Why you need a content marketing strategy in 2020

Content marketing is about creating good quality, engaging content that people will want to share. It’s about building trust in your estate agency so people think of you first, whether they’re looking to buy, sell, rent or let. Often, your content marketing tool is the blog – but there are other media channels to consider – from videos to podcasts or infographics.

Nine reasons to invest more time and money into content marketing in 2020

Google loves good content
Authoritative blogs that answer search queries and make people visit and link to your site get you noticed by Google and improve your SEO ranking. Content marketing generates traffic to your website Your free, no obligation content brings new leads to your website for you to nurture and convert.

Think about business goals, define the target audience; create the content that will actually help them and proofread it all!

It builds your credibility and authority
Some business owners ask us if they should give valuable information away free. The answer is yes. By posting well-written, useful content to your website, you will be seen as an expert – people are more likely to trust you and have you at the front of their minds when looking for an agent – they might share the content too.

It helps your entire communications strategy
Content marketing can help other areas of your communications too. PR, for example, is about building and maintaining relationships with the media and stakeholders, but it relies on having good stories to tell and expert spokespeople to tell them. Quality content will be useful to your PR agency or team when they’re looking to place stories and secure interviews – which in turn boosts your authority and the search ranking of your website.

It increases newsletter sign-up
Building your audience with strong content marketing will not necessarily mean sales – you need to convert those readers into paying customers, but, people who enjoy free content on your blog are more likely to sign up to your email newsletter, which is a great way of converting them into customers.

It will grow your social media following
If your content is valuable people will want to read more, and will follow you on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for quick access. They will also share good content with their own community, further increasing your reach.

Good content creates loyalty and trust
Buying, selling and renting homes is a complex, stressful process. Think of content marketing ideas that help your customers through a tricky time and you will reap the benefits. List the ‘pain points’ which impact on your audience – if it’s new landlords, how do they stay on the right side of the law? If parents, what should they know about local schools? Then help them to solve each one.

A great way to showcase video content
Research has shown that video in an email can increase open rates by a fifth and on a landing page, increase conversion by as much as 80%. Use demonstrations, local area guides and expert interviews to enhance the appeal of your content.

It enables a two-way conversation with your audience
Marketing is often most successful when the audience can do more than simply consume. Encouraging comments as well as running quizzes, competitions, polls and live events all elicit an emotional response from your customers and bring them on board with the brand, as well as providing you with valuable data.

A few tips to get started …

• Think about your business goals, then define your target audience, whether vendors, landlords, buyers or tenants. Everything you produce should have this audience in mind and be useful content that will actually help them.
• The key to a successful content marketing strategy is a good editorial planner that you check and update daily – a simple spreadsheet will do.
• Your content needs to be well written with a punchy readable style that has been carefully proofread.
• Make sure it’s backed up with high quality, relevant images and graphics as well as appealing headlines and subheads.
• Know how you will measure your results. This should involve monitoring leads, conversion rates, web and social media traffic, page ranking and engagement.

To sum up, content marketing is an essential for property businesses looking to grow this year. By providing valuable content, for free, you will boost engagement rates and encourage trust, as well as helping to guide people to the next stage of the conversion funnel.

Any questions? Book a free consultation with Nelly: www.artdivision.co.uk