By Evan Vitale
When the term “marketing” is used, we often think about advertising, trade shows, direct mail and paying for pay-per-click campaigns in Google and Facebook.
However, “contact marketing” could be one of your best weapons when it comes to marketing your business and its products and services to new customers.
In a nutshell, content marketing is simply the idea of writing and publishing blogs, articles, white papers and other bits and pieces of information on your company’s website and, in some cases, on other websites as a guest blogger or guest writer.
Content marketing is a way of establishing your company and your brand. It also helps in making your firm the “expert” in your field, especially if you are a locally-based business with local customers.
Your blog posts should be used to generate ideas, be helpful, solve a problem and inspire your customers. Don’t be afraid to give away information that helps a customer. This builds trust and better relationships.
Content marketing isn’t a sales pitch. Don’t use it to shout that your company is No. 1 and that you are the best in your field, etc. That sounds like a loud car television commercial that you want to turn off. By offering great content information, your customers will become more loyal and your relationship will be built beyond that of just being another vendor. Your content should show your customers (and potential customers) that you understand their needs; their problems and how you and your products are valuable to them.
A great example is a local heating and cooling business located in the Midwest. As weather reports started to warn viewers of an upcoming deep freeze, the heating and cooling company posted a blog (and sent out e-newsletters) telling their customers steps they should take to help them avoid freezing pipes. See? That was helpful. It showed the vendor cares about their customers!