Why You Should Invest in Content Marketing

If you’ve read our first post about content marketing, you’re familiar with what it is. So, why put in the time and effort to achieve a strong content marketing strategy? 

Impact! 

In this post, we’ll discuss the reasons to implement a content marketing strategy that will generate more awareness and consideration for your organizations mission, products or services.

The most important reason, by far, to invest in content marketing: Google, the top-ranking search engine in the world. Early this fall, Google announced that content marketing is now its number 1 ranking factor. This means that your content marketing efforts directly affect your ranking on Google’s front page. And, since a recent study found that 95% of people only look at the first page of Google search results, this can be of vital importance to your marketing efforts. 

Content marketing gains an organization 6 times the conversion rate of standard paid advertising. It also costs, on average, 62% less. These hard benefits are in addition to the trust that content marketing builds with your audience, the increase to your brand awareness and reputation, and the growth of your social media channel followers. By creating and following through on a strong content marketing plan, you can reap all these benefits.

According to Google’s SEO Starter Guide, 

“Creating compelling and useful content will likely influence your website more than any of the other factors discussed here.” 

Google’s Advice: Quality Over Quantity (But Quantity Also Helps)

Google cites three main criteria for judging the quality of your content: Beneficial Purpose, EAT and YMYL. Below, we’ll break down what each means and how to optimize your content to meet these important algorithm gatekeepers.

Beneficial Purpose: This one is easy. Your content should help users in some way. That could mean informative guides like this one or entertaining pictures, or even selling a product that fills a need. 

EAT: Your content should demonstrate that the content came from a wealth of Expertise.

It should demonstrate Authority in the subject matter, and your organization should always act as a Trustworthy source. Positioning yourself as a thought leader helps your organization’s reputation online and offline, so it stands to reason that Google would look for evidence that your content demonstrates this. 

YMYL: Your Money or Your Life. As with the Beneficial Purpose criteria, your content should enhance the user’s life by saving them money or making them money. Or, it should increase their physical or mental health or improve their quality of life. There are many messages and mediums to convey the audience value to quality of life or financial health. 

As you can see, Google’s criteria for page placement in its search engine is user-focused; your content should be as well. By making a direct impact on Google Search results, content creation can dramatically elevate your organization’s visibility, all without investing in an expensive advertising campaign. This is true for nonprofits and for-profit organizations, from mom-and-pop small businesses all the way to multi-national corporations. 

Ready to take the next step? Here’s what to do:

• Read our blog on how to plan and launch a stellar content marketing campaign.
• Need proof of the benefits? Check out our case study on how content marketing increased audience engagement for one of our clients.
• Need a bit more information? Check out this helpful and detailed article.
• Reach out to us for more information? Contact us