10 Proven Ways an Effective Content Marketing Strategy Drives Sales

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For most marketers, it’s clear how content marketing drives sales. Case studies dating back over 100 years show the impact of launching an effective content strategy. But it can still be challenging to get buy-in for an adequate content marketing budget even with overwhelming evidence, case studies, and success stories.

Videos and blog articles are the forms of content that drive the most conversions and organic growth. Yet, you still might hear an executive ask why they have to spend so much of their budget on informational content instead of paid ads and commercial content.

Nonetheless, research shows that strategy and budget are among the most critical pieces of the puzzle for success in content marketing. The Semrush State of Content Marketing 2022 Global Report notes, "78% of companies that believe their content marketing was very successful in 2021 have a documented content marketing strategy. Their findings also show that “81% of companies with unsuccessful content marketing efforts didn’t have a documented content strategy” and “53% of companies that didn’t have much success with content marketing in 2021 spent less than 5% of their marketing budget on content.”

Success goes beyond simply creating content sporadically without specific targets or goals. And even though most marketers would list brand awareness as their number one goal for their content marketing strategy, it is followed closely by lead generation and improved organic search positioning. It can even lead to entirely new revenue streams.

10 Ways Content Marketing Drives Sales

Here are ten research-backed ways that a well-executed and properly funded content marketing strategy can take your brand from surviving to thriving in the digital wilderness:

1. Improving Lead Generation

Every sales process begins with targeting a market segment and generating qualified leads by engaging with that audience over time. And as traditional marketing tactics like cold calling, print ads, and radio commercials fall out of favor with younger generations, content marketing has become one of the most effective ways to generate leads online.

According to Demand Metric, "content marketing generates approximately 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing and costs 62% less." They also note that "70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles rather than an advert."

So, there's a good reason to invest part of your marketing budget in creating quality content that provides value to your audience and asks them for nothing in return. It ingratiates them to your brand and establishes you as an authority in your industry, which creates trust.

It may seem counterintuitive to create informational content to drive sales and generate leads, but in this case, it's all about timing. Reaching your audience in the early stages of the customer journey can pay off when they are ready to make a purchase decision. Once this content gets into your sales funnel, you're ready for the next step, which is to increase funnel conversations.

2. Increasing Middle-of-Funnel Conversions

When you think of creating content for a business, brand awareness might be the first goal that comes to mind. However, research by Semrush shows that “53% of marketers have created content for the middle of the sales funnel, even more than the top of the funnel, which is more commonly associated with content marketing.”

Content for the middle of the funnel is meant to guide someone in your audience to become a customer. It ranges from informative and engaging to branded commercial pieces intended to influence someone during the decision stage of the customer journey. This is the time to answer their questions about your brand, including presenting your unique value proposition. It’s also where you might share case studies and success stories to offer proof points to back up your brand promise.

The reason middle-of-funnel sales are so important is that you already did the work of grabbing someone’s attention. At some point, they signed up for your emails after downloading an ebook, taking a free course, or signing up for a newsletter. Now, your job is to be at the right place at the right time with the information they need to inform their purchase decision.

Middle-of-the-funnel content should also include storytelling that makes your business familiar and accessible to your target audience. Your mission and values could sway someone to become a loyal customer, especially for Gen Z.

Content Marketing Case Study

How could a pencil company generate millions of views on YouTube, a platform used by 95% of adults ages 18-29?

Faber-Castell, a pencil manufacturer that has been in business for over 250 years, proves how powerful content marketing can be for a brand in the video embedded above. This informative and engaging piece of content gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how they manufacture their products.

More importantly, though, it shows everyone how pencils are made.

To date, this YouTube video has generated over 16 million views. The success of this video can help the manufacturer drive sales now and in the future by:

Increasing brand awareness and recall
Growing their social media following across platforms
Generating revenue through content monetization
Increasing website traffic and conversions
Creating transparency in how they manufacture their products
Showcasing their industry leadership

Not bad for a company founded in 1761.

3. Enabling Transparency

What tools can a company use to be more transparent?

Out of everything in a marketer’s toolbox, content marketing is the first you would use. Why? Because transparency is all about sharing information with your audience, and content is the vehicle for that information.

