Content Marketing: Does it Work for Every Business?

If you’re a business owner, regardless of the industry it fits into, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard that “you need to do content marketing!”.

In case you didn’t already know, content marketing is a marketing strategy in which you produce special content for your target audience. We can understand by content, a business blog, videos, email marketing, social networks, and rich content (ebooks, webinars, infographics…).

All this material is produced with just one clear objective: to attract customers to you organically, without the need for constant calls from your sales team or filling the person’s email box with messages talking only about your product.

According to expert market statistics,

To achieve your business goals through content marketing, it’s important to tailor your approach to your specific objectives. Here are eight key statistics that every marketer should be aware of:

•  72% of marketers report an increase in engagement through content marketing.
•  72% of business leaders have seen an increase in leads through content marketing.
•  91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach their customers.
•  73% of B2B marketers include content marketing in their overall marketing strategy, according to the Content Marketing Institute.
•  69% of companies plan to increase their content marketing budget by 2023.
•  90% of respondents used short articles or posts for content marketing purposes in the last year.
•  97% of businesses consider content marketing to be an important part of their overall marketing strategy in 2021.
•  79% of highly successful content marketers allocate more than 10% of their total marketing budget to content.

Even though content marketing is used by 69% of companies, it is not always efficient for your business, especially if we are talking about physical retail. Find out below if it is worthwhile for your company to invest in this type of marketing strategy.

You need to invest in initiatives that generate results

When you choose to invest in content marketing, you need to be aware that you are not only investing money in this strategy but that you will also need to invest a lot of time and involve several specialized professionals. It is not because this strategy serves a portion of the market very well, that it will serve your segment.

Content marketing requires a lot of planning, knowledge, depth, and above all patience to see long-term results. In physical retail, we know that we don’t always have all these resources, especially time! If you need immediate results, likely, content marketing isn’t the best choice.

If you own a restaurant for example, would you rather invest your money in a new layout for your facade or hire a content analyst? Or would you spend hours of your day writing relevant content for your website/blog? Do you have time to plan and put the plan into practice?

Unfortunately, it is very common to see physical retail businesses, such as restaurants, pet shops, and clothing stores, investing in this type of strategy and not achieving relevant results. The physical retail world is very hectic and immediate, it makes no sense for your company to invest in something that was not made to meet your business niche.

Does your audience need this type of content?

That’s the main point you should pay attention to. Content marketing is based on what your potential customer (also called a lead) likes and where they look for information. The content marketing strategy was designed especially for the online world. That is, the public must be connected to be reached by this strategy.

When your audience/client is online, what kind of information is he looking for? Today it is rare to see a person who does not have an email or Facebook. And even though they use social networks, that doesn’t mean that that’s where they look for information, products, and services or that they have the habit of following blogs and watching videos.

Going back to the restaurant example, does it make sense for your restaurant to maintain a business blog to attract customers? Is this type of audience online looking for the best-ranked restaurant on Google or with the best ratings and reviews from other consumers? Do you think your customers will be more attracted to the best post about burgers or the best photo of the dish?

Content marketing is not an advertisement for your product! It is a way of educating a certain consumer profile for certain market niches. Think like a consumer, you don’t have to be polite to go get a burger, right? 

If your business will not offer content that is relevant to the consumer, perhaps content marketing is not the best strategy for you. Perhaps the most interesting thing would be for you to invest in local marketing and results.

But then if I don’t opt ​​for content marketing I don’t need to be online?

Need yes! Having an internet presence and working with a content marketing strategy are different things. You can and should have a website, a page on social networks, have data on your customers, and send an email or another to your base. But to be online you don’t necessarily need to have consistent posts and make materials that talk about subjects different from your product.

You must be online for people to find you. According to recent research data, the average daily time spent on the internet per person in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 395 minutes, which is equivalent to six hours and thirty-five minutes. For you to exist in the modern world, you need to be online. But with the right strategies, not necessarily with content.

Sending offers by email and SMS and posting them on Facebook are cool initiatives for physical retail businesses. Advertising and promotions are the opposite of content marketing and can work much better and more efficiently for your business.

After all, how do I know if I shouldn’t invest in content marketing?

In short, you need to answer 3 questions:

• Does my target audience consume the type of content I will produce (blog posts, special materials, webinars, ebooks, articles…)?
• Do I have the time and manpower (in this case, money) to create quality educational content?
• Is it a medium/long-term strategy that my business needs?

If you answered no to any of these 3 questions, your business is not yet ready to apply the content marketing strategy.

You need to evaluate very closely which marketing project is best for your business. Content marketing is very interesting and can be very effective and help a business to grow, but always with medium or long-term strategies, producing the right content for the right audience.

Before even thinking about implementing this strategy, you must at least have already started some digital marketing initiative. The investment and time needed to have a significant return for your business are not compatible with a half-baked job. Invest in what works for your company and don’t waste time with what’s “in” right now.