Most traditional forms of marketing involve actively promoting or pitching your products and services to potential customers.
While many companies use this approach, the customer doesn’t trust your brand yet. This mistrust can lead to missed sales opportunities.
Content marketing is different.
If done right, content marketing can move your customer through the buyer’s journey with ease and confidence – and without a single unsolicited sales pitch.
Why Content Marketing is Different
Content marketing refers to creating and sharing valuable, relevant content to attract your target audience and, eventually, turn them into paying customers.
However, content marketing is not focused on “pushing product” or asking for a sale, like most other forms of marketing.
Instead, it is about building trust between you and your potential customers. When you have earned trust, customers will be more likely to purchase your product or become repeat buyers and brand advocates.
How Content Marketing Helps You Build Trust
1. Provide value
Good content marketing is about providing value to the customer instead of selling them your product or service.
From sharing inspirational social media posts to creating in-depth how-to guides on your blog, providing value through content marketing will help your customers feel like you really understand them and their needs.
This does not mean you skip a strong call to action at the end of your blog posts, though. It means that content marketing is focused on your customer’s needs first, and your brand second.
2. Humanize your brand
Content marketing is a great way to add a human touch to your brand.
People crave authenticity, so avoid using your blog or any other content platform as a sales pitch delivery system. It’s the exact opposite of what content marketing is about.
Instead, talk to your customer like you would talk to your friends. Be helpful, be kind, and, once in a while, give them an inside look behind the scenes of your business.
3. Give your customers a voice
Featuring industry leaders, speakers, and even consumers themselves in your content makes your marketing strategy more customer-centric.
Instead of a sales pitch, it becomes a conversation.
This is especially important because, with most traditional forms of marketing, there is no way for the customer to interact with your brand. With content marketing, they can contribute their own voice to the conversation by liking, sharing and commenting on your content.
4. Build relationships that last
Content marketing is all about building trust and relationships.
And those relationships? They don’t go away overnight (like a paid ad does).
Instead, they create ripple effects that can serve your business for years to come.
If you give your customers the authentic, intimate interactions they crave, they will reward you by becoming not only repeat buyers, but also loyal brand advocates. That kind of ROI is hard to beat!
Final thoughts
Content marketing is a great tool for building trust with your customers. Where do you start?
Here at Handmade SEO, we don’t just grow traffic. We help you develop content that positions you as the most trusted resource in your industry.
