Content Marketing Proves to Be a Useful Engagement Tool

Since the inception of public relations, the goal of many PR professionals was to get positive coverage for their company or clients in mainstream media outlets. Unless consumers contacted companies directly, there was no other way for them to receive updates on products, services or major announcements.

The Internet has changed all of that.

When an organization produces content (articles, videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc.) as if it were a media outlet, that’s known as “content marketing” or “brand journalism.”

Although it’s been around in some form or other for decades (e.g., newsletters from your insurance company or financial advisor), content marketing is now enjoying a surge in popularity due to Web accessibility, shareability, direct consumer interaction and multimedia content.

Recent statistics and articles illustrate the effectiveness and popularity of content marketing. Here are just a few of the findings:

• 90 percent of consumers find custom content useful.
• 70 percent of consumers prefer getting to know a company through articles rather than ads.
• 60 percent of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its website.
• 68 percent of consumers spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in.
• 78 percent of consumers feel that organizations behind the content are interested in building good relationships.
• Blogs give websites 434 percent more indexed pages and 97 percent more indexed links.
• Blogs on company sites result in 55 percent more visitors.
• 91 percent of B2B and 86 percent of B2C marketers use content marketing.
• B2B companies that blog generate 67 percent more leads per month.

What drives engagement is interesting content that provides value to the consumer, not just blatant promotional ad copy. Content marketing can help organizations tell their stories directly to their audiences, and those audiences appear to be responding.

To discover how S&A Cherokee can help with your marketing needs, contact us for a free consultation at (919) 674-6020.