5 Ways You Can Use Content Marketing To Make More Sales (And Why You Should)
Content marketing is one of the best ways you can promote your business today. It involves creating valuable and relevant content that will prove informative and useful for your audience.
This technique is good for boosting your SEO, growing your audience, and, ultimately, increasing your bottom line. In this article, we’re going to talk about how you can use content marketing to boost your sales.
Let’s get started.
Use Keyword Research to Create Content People Are Looking For
You might be familiar with the term “search engine optimization” (SEO). This is an area of digital marketing that involves taking steps to improve your rankings on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs).
A large part of this involves creating and tailoring content based on the relevant words and phrases people are typing into their preferred search engines.
You’ll have to conduct some keyword research to identify the phrases you should be targeting. This can help you to drive more high-quality traffic to your website and make more sales.
When conducting keyword research, the aim is to find words and phrases people are using to research topics that are relevant to your business.
Start by coming up with a list of phrases and terms related to what you do, then plug them into a keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner.
You’ll then be presented with a list of relevant keywords, along with their monthly search volumes and levels of competition.
Let’s look at an example of a business that incorporates keywords into its content well.
Search Engine Journal, an expert in the digital marketing space, has snagged the second spot on Google for the key phrase “why is SEO important”, which receives 500 searches a month.
In their article, they outline 12 different reasons why your business needs SEO and how you can implement effective strategies.
By having a thorough article on the subject, Search Engine Journal is able to effectively target this popular phrase that’s very relevant to their ideal audience.
And their strategy worked — that’s why it ranks so highly on the SERPs.
Create Content That Helps Customers To Make Informed Purchases
People will be much more likely to pay for your products or services if they understand exactly what they need and what they’re going to get.
You can help your customers make informed purchases with your content and, if you do this, you’re ultimately going to make more sales.
There’s more than one way you can help your customers make a decision. Let’s look at a few different examples of businesses that do this successfully, so you can get plenty of inspiration.
Buying Guides
Buying guides are just what they sound like — they cover everything someone would want to know about a certain type of product so they can make an informed purchase.
It’s a good idea to incorporate buying guides into your content marketing strategy as this can help you to promote your products in a light-handed way, improve your reviews, and reduce the number of returns you get.
Most businesses will be able to create and publish buying guides. An electronics store, for instance, might have a buying guide for laptops.
Just make sure that, when you create this type of content, you focus on being informative, rather than overly promotional. Let’s take a look at an example of an effective buying guide to give you inspiration.
MotorTrend has an excellent buying guide for purchasing a sedan. They cover what a sedan is, different features to look for, and more.
This guide is very effective in helping customers make the right purchase to suit their needs! For that reason, it’s likely to get readers to come back to MotorTrend if they make another car purchase in the future.
Comparison Pieces
Comparison pieces are similar to buying guides but, instead of laying out the features and factors you need to consider when choosing a product or service, they directly compare a number of options.
Let’s take a look at a website that focuses on sharing high-quality comparison pieces to help their readers make the best possible decision to suit their needs.
Best Nursing Programs specializes in helping aspiring healthcare professionals to choose the next step in their career and education. A great example of the type of content they tend to publish is their article on the best RN to BSN programs in the state of California.
They mention some of the best schools in the state and share information about their tuition costs, programs lengths, prerequisites, and more.
It’s a very thorough article that can help prospective students narrow down some of the schools they are interested in.
It’s a comparison piece that’s well worth looking at if you would like to learn more about using this type of content marketing to your advantage.
Product Demonstrations
A product demonstration should show exactly how your products or services work, so prospective customers can understand what to expect from them.
They’ll typically come in the form of a video and will show off the core features, the benefits someone can enjoy, and how a specific product or service offers value for the user.
To create a strong product demonstration, make sure it’s succinct and engaging. Think of it as an elevator pitch for your products.
Let’s take a look at a good example.
For instance, Headspace, a meditation app provider, shows off its product in a short video. They outline how it works, where you can use it, and what different types of topics they cover.
It’s a helpful video for anyone interested in their app and can help push them to download and purchase.
Think about what kinds of information your ideal customers will want about your product or service before purchasing. Using an AI animation video generator, you can easily compile all of the main points into an enjoyable video that presents your company in the best light.
Case Studies
If you want to show off what you can do, and capitalize on great results you’ve gotten from past clients, case studies are ideal.
Prospective customers will be more likely to spend their money with you if they’re given hard evidence that you can help them achieve their goals.
So, look at compiling facts and figures that show exactly why your products or services are so great.
Write some content that explains what your customer was looking for, how you found the perfect solution for them, and what the eventual outcome was.
