In this week’s episode of Industry Spotlight, Lee, Chris & Jamie discuss how to demonstrate value with content marketing. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
See below for a full video transcription.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION
Lee: Okay, so next we’re going to discuss… I read an article on Forbes. It’s around convincing executives to buy into content marketing. So I’m not going to dig into this article specifically too much. I just think that the point that it gets across…and we’ll link the article in the video.
But, the point that it gets across is that executives and CMOs and people in that sort of position are still reluctant to put money against developing content, even though at this stage content’s been put sort of front of house in terms of marketing.
Certainly, in the last 18 months, people are starting to accept that things like an image going across Instagram is content, a snap is content, a blog post on your website is obviously content. So, I just wanted to sort of touch on the main point from this article where some mediums, such as paid bought media, and things like that, deliver effective and trackable returns.
Generally, what you find is that earned traffic gets higher quality leads, so I think this article alludes to the the fact that a well-developed piece of content will deliver a 16% traffic-to-lead ratio, whatever that lead may be. Obviously, it’ll work different for different verticals, but I think the fact that it’s being discussed in this way at an exec level, brings it into the public eye a little bit now that we’re starting to really be able to develop content that answers the users question or that provides value. And that’s now being backed up by tangible return in investment. I just thought it was an interesting topic to cover. I think it’s something that will continue to develop, but…
Jamie: Yeah. Well, it goes back to the effectiveness of SEO, doesn’t it, and how people are doing SEO nowadays.
Lee: Yeah, well, yeah. SEO is dead apparently, but if no one finds your content then that’s an argument to say the other way. Obviously, we don’t believe that SEO is anywhere near dead. We just think it’s more going down the… It’s more of a Search-UX kind of service now, so the user experience, the technical…
Jamie: Discoverability.
Lee: …the technical standpoint. The discoverability is the most important thing, and then, now it’s going down the path that the content you’re producing needs to provide as much value as possible, and it needs to answer your questions. And if you get it right, the investment in content versus the investment in other channels, which executives are more ready to throw money at, is way, way greater.
Jamie: It’s instant gratification you get from those channels though, isn’t it, as well?
Lee: Yeah.
Jamie: Helps sway executives who have a pocketful of money that they need to get rid of.
Lee: Yeah.
Jamie: See your results quicker, don’t you?