So, to be effectively transparent, you should consider publishing content like:

Blog Articles
Videos
Website Landing Pages
White Papers
Case Studies
Success Stories
eBooks
Annual Reports

After that, PR and social media teams can share this content across platforms to ensure the marketplace is aware of these efforts. And spending money on transparency can pay off with dividends since it is an essential factor in brand loyalty.

“A number of polls through the years indicate at least two-thirds of consumers would spend more if it meant buying from a transparent company. A stunning 94 percent rank transparency as the greatest factor in brand loyalty,” Forbes reports.

This shows that transparency is not only a tool to generate more sales, it’s also a way to increase the lifetime value of a customer.

4. Increasing Brand Awareness

How do you make yourself known to your target audience?

If you’ve ever started a blog without a large following, you are probably familiar with how hard it is to make people aware of a brand–even the people you see every day. You think if you build it, they will come. And then your Google Analytics flatlines week after week.

It takes time and effort to make people aware of anything these days. That’s where your content marketing strategy comes in.

According to Content Marketing Institute, 70% of organizations have a content marketing strategy with brand awareness, building trust, and educating their target audience as their top goals.

Marketing is a numbers game, and the larger your sales funnel, the more likely you are to generate revenue. Many people also equate brand awareness with market share, so there is value in being effective at creating awareness around your business.

5. Creating New Revenue Streams

What do the Michelin tire company and the Michelin guides have in common?

The answer is an effective content marketing strategy launched over a hundred years ago.

In 1900, as the automobile started to gain popularity as a mode of transportation, Andre Michelin of the Michelin rubber and tire company decided to create a guide to help motorists find their way to the nearest gas stations, restaurants, and lodgings. In the same way that charging stations for electronic vehicles can be hard to find today, gas stations were more scarce then. So, they created the first Red Guide to ensure that the automobile reached mass adoption, and in turn, they would also secure the future of their tire company.

This unique marketing strategy solidified two brands in the minds of generations to follow, all through the power of content marketing. You are more likely to associate the name Michelin with restaurant ratings nowadays than rubber or tires.

A solid content marketing strategy isn’t only proven to drive sales of your current products and services. It can also be your way of entering into an entirely new industry, creating new revenue opportunities in the process.

There are several examples of how this can happen in the digital world, one of them being platform monetization. This makes the content its own revenue stream. In a more traditional context, we can think of someone publishing a book and then making money as a speaker, influencer, or entrepreneur.

6. Improving Organic Search Positioning

Google search positioning is like a game of Monopoly, and getting on the first page of search results is like putting a hotel on Boardwalk.

Like a great real estate location, improving your organic rank in search engine results pays off. It means you have to pay less for ad campaigns to reach the same audience. It also makes people more familiar with your brand and more likely to click on one of your ads in the future due to improved brand recall.

Increased visibility also improves brand awareness, creating a larger top-of-funnel for your company. And quality content is a vehicle for improving your clickthrough rate, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of website conversions.

“With sky-high exposure,” Search Engine Journal reports, “there’s an opportunity to imprint the brand on users and therefore significantly increase the chance for users to demonstrate a preference for the brand when competing with others for attention in search engine result pages. Google, in particular, shows preference in rankings to websites which (other factors being roughly equal) are most popular with users.”

Organic search marketing is a long-term investment in your business. While the cost per click may rise and fall, a steady increase in your organic search positioning can have an exponential effect on your commerce activities.

7. Becoming Top of Mind Through Brand Recall

Getting to the top of Google's search engine results page is one thing, but being top of mind for your target audience is even more valuable. Familiarity creates trust, so when a potential customer recalls your brand amongst your competitors, it gives you an edge.

Being top of mind also helps with word of mouth, which can help your brand increase sales overall, not just through website and social media conversions.

According to Geckoboard, “branded search traffic is a great measure of high-intent brand awareness. Not only are these people aware of your brand, as measured by Brand Recall, but they are also interested in finding out more about it. This could be seen as an indication of brand awareness driving purchase intent.”

8. Creating Brand Loyalty for Generations

What allows Disney parks to charge so much for tickets, even decades after Disneyland opened its doors in the summer of 1955?