This should provide your target customers with all of the proof they need to trust and buy from you.
OptinMonster has a great case study series that you can take plenty of inspiration from. A very effective example is their case study on how they helped a client turn more of their mobile traffic into sales.
If you have a business with services that are a bit more abstract, consider creating case studies like these to show that you know what you’re doing and convince your viewers to work with you.
Publish Guides That Show You’re An Expert In Your Field
People want to buy from companies that know what they’re talking about! So, if you publish guides and articles that show you’re an expert in your field, your audience will grow to trust you and be more willing to make a purchase.
Additionally, this can be good for boosting your SEO. This is because Google’s E-A-T algorithm (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) prefers to send searchers to the most reputable and accurate content possible.
If you create expert and authoritative content regularly, Google will notice this and give you a boost on the SERPs.
Let’s look at a few examples of businesses that show off their expertise well, and discuss what you can learn from them.
Venngage, an online infographic maker, shows off their expertise using blog posts. In their article on how to choose the best charts for your data, they discuss what charts you would use to inform, compare, and organize information.
Think about how many charts and stats you see in a typical infographic—if someone is looking to make their own, they’re going to want to make sure it looks good and makes sense to the viewer.
By outlining various scenarios in which someone would want to use certain charts, Venngage reassures their website visitors that they know what they’re doing when it comes to infographics.
Additionally, this article has several calls-to-action scattered throughout the article that lead to their infographic templates — this can encourage the reader to work with Venngage to create their own infographics.
Backlinko also shows off its expertise in its ultimate guide to SEO in 2021. This guide is great because it’s for beginners and SEO experts alike; no matter how knowledgeable you are, you can learn something new from this guide.
Because the article covers so many points so thoroughly, it’s an effective piece of content marketing. It shows that Backlinko knows what they’re talking about when it comes to SEO — it encourages the reader to sign up for their classes, newsletter, and more.
Add Strong CTA To Your Content
A call-to-action (CTA) is a word or phrase, often underlined or placed on a button, that tells the reader what to do next. “Sign Up”, “Download Now”, and “Add to Cart” are all examples of CTAs.
Sometimes, your website visitors will just need to be told what to do so if you want to make more sales, it’s vital that you use CTAs effectively.
Here are a few tips you can use to improve your CTAs:
- Start with a strong verb
- Use bold, contrasting colors
- Inject your brand’s personality
- Be enthusiastic
- Use supporting copy
Let’s look at an example of a company that always incorporates strong CTAs into its content to give you some inspiration.
SocialPilot, a social media management tool provider, uses CTAs effectively to convince their website visitors to take advantage of their free trial.
For instance, in their blog post that rounds up the best Facebook ad tools, there are several instances where prospective customers are told to “start the free trial” and “try SocialPilot for free”.
Because these CTAs come alongside a piece of useful content that outlines the pros and cons of SocialPilot, as well as how it compares to its main competitors, this is a very effective tactic that could lead to a lot of sales for the company.
Whenever it feels natural, consider adding a CTA to your content, encouraging people to try out your services or learn more.
Because this will allow you to promote your products without being too aggressive, it could lead to a lot more sales for your business.
Create Interactive Content To Generate Leads
Interactive content is very engaging. It can come in the form of quizzes, calculators, virtual tours, try-on features, and more.
Content like this can help you to boost your sales as it will keep people and your website for longer and show them what you’re capable of.
For instance, if you run an online glasses store and you have a way for visitors to see what your products would look like on them, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase.
Let’s take a look at some businesses that have incorporated interactive content in their website well, so you can get some inspiration for your own.
EyeBuyDirect, an eyeglasses retailer, uses interactive content effectively on their virtual try-on page. A user can simply upload an image of themselves and then see what they would look like wearing different pairs of glasses.
This is effective in pushing people towards a purchase because it can help ensure they won’t have buyer’s remorse. If you sell accessories, hair dye, or something similar, incorporating a try-on feature into your eCommerce store can be a great way to make more sales.
HubSpot, another digital marketing company, has also created interactive content in the form of its website grader.
A user can plug in their website address and email then, in return, they’ll receive a detailed report of how they can make improvements.
This helps push people towards making a purchase because HubSpot specializes in areas like SEO and growing eCommerce businesses.
Therefore, if someone uses this tool and discovers they have problems that the company can help solve, they’ll be more likely to spend money with the business.
Summary
Content marketing is one of the most important aspects of running an e-commerce business today.
In this article, we outlined how you can use content marketing to get more sales. Lucky for you, there are a lot of different strategies you can use! Now get to work and start putting a strategy together.
