give you word-of-mouth advertising in places that your conventional marketing won’t reach.
Good Content Provides a Buffer Against Negative Publicity
Bad things happen to companies every so often. An executive might resign amid a cloud of scandal. A product might face a delay or a recall. In hard times, layoffs and cuts to services might shake customer loyalty. If your website focuses only on selling products, it sends a clear message. “We only care about selling products.” Web content for the benefit of your consumers shows them that they matter, even if they’re not buying anything at the moment. Web content praising your employees and helping their professional development shows that you care about your workplace. Of course, you can still be a caring, dedicated business owner without web content, but the content you provide goes a long way toward showing your customers who you are and what you value.
Digital Engage is a comprehensive, professional digital marketing firm based in Tennessee. We excel in web design and reputation management. Let us explore your brand image and core values with you and discover ways to convey your brand identity through your website and social media. Call (615) 997-0736 for a consultation today.
