It was February 2019, and a client came aboard who was spending large amounts of money on TV ads and a commercial they had just shot.
The reason they reached out to us and came aboard was due to a current client who referred them. And after a great meeting and understanding their needs, we recommended a different course of action.
Our analysis found they had an email database of past customers that they rarely ever communicated with, a website that had almost zero content, meaning no videos, no blogs, no FAQs…it was pretty much a website telling everyone about who they were – and that’s it.
If a visitor came to the website, there was little reason for them to return.
When we took over, this company’s average monthly visitor count, according to their Google Analytics, averaged about 300 visitors a month.
Line in the Sand
Over the course of the next four years, what happened?
The approach we took was very strategic. We created solution-based content written as blogs. These were posted on the company website, social media, and of course, the videos on YouTube.
Now, we did run ads for the weekly videos to help them get traction.
Traffic to the website improved.
Over the next few months, the traffic began to grow. Instead of 300, we began seeing volume reach 1,000. And then 3,000 unique visitors a month.
Articles in Google search found their way, not only to the top result but several capturing the coveted “snippet!”
Sales improved. In fact, over the course of the next three years, their annual sales grew by nearly FIVE TIMES.
The feedback was very positive from the owner, with him saying, “We’re making more money and spending less!”
And Not to Forget His Email Database
We worked to bring it back to life with engaging and witty content. This triggered repeat and referral sales.
Everything was doing exactly what content marketing is supposed to do.
Generate higher quality leads at lower cost while simultaneously growing the brand.
Fast Forward
The website, as of June 2023, was getting 12,000 visitors.
The reason, again using Google Analytics, shows it to be from organic (free) traffic. In fact, one article alone was attracting an average of 1,790 new visitors a month!
What’s the Problem?
Content, when it’s working like we are describing, can often be seen as the red-headed step-child. What I mean by that is someone may walk into the business to purchase something and not directly relate their actions back to the content.
However, they may have read an article or watched a video or two, and this helped them form a decision. And because this is human behavior to research before making a decision, they don’t often think of it like, “Oh yes, I saw your commercial” or “Yes, I saw the ads you’re running on Facebook.”
But there is no denying if a previous marketing campaign yielded “x,”…and then a shift is made, and it creates nearly five times in revenue and 400 times in website traffic, it may have something to do with content marketing, even though the buyer doesn’t say, “I’m here because when I researched, you were everywhere…and it seemed like you are the authority in the market, and why would I not buy from you?” It should get credit.
Does Content Marketing Fail?
The answer is yes.
If you have content created that is not solving your ideal customers’ most pressing problems, the ones they need answered, then yes, content marketing will fail.
There is an art to creating content that does what we have described here. The brand and company must remove their “selling caps” and replace them with “how can I help caps.”
The content is more genuine, and your audience, if you’re not, will see right through you.
And your content marketing will fail.
One thing to consider.
Trust the one you hired to do the right thing. To produce content that will attract your ideal customers.
Will they speak 100% of the time in your personal voice?
Probably not.
But their ability to create compelling content that, over time, will perform as the case study cited in this article is not by chance but by design.
WARNING
Content marketing does take time.
Unlike creating an ad and spending money on it, with results happening much faster…content will often take 4-6 months before seeing results.
It also depends on where you are in the content marketing journey. If you take a look at your website and you have zero solution-based content, it’s going to take longer than if you already have some blogs and videos.
It’s also true that when we look at a client’s competitors, and they have zero solution-based content, the growth will be much faster because you have no competition.
One Final Thought
What do you do with all this traffic that comes to your website and blogs?
The answer can be taken from the “How to turn traffic into dollars” pages of Google.
Put Offers and Calls to Action right in the articles.
That’s right.
If you have an article getting hundreds of visitors a month…create a banner or pop-up ad with an offer specific to that article.
Why?
The traffic that comes to a website wanting to learn “How to stop my toilet from running” is about as super targeted as one can get.
Why else would someone want to read an article or watch a video about How to Stop a Toilet from Running if they didn’t have a toilet that was…wait for it, running!
And if you’re a plumbing company, wouldn’t it make sense to have a coupon in this article that saves them a few bucks?
Does Content Marketing Work?
Of course, it does.
Would you like to leverage content marketing for your local service business? Maybe you have someone in-house that, with a little coaching, could become your content marketing expert?
We have a program; we call it Marketing in a Box.
Simply put, our team meets weekly with you or your designated in-house marketer to teach them, guide them, and optimize their efforts. All the while getting you results for far less than it would if you hired a Done for You Marketing Agency.
We don’t hold anything back. You will be shown the tools we use for our agency clients and how to use them. This includes how we use Ai.
