As an Irish SME you are competing on a National level but some online retailers are competing internationally for business.
In Order to be competitive in the Irish and especially on International search engines you need to commence Content Marketing. Most of your overseas competitors have started this exercise over 3 years ago and they are yielding great results today.
They have high traffic and have established themselves as the authority in the field and let’s face it this should be everyone’s aim.
However in Ireland you will notice that the online market is slightly behind the UK & USA, so you still have a chance to become a national authority in your industry.
Trust me it’s not too late, Content Marketing can be the key to unlock big business potential and here are the reasons why you should get started today:
Increased Web Traffic
This is one of the most obvious benefits of Content Marketing and it can also be the one that turns people off. I have seen it so many times when people start writing quality content, the traffic is growing too slowly and they just give up. Most will blame the lack of time however it’s your website that you are letting down and at the end of the day it will be your business that suffers.
The flip side of this is once you post relevant high quality articles you will start to pick up more traffic through social media and also Google will start to rank your articles which can drive great amounts of traffic to your site.
More web visits equals more awareness which in turn will lead to more sales and after all sales are the reason all businesses stay alive. Already this should be enough of a reason to start content marketing but keep reading and it will become cemented in your marketing plan.
Social Interactions
Social Media has become much more important to SME businesses over the past few years. It can be used for a variety of reasons however the main thing you need to look at is driving interactions. Can you think of a better way to drive likes & retweets than sharing fresh relevant content to your followers?
Unless you happen to be that person who videos their dog doing something funny; wait that would still be a form of Content Marketing.
Sharing content is the key to gaining more of a social media presence, when you start to get interactions on blog posts you are then driving more traffic to your website which in turn will lead to more sales. Social Media combined with Content Marketing can increase turnover and profits.
Search Engine Rankings
One of the ways we track results in Digital Marketing and SEO is through ‘Rankings’ for certain keywords in the Search Engines. Some businesses get hung up on rankings alone as they are a good indicator that you are performing well online. Content Marketing can help to have a positive impact on you keyword rankings. Not only will you see your general keyword rankings come in you will also find your website ranking for long tail search queries that directly relate to each of your blog posts.
An Increase in main keyword rankings can have a positive effect on your businesses sales but it is important that you don’t stand still otherwise you will drop back to where you started.
Brand Awareness
Most SME businesses just want to get their brand out in the eyes of the public and in today’s online world that can prove harder than once imagined. Brand Awareness takes a huge amount of commitment and effort in order to accomplish.
Content Marketing can help you lighten the load.
The idea of online Brand Awareness is to get your brand on the screens and devices of your target market. The best way to do this is through content that can easily be shared across social media and other platforms. By providing your target audience with free high quality informative content you have managed to get your brand in front of their eyes. The next step is for them to like the post or page and then you have given yourself the opportunity to continually market your content to them.
Once you make sure you are appealing to your target marketing with new content then you can be sure that your Content Marketing pieces will be well read.
Conclusion
Content Marketing should not be used to satisfy any one of the above points but actually if it’s done right you should hit each and every one of them, providing you put the time and effort it deserves. It can be one of the most powerful marketing weapons you have in your arsenal so treat it with the respect it deserves!
If you know you don’t have the time to write the blog posts you need to hire a Digital Marketing Agency to get your content written and promoted through social media. If your car broke down you wouldn’t try fix it yourself? So why should Content Marketing be any different? Leave it to the professionals at VROOM Digital.