For generations, kids have grown up watching animated fairy tales in theaters that came to life upon their first theme parks visit. And today’s parents want to share that experience with their kids, who are just as captivated with Elsa, Anna, and Moana as their parents were with Ariel, Belle, and Tiana. With Disney+ streaming Disney content 24/7, they are ensuring their parks will be filled with kids for generations to come.

“Disney’s movies continue breaking the box office, its animated cartoons are watched countless times worldwide, its amusement and theme parks are crowded every season, and its streaming operations outperform those of Netflix,” Investing.com writes.

That’s the power of content marketing to create brand loyalty that can last a lifetime–and beyond.

9. Harnessing the Power of Thought Leadership

People are willing to give you more than a penny for your thoughts these days. When it comes to thought leadership, Oprah has carved out a space in our minds that, even years after her talk show ended, she can still drive book sales (plus sales of her favorite things) year after year.

“So powerful is The Oprah Effect, not only does she make bestsellers out of lesser-known authors, she even revitalized Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison’s sales when she picked her books (four times total). According to Mother Jones magazine, when Morrison first published her beloved novel “The Bluest Eye” in 1970, it sold 2,000 copies. After Oprah featured it in her book club in 2000, it sold 800,000 additional copies from Oprah’s word alone,” Yahoo reports.

While being a conduit for book sales is an excellent proof point for the power of thought leadership to drive sales, it should also be noted that being a thought leader can cut both ways. For example, in the 1990s, Oprah battled cattle farmers in Amarillo, Texas, after they sued her for saying she would never eat a burger again. And while she ended up triumphant (and with Dr. Phil as a daytime tv protege), it still goes to show just how powerful the words of a thought leader can be.

Given this power, it’s no coincidence that today’s most popular and successful entrepreneurs have published several books, taken advantage of their followings on social media platforms, and given talks at conferences worldwide. Being a thought leader is a marketing strategy that combines the charisma and knowledge of a successful person with purpose and passion for their brand.

10. Captivating New Audiences Through Storytelling

When you think of popular action figures, G.I. Joes might be one of the first to come to mind. Launched in the 1960s, these figures predated merchandising from Star Wars and other toy lines that have become popular with collectors. In fact, by the time the 1980s came around, G.I. Joe was losing its market share in the action figure business. With merchandising from popular tv and movie franchises dominating the market, Hasbro quickly realized the effect storytelling had on driving sales.

At that time, the toy company couldn’t push G.I. Joe content through tv or movies, so they first chose to tell their story in comic book form.

According to Britannica, “in the early 1980s, the franchise was relaunched as “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.” These figures were just 3.75 inches (95 mm) tall, a scale virtually identical to that of the wildly popular Star Wars toys. While the original G.I. Joe featured characters simply named “sailor” or “pilot,” the 1982 toy line introduced a diverse, often outlandish cast of heroes and villains. The adventures of the G.I. Joe team were recounted in a monthly Marvel comic helmed by veteran writer Larry Hama. Featuring story lines that were surprisingly mature and complex for a toy-based franchise, the book was a top seller for Marvel. Most notably, Hama wrote and drew the groundbreaking “Silent Interlude” (March 1984), an issue that featured no dialogue. The story was cited by critics as a landmark achievement in the development of sequential art. The animated television series G.I. Joe premiered in 1985 and aired regularly in syndication over much of the subsequent decade.”

The G.I. Joe brand lives on today, with tv shows, movies, and merchandise still captivating new audiences through the power of storytelling.

How Can a Successful Content Marketing Strategy Transform Your Brand?

When we think of content marketing today, it’s easy to associate it with the information age. In reality, content marketing strategies have been helping brands generate sales for over a century. The platforms have evolved, but storytelling, brand awareness, and new revenue streams have always been top of mind for savvy marketers.

Generating sales has as much to do with psychology as with the product’s quality or price. And the best way to engage with customers along the buyer’s journey is to share content with them. That way, you can guide them through making a purchase decision and, if your content is impactful enough, motivate them to support your business for a lifetime.

10 Proven Ways an Effective Content Marketing Strategy Drives Sales