We’re big advocates of content marketing. An effective content marketing strategy helps you meet your business goals while also directing your communication and messaging. But to help you decide for yourself, here are the pros and cons.
Both B2C and B2B businesses can benefit from content marketing. It’s cost-effective and lead-generating and you can create a variety of content for multiple uses.
Sounds like it’s nothing but positives, but is it really worth the resource investment? Find out the pros and cons of content marketing below.
Pros of content marketing
It builds authority
Content marketing not only helps with lead generation and sales, it also helps build your company’s brand and authority within your industry. The right kind of content can help establish you as a market leader, a subject matter expert and an invaluable resource. Your brand awareness and perception will only increase with an effective strategy.
Content marketing is a cost-effective solution
While not exactly cost-free, it is a cost-effective solution. You’ll need to budget for content creators, analysts, and systems and tools that will help you get the job done. But the biggest cost, as mentioned above, is time.
Overall, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing but still generates about three times the volume of leads.
There is a compound effect with content marketing
You won’t see immediate results, but you will see a compound effect to your marketing efforts. The more content you produce, the more you can do with that content, and the more people you can reach.
Longevity of use is key
Investing in producing evergreen content means you’ll have long-lasting content that will continue to work for you long after you initially post it. You’ll still need to maintain a content plan with fresh content so your channels don’t become stale, but quality content should always be relevant.
Content supports other marketing efforts and enhances customer service
Content marketing does it all: customer acquisition, customer retention, and customer service. Your content need not only be lead generating, but it can be used to nurture customers in your pipeline and ones you already have on board. It can add value and solve problems in many ways – making it all the more worthwhile.
Cons of content marketing
Of course, as with everything worthwhile, content marketing isn’t easy. Here are some of the cons.
It can be time-consuming
Creating quality content is an on-going and time-consuming endeavour. The content you produce needs to cater to your customers so you’ll need to have an understanding of their problems and how your goods or services can help solve them.
This means research ahead of time to ensure your content is relevant and easily digestible. It will also mean measuring progress and regularly reviewing results to ensure maximum ROI and campaign success.
Sometimes content marketing is hard to attribute results
If you don’t have the proper measurement and management tools, it can be hard to nail down exactly where your leads are coming from, especially if you’re running multiple campaigns. So you can’t always prove content marketing is working for you.
Difficult to manage
You need content creators to keep producing the quality content your audience craves. You’ll also need to manage the dissemination of said content via social media and other digital channels, plus measuring results. If you aren’t committed to the success, the challenges you may run into might turn you off altogether.
Content marketing is a long-term game
Content marketing is not exactly a “quick win”; it takes time to get results. Sometimes, it might be months (or years) before you see any results – and they might not be the kind you’re looking for. Stay the course and trust your strategy.
It needs promoting
Great content can’t just sit on your website, you’ll need to promote it using social media or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Or you might find that an influencer programme with seminars or other events is the right strategy for you. The more you put in the more your get out, and if you’re in a competitive market, good content might be the only edge you have over your competitors.
Like the idea of content marketing?
Of course, all the potential negatives can easily be solved by working with a marketing firm who can help with research and analysis, strategy development, implementation, analytics and tracking, and help you to get results.
Marketing Square can tackle all the cons and in the process, free you up to focus on running your business. Leave the marketing to us – get in touch today.