Using Content to Build Trust in Digital Marketing
In any marketing strategy, you want to show authenticity and build trust. This means clearly offering a product or service, but it means presenting its value and usefulness to the customer or client. Obvious sales pitches cheapen your offer, which is why companies should be using content to build trust in digital marketing.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is exactly as it sounds. It is providing useful content to your audience in order to build relationships and deliver clever tips or advice to people interested in your offer. It can come in the form of website content (blogs and vlogs), texts, or email deliverables such as newsletters or personalized messages.
Quality Content is Key
The problem with content marketing is that it can become very inauthentic. Looking at many blogs often reveals this lack of authenticity. It is a mass of content that is rehashed and regurgitated in a way that is obvious to the consumer. He or she isn’t receiving relevant information. She is receiving info from a content mill that specializes in pushing out quantity rather than quantity.
This doesn’t mean you cannot source your content, but you must be careful to avoid content that seems like clickbait or rehashed useless “fluff.”
How do you make sure your content is working? Read it! Does it contain relevant information to your industry? Does it link to other pages on your site? Does it have external links to helpful information? You cannot assign your content and forget about it. Pay attention to your site to ensure you have real content that delivers something of value.
Reaching Out to Attract and Retain Business
Your content mix should include things that attract new business but also promote repeat business. This means covering the basics but also offering more advanced information. Basic information could be tips for shopping in your business or places to find excellent coupons. More advanced information may be recipes for food purchased in your store or storage options for your product. You want to encourage your consumer to try your product, and then you want to help them use it. This is the same whether you offer a product or a service.
Content is King
As Bill Gates so famously quipped, “Content is king.” The face of content has definitely evolved over time, but it still offers the same benefits. It is a way to connect with the consumer outside of your product or service offer. It builds trust because you are showing them how to be successful with their use of your business. It is the same thing as standing behind your product. You are showing that you offer support and solutions in your industry.
