Traditional marketing tactics are not as effective as they once were. Consumers today primarily research their purchases online when they’re considering purchasing a product or service, and therefore rely much less on traditional intrusive media. Even if traditional media does peak our interest in a product or service, we’re still likely to research the product online before purchasing.
Performing such research means finding answers to the many questions we have before making the ultimate decision to purchase. Questions such as:
- What do I need to know to make an informed decision about this product/service?
- What are all the features and options?
- In what situations are certain features useful and necessary?
- How does one company or product compare with another:
- feature wise
- quality wise
- price wise?
- Can I trust this company?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of this product/service/company?
- Is delivery available?
- What have others said about this company?
- Has the company dealt with anyone else I know?
The better a company answers these questions with the content they display online, the more likely they are to win customer business. At the same time, the better the quality of the content, the more likely it is to Get Found by even more prospects because it:
- ‘Earns’ high rankings in major search engines
- Gets shared more frequently via social media
Finally, content is unlike any other form of media in that content is the only form that can demonstrate compound results, continuously building upon all previous efforts, and does not cease to produce results once its stopped.