Perhaps the biggest hurdle I overcame on my journey to becoming a freelance copywriter was the idea of having to put out endless cycles of content.

There’s no other way to say it than I was extremely nervous and felt lost as to how I could pump out consistent content on a regular basis.

And I know many creatives and entrepreneurs feel just the same.

At times, it’s downright overwhelming.

So. We know it’s scary. But we also know it’s completely necessary if we want to build a strong digital presence.

And that’s what I want to talk about this week.

The why.

Why do we need content?

How does it benefit our brand?

How does it benefit our audience?

And how can we manage content creation so it’s not a massive pain in the neck every time it comes around.

Content marketing has many forms

It’s not just captions, blogs or articles.

Content is everything from video reels on Instagram, to daft TikTok videos, to ultimate guides and webinars.

Anything where you are offering information, be it entertaining, educational or promotional; it’s all considered content and plays a small role in a wider strategy.

Enter content strategy.

How does content help my brand?

Having consistent, high-quality content helps answer your audience’s burning questions, develop trust and credibility and generate leads.

Content marketing is in fact a priority for a whopping 80% of marketers!

These are the main reasons a sound content marketing strategy will benefit your business:

1. It keeps your audience interested

Valuable content will make your audience want to spend time with your brand. Each piece is an opportunity to deliver a positive experience to your audience and reinforce brand messaging.

Getting traction on social media channels can be difficult, as is trying to create trend-worthy content (that’s where the strategy comes in) but when you do, you’ll find more followers, more engagement and better opportunities.

You can track social media campaigns using analytics software such as HubSpot.

3. Your audience will trust and come to you

When you lead with value — educating your audience without expecting something in return — you’ll improve your brand reputation and become a trusted source.

And by having simple CTA’s (calls to action) placed at the bottom of your page, customers can take action more easily.

If someone is following your content and interacting on a regular basis, they’re probably thinking of buying/booking in the near future.

4. SEO boosts your visibility online

SEO (search engine optimisation) can be integrated into content like blogs to develop domain authority (ranking).

If you use the pillar/cluster model for your content, this will help you to become a trusted source in your niche and rank higher on Google. All of this links back to your website which acts as your base of operations if you like.

5. You’ll actually save money in the long term

When I get approached about writing a blog post or article, it can be a moment of trepidation. Depending on who you ask and what it is you want them to write about, rates for writers can be expensive.

Here are the industry standard rates as reported by AWAI (American Writers and Artists Institute):

This can be way out of budget for some businesses.

But when you build a strategy (which really is the only way to effectively get the results from content marketing) you’ll save money from advertising and other traditional forms of marketing, when you go with a content marketing strategy.

Alternatively, you can always hire a writer full-time to keep content consistent too.