Imagine the competitive edge for your business if you could establish yourself as a trusted expert in the field. If current and prospective clients viewed you as the authority on the subject, understanding how your services can add value to their lives.
How could your business benefit from that?
Content marketing gives you the ability to uniquely position you as an expert in the field, further distancing from your competition and developing a top of mind presence.
DON’T TAKE YOUR KNOWLEDGE FOR GRANTED
You and your team spend every day in the trenches of your industry, learning the newest information and perfecting longstanding techniques. Industry trends and standard practices are just a given, and you don’t think twice about them. For example, a real estate brokerage knows that homes should be listed on the MLS, yet 10% of homes never enjoy the benefit of the listing.
Some people on your team have talents that come naturally. Such as the luxury hotel receptionist who can offer excellent family recommendations at check in or the musician who can recommend the perfect concert to attend after a three-minute conversation.
It’s your day job, your passion and your everyday. But does that make you an expert?
The answer is YES! While you may see it as common knowledge, to the home seller who made an additional $10,000 on their home sale, the exhausted family traveling from back east desperate for travel recommendations or the newcomer nervous about purchasing a concert ticket, your advice is priceless.
And it’s time to leverage the expertise of you and your fellow team members.
BE THE EXPERT OF YOUR FIELD, NOT OTHER FIELDS
One of the biggest pitfalls we see are clients who have made the commitment to content marketing, but the messaging doesn’t represent, or many times relate to, their industry. For example, if you are a hardware chain and your largest driver of digital traffic is a robust section on recipes, your efforts are producing a loyal following that has very little to do with your company’s bottom line. Unless the majority of your revenue comes from an extensive kitchen line, your digital equity is with the wrong niche.
CONTROL YOUR MESSAGING
Now imagine if that same hardware chain was to determine that their goal was to expand their flooring and countertop department throughout the region. They could establish themselves as an expert through a series of before and after photos, tips on DIY installation and information on home upgrades worth the investment, which would include information on flooring and countertops.
Even a Facebook post with “Did you know that changing your countertops from laminate to granite, a $3,000 investment, can add up to $20,000 to the value of your home? Learn more!”
Now include a before and after photo with a link to information on which home improvements are valued higher when selling your home and we’re in business. You are targeting the right type of consumers, adding value and intriguing their curiosity. All within 130 characters.
Because you invested the time and resources to speak into consumer’s lives, giving them advice, direction and inspiration, they will start to view you differently. Rather than just being another chain store down the street, you slowly become the hardware store who knows about correctly choosing and installing countertops and flooring.
By controlling your message around strategic goals, you can build consumer trust in the areas most valuable to the growth of your business.
SHOUT TO THE WORLD!
You are an expert! Shout it to the world, do a dance in the street and draw attention to your business. While an exaggerated demonstration, you should have the same zeal and passion when taking to the digital space. You may assume that clients, friends and potential customers know what services you offer, areas of expertise or currently completed work, but they are busy in their own lives.
Share your passion, expertise, advice and insights with others. Doing this through content marketing not only establishes you as an expert, but it reminds clients, friends and your network of what you actually do, keeping you top of mind for when they need you.
CONCLUSION
If you are looking for strategic ways to establish you or your business as an expert in the industry, effectively growing your brand awareness, then let us show you how impacting a content marketing strategy can be to your bottom line.