Content marketing drives brand awareness in a variety of ways and the proof is in the pudding. Research shows that 80% of people enjoy learning about brands by consuming content and generating content returns 3X more leads for every dollar spent.
Meanwhile, despite the overwhelming research, there are still many who have failed to see results from content marketing. Just creating any content isn’t good enough, you must create content that will appeal to your prospective customer and motivate them to act. Creating effective content involves strategy. Consider what you are trying to convey, where you can best reach your audience, and what action you want them to take so that you can properly engage them.
However, with all of the content being pumped onto the internet daily it can be hard to stand out. Here are 4 ways to build brand awareness:
Build Partnerships
One way to build brand awareness is to take advantage of your partnerships. In every industry, there are companies that offer products or services that are complementary to whatever you are selling. By creating partnerships with these companies, you are essentially expanding your customer base and your reach.
As a result, if you create content that highlights how your products work together you will be able to promote the content in both places. Partnering with complementary companies on content also expands the keywords with which you are searchable. Potential leads can now find your content in new places and in new ways.
Also, if you partner with an industry expert make sure that you communicate their expertise while still emphasizing the value of your brand.
Thought Leadership
While partnering with an industry expert is great for your brand it is important that you establish yourself as an industry expert as well. 9 out of 10 decision-makers note that thought leadership is a determining factor when making a purchase decision. Furthermore, 75% of decision-makers gave contact info or followed up after engaging with thought leadership content.
Thought leadership content is another way of building brand awareness, it is an essential part of the purchasing process. It builds trust between your brand and your potential leads while also positioning you as an industry expert. Providing thought leadership, allows your leads and current customers to see that you understand their pain points and can solve them.
Create and publish thought leadership on an ongoing basis to continually build trust over time. Constantly provide your leads and customers with advice, industry trends, and other insights that will help them reach their goals.
Shareable Content
Another way to build brand awareness is to make content that your audience wants to share. The internet makes it very easy to share content but the problem is that your competitors will have this advantage as well. So, create content that stands out. Your content should engage your audience compelling them to share it with their peers.
In order to create content that your audience wants to share reference your buyer personas to figure out what motivates your audience and what will appeal to them.
Customer Advocacy
Lastly, is to generate customer advocates. Getting customers passionate enough about your brand so that they will rep it and promote it themselves is a powerful tool. Identify customers that have achieved great results from your brand and capture their satisfaction. You can do this by interviewing them for customer success stories. Furthermore, you can get customers to promote your brand in very simple ways like asking them to promote a hashtag or asking them to leave you a review. 64% of decision-makers search customer-generated content i.e. reviews and customer feedback, before making a purchase. Passionate and happy customers are an invaluable asset to your brand.
Content Marketing
To get started on your new content marketing strategy make sure to invest in an intuitive marketing automation system to keep all of your content organized.
To get started with a marketing automation set-up, contact us today!
