When it comes to engaging customers, content continues to be king. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 93% of B2B marketers used content marketing in 2014. In 2015, the trend is likely to continue as more and more companies discover the benefits of using content to drive traffic, nurture leads, and develop lasting (and profitable) relationships with prospects and customers. In fact, 58% of B2B marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months.
Content marketing agencies are taking advantage of this trend by stepping in for organizations that lack the technical and creative expertise to develop blog posts, eBooks, podcasts, white papers, social media posts, videos and many more types of content for themselves. Agencies already have the skills to create content, including:
- Writing, editing and proofreading
- Graphic design and production
- HTML editing and coding
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Email marketing
- Social media
- Analytics
- A/B testing
Agencies also have the ability to coordinate multiple teams and projects. They know how to develop an editorial calendar (and use it), and they’re ready to deal with any fire drills that arise from a misplaced tweet or a poorly timed blog post. That’s a powerful set of skills. It’s no wonder that 59% of marketing and advertising executives don’t think their talent has what it takes to be successful in content marketing, according to the Online Marketing Institute. That means more opportunities are on the horizon for agencies to fill the gaps.
So consider this: As a content marketing agency, you’ve done all that work to produce exceptional content and cultivated all that in-house expertise. So… why stop there?
As a content marketing resource, you’re doing the hard part for your clients: generating high-quality, relevant content that resonates with their audiences. With a new strategy (and the right tools), your existing business can grow and thrive. It’s simple: Just add marketing automation to your solution set.
Here are five ways you can expand your content marketing offerings with marketing automation on your side.
1. Content Publishing and Promotion
In addition to creating content that engages audiences and gets them to take action, you can take over the management of your clients’ content libraries and oversee asset development. With marketing automation, can host and organize content in a centralized location and put it to work across a variety of channels, including social media and email. This level of control can also help you identify gaps in the content continuum so you can make sure you have the right assets to meet the needs and interests of customers at every stage of their purchasing journey.
2. Content Tracking and Reporting
Marketing automation also makes it possible to test, track, and measure the performance of the content you create. You can analyze the data and use it to drive decisions, make adjustments, and find the best possible formula for promoting content to like-minded segments of your target audiences. With this level of insight, you’ll be able to demonstrate the results of your campaigns as well, and share reports with your clients that demonstrate the effectiveness of every campaign (and your agency’s savvy). Plus, you can proactively spot new opportunities for optimization to help your clients get the most value from the content you create.
3. Content for Lead Generation
Content is often used to generate traffic, but visits that don’t ever lead to conversions aren’t worth much. With marketing automation, you can go beyond helping your clients drive traffic, by using content to generate and nurture leads. By gating that content with smart forms and targeted landing pages, you can capture visitors and gain insight into their interests. Marketing automation makes it possible to track user actions across multiple channels, so you can see what other content they’ve viewed and which assets they’ve downloaded. You can also use advanced features like progressive profiling questions to add additional information to your customer database beyond names and email addresses as they make subsequent visits.
4. SEO Insight for More Organic Traffic
In addition to nurturing leads, content can be a valuable property to attract organic traffic, engage audiences, and drive action. By leaving content ungated on a site, you provide keyword-rich enticements to attract prospects searching for the products and solutions your clients provide. Marketing automation platforms can provide embedded SEO audit tools that make it easier – and faster – to optimize the content you produce for your clients. With tools like an SEO checklist, you can troubleshoot potential issues with content and landing pages, and help make sure that the right content will be found by the right audiences.
5. Tie What You’re Doing to ROI
With marketing automation, you can connect the dots for your clients, so all of the work you throughout the funnel can be credited with sales and revenue. That means you can report on ROI for each content marketing program as a whole, as well at the individual assets to show that the content you create and manage is driving results. This kind of visibility and proof of results makes it easier for your clients to justify their spending with you – and that means they may be open to sending even more work your way.
Automation Works for Content Marketing Agencies
As you can see, adding marketing automation to your existing content creation skills and distribution tools can create a powerful solution for you and for your clients. With the right marketing automation platform, you can provide content customized by audience, insightful reports, increased lead generation, content that improves search results, and proof that the work you do is driving results. Which makes you very sticky, indeed.
Ready to get started? Download this eBook, 5 Ways to Grow Your Content Services with Marketing Automation to learn how marketing automation can expand the value and impact of every client engagement.