Experienced marketing professionals are likely to tell their clients that there’s more to an effective marketing campaign than simply creating ads and posting them to the most popular social media platforms. Content that’s poorly designed, difficult to understand and misses the mark on alleviating consumer pain points is unlikely to encourage target audiences to part with their money.
When it’s time to sit down and formulate a plan that harnesses the power of SEO and focuses on content to drive awareness, generate leads or increase sales, quality should be the main priority. It should be the guiding star that informs every other decision a team of marketers make because without it, the campaign is more than likely to fail.
To explain why quality is so important, this article will delve into the details of what quality content looks like, why it matters and how to identify whether the content promoting a service or product is of a high enough standard to actually convert impressions into sales.
Why High-Quality Content Matters
In a sea of poorly thought-out social media content and incomprehensible, AI articles, high-quality content can be immensely powerful for brands and businesses. Any marketing teams willing to go the extra mile to ensure an advert, blog post or email is made with care and actually speaks to their target audience in a way that make them feel valued will easily be able to set themselves apart from their competition.
Modern audiences spend hours of their lives scrolling social media sites and have effectively been trained to recognize when a piece of content is generic and soulless. They can tell when the content they’re being served doesn’t have their best interests at heart and they’re beginning to decipher the tell-tale signs of lazy, AI-generated fluff.
Quality Content Improves SEO Rankings
To combat the recent rise of poorly made content, search engines like Google have started to prioritize the content that their internal algorithms deem to be high quality. This means that blog articles and websites that are well-researched, engaging and relevant to consumers will naturally appear higher on search results.
Naturally, brands want to appear first when potential audiences search for solutions and products within their niche. To rank high, a thorough understanding of current SEO best practices is essential. This area of marketing can be incredibly complex and nuanced as rankings can be influenced by a wide range of factors. Novice marketers or independent businesses could benefit from consulting agencies that specialize in this area to improve their campaign results.
Useful Content Builds Loyal and Engaged Audiences
To get started creating and posting quality content that converts, it’s a good idea to identify the target audience and learn everything about them. Once their specific pain points and daily stresses have been identified, brainstorm the many ways in which the intended service or product on offer will actually help them.
Using these insights, content that is specifically relevant to them can be created and served to them. By creating blog articles and posts that provide useful information and viable solutions to problems, people who come across this content are more likely to engage and stay loyal, depending on whether the product or service can actually deliver on its promises.
How to Use Insights to Create Quality Content
As previously mentioned, a deep understanding of a target audience is an essential component of creating quality content. In order to get inside the minds of these individuals, it is often necessary to actually speak to them and identify their needs before producing any content. To create highly specific content that leverages audience insights, marketers can use a variety of methods to generate this information.
The most direct way to gain customer insights for growth involves conducting surveys and interviews. By polling potential audience members, data can be collected relating to their interests, needs and personal preferences. It’s important to remember that everyone is unique and nobody will fit into a perfect box, but the information gathered in this way can still help guide content plans and influence article topics in helpful ways.
More indirect ways of gathering audience insights might involve conducting competitor research to see what kinds of content have worked for other products and services in the past. By examining the social pages and websites of direct competitors, marketers can get a better understanding of what kinds of content have worked well and which have fallen flat.
Choosing High Quality Distribution Channels
Once insights have been generated surrounding the challenges that an intended audience face on a daily basis and quality content has been produced, the next question for marketers relates to distribution. To place quality content in online spaces where audiences will see them, competitor research can come in handy once again.
If a marketing plan hinges on placing content in new digital spaces where competition is scarce, pay close attention to whether or not a chosen distribution channel is trustworthy and relevant to a target audience. The general reputation of a channel can have a profound effect on the perceived quality of a product or service.
