Why Content Makes More Sense Now than Ever Before
After nearly two years of living with the fears surrounding COVID-19, it’s still a heavy burden, especially when conflicting projections influence many business decisions. It’s only natural that many business owners and marketing managers have cinched their belts and slashed marketing budgets, including content. But here are a few reasons why that’s a bad idea, especially in times of uncertainty.
Compounding Returns of Content
The biggest challenge we run up against is the mindset that the ROI of content marketing, like digital advertising, is short-term.
Running a digital ad campaign is similar to flipping a light switch. Generally speaking, you’ll see instant results, but these efforts are fleeting. If you spend $1,000 on search ads today, you may get a couple of dozen clicks, but you’ll have to spend the same amount tomorrow to get any additional value.
If you invest the same amount into a helpful blog post that is optimized for search, it will drive continuous traffic to your site while also building trust and authority with your audience. In other words, a one-time investment in a piece of high-quality content will yield long-term results.
Investing In Content Is A Smart Business Decision
If that sounds like a bold claim, then here are a few things to consider:
Quality content is in high demand.
Businesses in nearly every industry face new and unique challenges like remote employees, virtual events, and increased awareness of thoughtful and sensitive communication, to name a few. A renewed focus on content solves these issues.
And as a result of new working conditions, lockdowns, isolation, illness, etc., customers are spending more time online than ever before. So when marketing to them, consider your role to be a public servant and help them use their time online more productively. In addition to providing helpful information, look for ways to entertain, teach skills, or stay mentally and physically healthy.
Reallocate paid media.
Most marketing budgets include priority line items for paid media. And though this tactic has seen a healthy resurgence in the past two years, if you’re still hesitant, consider moving your funds towards content. Like we mentioned above, content is a long game, and investing in it now pays dividends in the future.
Invest in connection.
The best brands in the world recognize the value of content and its potential to do good or make people feel good. And you can achieve the same impact with your brand.
If there’s been one positive thing to come out of the pandemic, it’s been a renewed focus on what matters most in life. As a result, people crave authentic connections now more than ever, and few things do this better than a great story.
Tell your audience how you are making the lives of your employees better, how you’re impacting the community and making the world around you better than it was. We all need a sense of purpose, and a great brand story—your brand’s story—is what your audience needs right now.