If you’ve taken the time to research online marketing opportunities for your company, you’ve probably heard about content marketing. Many successful businesses today invest time and resources into creating blog posts, articles, and other original content, and it’s becoming an increasingly popular marketing tactic.

But if you’re a results-focused business owner, you only want to invest in channels that are guaranteed to have strong ROIs. And like many others, your decision to start a content marketing strategy likely hinges on one question: Does it actually generate leads?

In a word: Yes. But if you’d like a more detailed explanation, keep reading to find out how creating strong content can attract qualified visitors to your company’s site and convert them into leads.

1. It attracts qualified traffic

As you may already know, traffic is not the most important metric for determining your site’s success. Qualified traffic, on the other hand, is an entirely different story.

Qualified traffic refers to site visitors that are more likely to become customers than others. Unlike the general population, who may just be curious about a specific post or page on your site, these visitors have an interest in your products or services and a high chance of conversion.

You may think that the only way to attract qualified visitors is to target a wide audience and hope that a few of them are interested in your products. And with traditional marketing, that’s often the case. But with content marketing, it’s entirely possible to create content specifically for these high-value visitors.

And when the people who visit your site are already interested in your products, converting them into customers becomes a far easier task.

2. It demonstrates your company’s expertise

Most of the traffic you attract with content marketing will come from search engines like Google to look for terms related to your content. When they search these terms, it’s because they’re looking for something related to your industry – and whatever that is, you need to provide it.

Answer questions, provide solutions, and even offer step-by-step tutorials if the topic warrants them. In short, give your readers all of the information they need, even if doing so requires a few hours' research and writing.

Although you may feel like you’re giving away valuable knowledge for free, this kind of content allows you to demonstrate your expertise and authority within your industry. It shows readers that you know what you’re talking about, and that you care enough to help potential customers with their problems.

Even if some of these visitors aren’t ready to convert during their first visit to your site, this makes a great first impression, positioning you as the logical choice when they need the products you provide.

3. It shows how your services can help

The majority of your content should be informative or entertaining and help your customers without being pushy or 'salesy'. That being said, the products that your company offers are designed to fill a certain need, and often go beyond the issues that can be resolved by reading an online article. Fortunately, it’s possible to inform your readers while also advertising your products or services.

Let’s say, for example, that you’re a mechanic and design your content strategy around helping car owners with basic maintenance. You could write a step-by-step guide to removing a flat tyre and replacing it with a spare, which would be extremely helpful to someone stranded on the side of the road.

At the end of the article, you could then remind readers that spare tyres aren’t meant to be used permanently and encourage them to visit a mechanic as soon as possible to get a new full-size tyre installed. As long as your contact information — name, address, and telephone number — is easily accessible, you could generate new leads with that page on a regular basis.

Of course, not all content strategies will be this straightforward. The advice and information you offer depends heavily on your industry, as does the way you incorporate your services. The best way to figure out what works for your business is to practice and see what works.

4. It highlights past successes

In addition to showing potential customers how your company can help them, a strong content marketing strategy should also give proof of past successes. You can do this with a combination of case studies and client testimonials.

Telling customers what you can achieve for them is one thing, but showing them is much more effective. And when you use concrete examples and statistics, paired with positive reviews from clients or customers, they’ll be a lot more confident in their decision to work with you.

If you don’t have any customer reviews or case studies on your site, compiling them can be a great way to boost your overall conversion rate. Consider sending surveys to past and current clients, and add some of the best responses to your site (with permission, of course). This will not only improve your content marketing strategy, it will also show you where your business as a whole has room for improvement.

Create a unified content marketing strategy for SEO – and your visitors

Now that you’ve learned about the ways in which content marketing can help you increase leads, you may be looking to create a content marketing strategy that both helps your visitors and your site. That’s where we come in. Leven Media Group can create content marketing that gives you an edge over the competition – both in content and in rankings.

We can build you a completely bespoke plan to incorporate content like long-form articles, blog posts, infographics, motion graphics and whitepapers, into your website.

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably wondering whether you can improve SEO with content, or if there are any content marketing SEO benefits you should be aware of. The good news is, we're here to help. Get in contact via the email below and let's improve your SEO today.

Contact us on enquiries@theoceanagency.co.uk to find out how we could help you captivate your audience