It is impossible to create a blog entry on the power of content, without citing the incredibly significant essay titled “Content is king” and published by Bill Gates as a testimonial of the power that the use of qualitative and engaging content possesses. While US tech giant Microsoft’s founder has been praised for his undeniably deep intuition multiple times throughout his career, his prediction that content was going to prevail, consisting an important factor of added value and differentiation among various brands in the mind of the general public, has been quite impressive, considering it was published in 1996.
Since then, our daily life has changed in its entirety. And yet, Bill Gates’s analysis of the importance of content, has proven itself to be more of a prophecy. Even in 2022, the publication of high quality content is indeed the pathway to countless possibilities – and it does not show any signs of stopping. On the contrary, in an age when the average internet user spends around 7 hours per week engaging with online content, one thing is sure; at this point, the power of content consists the cornerstone of any brand’s success. Let us provide a detailed explanation of the manners through which content will enhance your brand’s performance.
Content will generate great consumer value
When it comes to the creation of value for prospect customers, the power of content is incredible. Each brand, no matter its size, is able to provide its entire audience with valuable content. Essentially, the sole requirement would be having gained some excellent insights into the audience, in order to be able to tailor several types of content to its needs. Besides, the average internet user will not dismiss any content that is basically created to appeal to them. For that same purpose, content should presented in a manner that will enhance the chances to capture the target audience’s attention. Various types of content are considered to be valuable for the average consumer, though brands should always emphasise on making it authentic, original and interesting. Without a question, each brand is able to implement their own version of this approach, by choosing the type of content that would represent the brand more efficiently. That could be an informative blog entry, multimedia content like a video or a podcast on matters relevant to the audience’s areas of interest, a newsletter, a free webinar or an e-book. All of the above would consist effective modern examples of content that provides consumer value, while simultaneously adding to the brand’s authority and reliability.
Content will differentiate your brand from the competition
In the digital era, being able to tell different brands apart has become extremely complicated – the same applies to a larger extent of brand awareness that goes beyond just being able to distinguish a few of the primary brand components (i.e. brand name, brand logo) and instead generates greater insights about a brand’s mission and core values. The main reason why content needs to be adapted to each brand’s special characteristics and reflect all of the above is that both brand image and brand personality need to be unique, distinctive and, more or less, representative of the customer avatar that each brands aims to resonate with. Content marketing is able to provide several imaginative ways to differentiate a brand from its competitors. Whether that occurs through the channels the brand uses to communicate with its audience or simply the one-sided content that is being published, content marketing is actually much different than other segments of marketing that focus on selling products or services. In the case of content marketing, the main goal is communicating a brand’s core values while highlighting a few important reasons why consumers should trust the brand. It is, in many ways, a brand’s opportunity to shine.
Content will work wonders in favour of your website’s search engine ranking
Search engines never cease to evolve and, thanks to the outstanding contribution of artificial intelligence, they have become smarter than ever. As search engine marketing competition has become extremely saturated, the coveted position zero within a search engine’s organic results page guarantees excellent results for those who manage to achieve it. What is the common ground beneath their strategies? Undoubtedly, that would be aligning their content with the latest guidelines and principles of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), including the consistent publication of original content, which consists a major ranking factor. According to consumers, a higher search engine results page ranking signifies a higher brand quality, while it may also become a critical source of profit through a variety of other ways, such as hosting third-party advertisements (display ads).
Content will magnify your chances for new sales
As position zero would lead to a larger website traffic, it would subsequently maximise the chances for new sales conversions Additionally, a significant amount of research on consumer behaviour has proven that content’s tone and structure are crucial for a perspective customer’s final decision, specifically when it comes to various forms of advertisement, but also in general aspects of a brand’s digital presence. It is estimated that the vast majority of consumers would consider a brand’s website and social media content as a safe criterion for its reliability. Consumers also tend to show trust towards brands that showcase a personality that they are able to relate to. As a consequence, aligning one’s content in a fashion that resonates with each time’s target audience will trigger a major surge in conversions.
Content will help you maintain a loyal customer base
As we mentioned above, maintaining a very much specific customer avatar that is built on the common characteristics of a brand’s target audience, prior to adapting the brand’s content strategy accordingly, so that it resonates with the aforementioned target audience, both consist essential steps towards the establishment of brand loyalty. A brand needs to remain close to its consumer base, by providing useful and appealing content, both prior to and after a sale, but also throughout the whole process. The consistent provision of consumer value, regardless of striving for new sales, will enhance a brand’s image and set the strong foundations for a loyal consumer base.
It is evident that a few calculated and consistent moves are able to transform every brand. The only requirements would be extensive research, seamless dedication and evaluating the results. The best part? No company is too small to participate to content creation and publication. That is yet another outtake of Bill Gates’s iconic essay that still impacts the way marketing functions in 2022. As it seems, content’s reign remains as glorious as ever.