It’s long been established that website content creation is king. It can bring in new business, warm up the leads you have and even keep your existing customer base onside. Short of doing the washing up, content can pretty much do it all.

But how do you manage this?

While it’s important to stay realistic - content can’t bring home the bacon on its own – you should give content creation (and content optimisation) the time and resources it needs to be successful. In any business, there’s always time for content – and when you see the success it brings, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this before.

Coming up, we’ll share our favourite tips for using content to bring in new customers, more sales, and better relationships with your audience, at every stage of their journey with you.

Chat with FINALLY about how to make content work for you

What can website content creation do?

To find new customers

Content can put your business and its products or services in front of a whole new audience. After all, content is the single most important ranking factor for Google and other search engines. This means, of course, that content can help your website to be found by a brand new audience – potential customers who may have never even heard of you.

Ranking on Google is one thing, but how do you get people to click on your search result? Well, it helps to have a purpose for every single piece of content on your website. Before you set finger-to-keyboard ask yourself: what is the aim for this content? Who is it targeting and what should they do after reading it? Helpful content – guides, blogs, or videos that address your audiences’ pain points and answer their questions – is of great value to searchers. After all, how many times have you Googled a question this week?

By keeping these questions, and your audience’s pain points, front and centre during your content planning, you’ll maximise the effectiveness of your content by bringing new customers to your business.

Let FINALLY create your content strategy

To warm up your leads

Okay, you’ve found your audience. Out of the many new and returning visitors to your website, you may even have the email addresses of a few qualified leads to market to. How can you use content to push your leads over the line to convert?

Well, just carry on doing what you’ve been doing up until now. You’ve already produced a bank of helpful content to attract your audience – who’s to say that this kind of content won’t persuade them to buy from you too? The truth is, today’s buyer wants to take ownership of their buying journey. Helping is the new selling. They want to do their research and mull over their options before making an informed decision to make a purchase.

Of course, impartial helpful guides will only take you so far. It’s important to keep your product or service firmly in your lead’s mind while they’re making their decision. By sending out a regular newsletter or social bulletin featuring your helpful content, and by including a wide range of call to actions to your converting pages from your articles, you’ll give your lead every opportunity to make a purchase.

Depending on the nature of your service, perhaps you could offer a free trial allowing them to get to grips with your offering before they commit. Whatever you decide to do, it’s important to keep up consistency. If you have a way to reach your lead, stay in touch but do it on their terms.

For tips on using content to keep your leads warm, FINALLY can give you a steer.

To keep your customers happy

We cannot stress the importance of this enough. Once a lead has become a customer, don’t just forget about them. After all, it costs up to five times more to recruit a new customer than it does to sell to an existing one. But how can your content strategy help you to keep an existing customer engaged?

Well, we hate to sound like a broken record but the answer is the same as before: by producing helpful content. Just because you’ve helped to solve your customer’s previous pain point, it doesn’t mean that they won’t have any more in the future. Consider the lifecycle of your customer. Perhaps they’ve invested in a one-off solution from your company to get to know you, but later they may be open to making a more significant purchase or opening a subscription or retainer with you?

Point your existing customers towards content that’s to do with their interest areas (their original purchase will give you an idea about what these are). Map associated products or services to what they previously bought, and let them know from time to time about how these too could help them. You could even offer a discount or free trial specifically for existing customers.

Your existing customer base doesn't want to be forgotten or ignored. They want to be acknowledged as valued customers and rewarded as such.

At a glance: when should I use content?

1) To find customers – content is the single most important ranking signal for Google and used well, can lead you to a whole new audience of potential customers.

2) To keep leads warm – snap buying decisions are a thing of the past. More and more consumers want to consider their options and while they do this, content can be a great way to keep your business in their mind.

3)To keep your customers happy – content is the best way to keep your existing customer base engaged. Whether it’s helpful information about associated products, aftercare videos and guides or simply some good old-fashioned company news, there are lots of ways content can help your customers to feel valued.

For help with creating content for your business, get in touch with the FINALLY team.