The nature of marketing has shifted tremendously ever since the internet was introduced and later made accessible to the average person’s home. Traditionally, marketers would send out their marketing message through various outlets such as newspapers, flyers, and e-mails. This process was costly to business owners and mostly annoying to recipients of the message who were not necessarily its target audience. The strategy may have been effective, but it was not efficient. Things have changed, however. Nowadays, consumers can go to the internet whenever they needed anything. They are no longer idle recipients of your marketing message. Instead, they are now proactively searching for it. So when they come to you looking for your message, you have to be ready to present them with something. You’re going to need content on your website. More than that, you are going to need a strong inbound marketing strategy.

What is content and inbound marketing?

An inbound marketing strategy uses the content on your website or social media page to attract customers to come to you. Instead of finding your audience, your audience finds you. It is efficient and works whether your customer is ready to buy or not. What matters is they find you and your content. Content is your marketing message in the form of a medium that is interesting to your customer. It may come in many forms such as blogs, photo galleries, podcasts, or videos. Different medium should be used depending on your target audience. Nevertheless, the content of your website is what your customers will be looking. That said, the quality of your content could make or break your relationship with your customer. Simply put, good content can help grow your business. Here’s why content matters to your online space:

Your content is your marketing message in the form of a medium that is interesting to your customer.

Your content becomes your personality

The content you make should always be interesting, especially to your target audience. Because of this inherent need for content to be interesting, content naturally becomes the personality of your website. Whether you are professional and informative, or laid-back and valuable, your content will show your personality. This is good for you because customers look for something to latch on to and they attach best to things that are human — things with personality. Since you control your content, you can also control your website’s personality. Use this to your advantage by making a personality that is fun, accommodating, and likeable to your site visitors.

Content marketing makes your website alive and dynamic

Once content is created, it is useful to your customers as long as they need them. This is the meat of a strong content marketing strategy. It makes your website relevant to your audience. However, new quality-content must be released in good intervals to be relevant. This in turn, makes your website alive and dynamic. It tells your customers that your site is not dead and that you are ready to serve. Update your content regularly. Breathe life to your website.

Inbound marketing and content creation is your best opportunity to showcase your expertise.

An inbound marketing strategy helps establish customer trust

Inbound marketing and content creation is your best opportunity to showcase your expertise. As described earlier, customers now go online to find businesses who can answer to their needs. You have to be able to show them immediately that you know what you are talking about. By creating content that is informative and valuable to your audience, you don’t only empower your customers, you also establish to them that you are a valid authority to your field. This allows for a relationship of trust and reliability between you and your audience. This is important even if your customer is not yet ready to buy. Establishing trust is always essential when growing a business.

High-quality content translates to (FREE) publicity

Not only is content valuable to growing your business, it is also mostly free. As opposed to outbound marketing, wherein you pay various platforms to advertise your services, content creation and inbound marketing can be absolutely free. Once your content is published online, it will stay there until your customers need and find them. With proper search engine optimization, search engines will rank your content and boost them up for you, allowing potential customers to find you easier. Not to mention, with the rise of trend and viral culture in the internet, your customers themselves can share your content and spread the word for you.

Content creation is your website’s main driving inbound marketing force.

The takeaway

If there is one takeaway here, it is that content creation is your website’s main driving inbound marketing force. It makes your website easier to find and worth finding. Creating content also makes your website dynamic, valuable, and trustworthy to your customers’ eyes. It is also mostly free. Once you set-up your website and social media outlets, content creation and management should be the next thing you should work on. It is what your customers will be looking for when they come to your website, and what you will need to keep them coming back. Why content matters, you ask? The answer is simple: It grows your business and it is free!