Why Content Marketing Matters

Insurance content marketing can be an intimidating subject. This new marketing frontier covers everything from the importance of blogs to PPC marketing. This guide is the content marketing crash course you’ve been looking for.

The content marketing guide from Insurance Websites covers everything you need to know to get your brand’s content marketing strategy off the ground!

Content Marketing 101

If you’re asking yourself “What is content marketing?” you’re not alone. A good content marketing guide should start with an explanation of what this type of marketing even is.

Let’s start by breaking apart the components of content marketing. The content includes blogs, infographics, podcasts, videos, and other types of digital advertising. This is audio, visual, and written information generated for your audience.

The marketing side of things is especially interesting. Traditional advertisements had to interrupt your audience. TV ads cut in between the episodes they wanted to watch, magazine ads interrupted the articles in the stories they were reading, and so on. The biggest difference between content marketing and traditional marketing is that audiences actively search out content marketing for their own enjoyment.

With content marketing, you’re no longer interrupting your audience, you’re giving them what they are already looking for.

Content Marketing Works—Here Are The Numbers

The biggest takeaway about insurance content marketing is just how well it works. We talked about how audiences are actively seeking this type of marketing for their own enjoyment, but that’s just the beginning of how successful content marketing can be for your brand.

Insurance Content marketing has one of the best returns on investment of any other type of advertising. It’s common for marketers to measure engagement in terms of the website and social media traffic, but conversions and sales also go up noticeably after a content marketing strategy starts to be implemented.

Content Marketing Statistics

• 93% of brands got new customers based on video marketing
• Short blogs ranked third for best marketing results across industries
• 97% of viewers found that video content helped them understand products
• Content marketing strategies, like regular blogging, can create a 13 fold ROI
• Social media usage is up even in challenging demographics like seniors

How To Implement A Content Marketing Strategy

Implementing a content marketing strategy can be a little intimidating. There are countless social media networks, types of content to create, as well as the nuances like optimizing keywords and distributing the content you’re creating.

The good news is that there’s a five-step plan that your business can start today to begin implementing your content marketing strategy. Let’s get started.

5-Step Content Marketing Plan:

1. Set Your Goals—these should be concrete and measurable like increased website traffic, improved brand awareness, or increased conversions
2. Set Your KPIs—Key Performance Indicators are the measurements you use to determine if a content marketing effort was successful. These should be directly tied to your goals
3. Decide on Your Content Types—This is where you pick your content. Blogs and social media posts are standard, but podcasts and video content also have important places in this strategy
4. Set a Budget—Your budget will help inform the types of content you make. This budget is going to cover any technology you need to purchase, professional expertise you need to hire, as well as the cost of paying for ad space
5. Review Your Strategy—As time goes by, you want to review your content marketing strategy. Analyze your goals and your KPIs to see if your strategy has been successful and make any changes that can help improve your strategy

Social Media Is The New Marketing Standard

To put it directly, if your business isn’t on social media—your target audience might not even know you exist.

The social media landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade. What started out as a nice feature to help reach your clients and customers has become the standard way of interacting with a business. You need a social media presence in order to facilitate your content marketing strategy, connect with your Target demographic, and make sure that your company appears vibrant and alive.

Here are a few social media stats that demonstrate the importance, and potential, of social media marketing for your brand.

• In 2020, there were 3.6 billion social media users worldwide
• The average person spends 114 minutes on social media every day
• Facebook is currently the most popular social media network, but Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok all play important roles in your content marketing

Marketing With Infographics

Graphics and visuals are some of the most powerful tools you have in your marketing arsenal. Buyers and general audiences favor engagement with visual media. Infographics allow you to present your information in an easy-to-digest fashion that connects with your audience.

Infographics are also shareable. If you design an infographic with a content marketing strategy, you can create a piece of media that your audience will share for you.

Infographics also allow you to be more efficient with your marketing investment. You’re already making this content in your blogs, podcasts, and internal research. Why not make more utilization out of what you’ve already built by transforming it into an infographic that can reach a wider audience?

The Secret Of Blogs And Marketing Strategy

Learning how to write blogs is where content marketing strategies really start. Blogging is the cornerstone of marketing in the modern age.

Blogging allows you to build internal links and indexing for your company. Your presence online is defined by these networks of links and a blog can help people find your company when they search for the products and services offered by your company.

The importance of blogs can’t be understated. Dollar for dollar, blogs have some of the biggest impacts on your brand. Here’s why:

• There are over 30 million active bloggers in the USA
• Blogging generates 3 times more leads than traditional marketing
• Blogging gives users control over how they engage with branded content

That last point is worth highlighting. Everyone skips ads on video content, unsubscribes from email lists, and ignores their spam folders. However, users actively seek out blogs from their favorite brands.

How Podcasts Fit Into Your Marketing Plan

Millions of adults listen to podcasts every day. Recent research has demonstrated that podcasting has been on the rise since 2006. Today, over 50% of American adults listen to podcasts at least on a monthly basis.

Podcasts represent untapped marketing potential for your business. Whether you’re running ads on podcasts that align with the interest of your target demographics or you’re designing your own podcast, this is meeting your clients and customers where they are at.

Starting your own podcast allows you to make the most of your content marketing strategy. Content marketing is already helping you tell the story of your brand to your audience. A podcast gives you new ways of connecting with the people you’re trying to reach.

• 78% of Americans are podcast aware
• Podcast apps like Spotify and Apple Podcast get over 28 million unique plays each month
• Estimates show that there will be over 100 million podcast listeners in the US by 2024

Why Video Content Is So Important

Over 80% of Americans regularly engage with video content online. That’s a staggering amount of exposure that your brand could be missing out on.

Video content is quick and efficient. Your company can use video content to create tutorials for new products, interview key creatives in your design process, or to showcase products and services for your audience.

Here’s another way to look at it. Your audience is already searching for videos related to your industry. They’re looking for informative content, tutorials, and sneak peeks about new releases. Your brand can get into this content stream and engage directly with your target demographics.

How To Leverage PPC Marketing

PPC marketing is in an interesting place. While the use of ad blockers is on the rise—about 25% of internet users use some kind of ad blocker—PPC marketing is nevertheless becoming more valuable.

Individuals who reach your website through a PPC marketing ad are more likely to convert than individuals who arrived through organic search results. It’s also important to highlight that your PPC marketing also drives those organic search results back to your website.

Insurance PPC marketing covers everything from banner ads on websites to promoted placement in search results. With PPC marketing, you’re not just paying for clicks, but also for the advertising space and organic drive that comes with this exposure.

The Tools Of The Content Marketing Trade

There are countless content marketing tools that can help you create the content that your audience is looking for. These range from tools that allow you to easily distribute content all the way over to websites and services that can quickly and easily create motion graphics for YouTube videos.

Here are a few popular content marketing tools to consider trying out.

• Hootsuite
• MonsterInsights
• ClearScope

Why Work With Content Marketing Professionals?

Content marketing professionals can give you a head start when it comes to implementing a new strategy. These experts have an eye for everything from website design to helping you find the social media networks that are best for your industry. At the end of the day, their expertise is a shortcut that helps you directly reach your audience through content marketing.

What’s The Next Step In Your Content Marketing Strategy?

The next step in your content marketing strategy is to talk with the experts about your goals, your KPIs, and the types of content you want to produce. Content marketing professionals have the knowledge, tools, and experience you need to jump into this new marketing landscape.

Get in touch with Insurance Websites today to start improving your engagement and growth through content marketing!