Why Business Marketing Cannot Succeed Without Content

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Did you know that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing strategies and generates three times as many leads. Pretty impressive, right?

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But, despite these amazing gains, 26% of content marketers say they still struggle to convert their campaigns into leads. Why is this?

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Creating attention-grabbing content is one thing, but turning interaction into conversions is a whole different ballgame. Many businesses face this challenge, so how do you cut through the noise and make your content work harder for you? 

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In this article, we dive into why business marketing simply can't succeed without content, as well as how nailing your content strategy can take your marketing efforts from "meh" to magnetic. Read on to learn more. 

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The Rise of the Empowered Customer

We live in an era where consumers are empowered with the world's information at their fingertips. Every claim a company makes, every industry competitor, and every customer that feels compelled to write a brand review, is all instantly accessible. 

This means that organisations can no longer hide behind polished billboard ads and carefully crafted PR campaigns. They must embrace the 'empowered customer's' insatiable hunger for authentic messages, or else risk losing them to brands that value Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (also known as E-E-A-T principles). 

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Google's focus on E-E-A-T directly impacts how well marketing campaigns rank in organic search, and social media sites –– and consumer behaviours have followed suit. 

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Here's an overview of E-E-A-T content characteristics at a glance:

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• Experience: Google values brands that demonstrate first-hand knowledge or practical involvement with the topic. This includes content that incorporates customer testimonials, product demonstrations, FAQs, in-depth tutorials, etc. 

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• Expertise: Content must demonstrate a deep understanding of specific topics by providing educational resources, deep analysis, and technical explanations — any and all research-based content that develops audiences' knowledge of the subject at hand. 

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• Authoritativeness: Building on industry expertise, authoritativeness metrics favour thought leadership content, i.e., content that is endorsed by recognised experts in the field. Examples include citing relevant studies, expert quotes, industry awards and professional affiliations, as well as guest posting on websites with a high domain authority score. 

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• Trustworthiness: All content must be accurate, and transparent. In copy, this involves displaying accurate contact information, creating an optimised and secure website, providing up-to-date data and maintaining top-notch editorial standards. 

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These principles guide customers through the digital marketing funnel. You can read more about the marketing funnel's purpose in this previous article. In summary, the digital marketing funnel represents the content marketing journey, from raising brand awareness to making purchasing decisions. 

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Top-of-the-Funnel Content: Building Awareness and Engaging Your Audience

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Building a strong online presence through content begins by raising brand awareness across organic search and social media profiles. According to recent studies, 87% of B2B brands have used content marketing campaigns to build awareness over the past 12 months. Types of valuable top-of-funnel content include: 

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• Informative Blog Posts: Creating high-quality search engine-optimised blog posts, ranging from 700-3,000 words, allows marketers to showcase their industry knowledge, gather authoritative perspectives and build trust by demonstrating their solutions in action. Including relevant industry keywords in your content can boost your click-through rate by approximately 45%. Learn more about the power of keywords in this previous article. 

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• Social Media Posts: Building your presence on social media platforms, like LinkedIn and Instagram, helps raise brand awareness by distilling your unique proposition or 'elevator pitch' into engaging, digestible clips. It also gives you the platform to respond to customer feedback, share your knowledge with like-minded thought leaders, and get your offers seen by as many people as possible through paid-for social media campaigns. According to 2024 LinkedIn findings, 84% of B2B buyers now rely on social media sites to inform their decision-making processes. 

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• Infographics and Video: Visually appealing content can appear on your website or social media platforms. This allows marketers to distill complex information into easily digestible and shareable content that builds brand awareness. According to findings from Forbes, 87% of marketers attribute video content to increased brand awareness and sales growth. 

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Middle-of-the-Funnel Content: Nurturing Leads and Building Relationships

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As potential customers become aware of your brand, content marketers should focus on nurturing these leads by developing authoritative middle-of-the-funnel content, including; 

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• eBooks and Whitepapers: Long-form content pieces can range from 2,000 to 20,000 words and allow brands to showcase all four E-E-A-T characteristics on their chosen topic. What's more, 76% of B2B buyers will provide their contact details to download an informative whitepaper, compared with just 19% who do the same to watch a video, making this type of content a guaranteed lead magnet. 

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• Email Marketing Campaigns: Creating regular email newsletter content allows your audiences to keep up with your company developments and learn more about your value proposition and how it relates to their lived experiences. Therefore, personalising email blasts gives you more scope to test different aspects of your messaging with varying audience segments, refining your lead generation capabilities over time. Studies show that personalised email campaigns generate 2.5 times as many clicks and are six times more likely to drive conversions. 

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Bottom-of-the-Funnel Content: Attracting Conversions and Lifetime Customers

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The final stage of the marketing funnels is about driving conversions and using content marketing to boost customer lifetime value (CLV) metrics using the following strategy: 

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• Case Studies and Customer Testimonials: Building trustworthiness in the eyes of potential customers using real customer success stories helps brands build empathy by clearly showing how previous customers have solved your audience's pain points using your tried-and-tested solutions. According to recent studies, 89% of marketers cite customer testimonials as the most effective content medium for driving sales. 

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CopyHouse: Taking your Business Marketing to the Next Level

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In summary, content marketing should always form an essential part of your business marketing strategy. It builds trust among the new generation of empowered customers and drives them through the digital marketing funnel to conversion and long-term loyalty. 

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CopyHouse provides strategic content marketing to tech-led B2B clients, both domestically and internationally. Find out more about how we can help optimise your campaigns and content activity — contact us today.

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