Prism Group is a “content-focused SEO agency,” but not everyone knows what that means. Content Marketing, like many marketing buzzwords, can mean a variety of different things. So, let’s set the record straight on what we mean by “content-focused.”

Based on how the current iteration of Google’s algorithm ranks websites, website content is a primary factor in determining what page your company’s web pages show up. That’s important, because as we noted in Spectrum #11 – Where’s The Best Place to Hide the Body? page 1 search results get 91.5% of Google traffic and page 2 results get…wait for it…only 4.8%! Page 3 results get 1.1% and search results for later pages never exceed 0.5%.

“But ours is a relationship business,” you say and organic SEO doesn’t matter. Think again! Nearly 78% of B2B buyers start their selection process with a Google search, dwarfing Personal Networks and LinkedIn as their initial source (Pear Analytics, Pardot).

If your web pages aren’t showing up on Page 1 of a Google search when buyers are looking for solutions to problems you can solve, there is a 91.5% chance they won’t find you.

UNCLE you cry! Now that we convinced you that organic search rankings matter for building awareness in your offerings, you ask how do I get on Page 1? Simple, Content Marketing.

Content is king when it comes to organic SEO rankings. Even if SEO isn’t your top priority (and if is isn’t, we might call for an intervention), there are other critical reasons for Content Marketing. At least three others, in fact.

At Prism Group, we believe that content should achieve four major objectives.

Objective #1: Drive Organic SEO Rankings

Google is where buyers and influencers search for solutions, compare alternatives, and evaluate corporate reputations. Bottom line, you want your company to show up on Page 1 of search engine results when buyers are searching for solutions to problems you can solve. Building high-quality, unique content focused on “pain point” SEO keywords and then architecting it in a way to establish Legitimacy with Google gets you there.

Simply publishing an AI-generated blog post chock full of keywords usually isn’t enough to meaningfully improve your organic ranking and get on Page 1, especially of that computer-generated blog doesn’t make sense and/or lacks context.

Best results are achieved by developing high-quality blog articles that are unique to your company and highly relevant to the buyer personas you are targeting. This takes time and careful research of your market to understand what problems they are trying to solve (in their own words, not yours), the competitive alternatives and other variables.

We also pay close attention to building a blog article architecture, consisting of a Master Source blog with multiple sub blogs referencing it. When Google sees the relationships of the sub blogs to the Master Source, it gives the Master Source blog greater Legitimacy and moves it up the rankings.

There is more, but hopefully you now have an appreciation that effective Content Marketing is as much about how you say something as what you say.

Objective #2: Establish Thought Leadership

Establishing and maintaining Thought Leadership is a critical goal for innovative companies. In many cases, your company may have an innovative solution to a problem your potential customers don’t know they have! Marketing to buyers who don’t believe they have a problem, or who don’t want to admit they have one, is a difficult challenge and one that many companies fail at.

Being seen as a source of informative, educational, and authoritative content is how to achieve this objective.

Content that establishes and strengthens your status as a Thought Leader includes:

• White Papers
• Case Studies
• Webinars, preferably with outside experts or customers
• Educational blog articles covering topics impacting your buyers, not just promotional blogs
• Interviews
• Field tests

Thought Leadership content is is particularly important when attempting to bridge the gap from Early Adopters and Innovators to buyers in the large Early Majority. See our blog article #2 – The Lifecycle Approach to Marketing (Marketing Innovative Solutions).

Objective #3: Shorten the Buyer’s Journey

All B2B buyer’s go through the process of searching for solutions, evaluating them, and then making a decision (which can also mean deciding to stay with the status quo). This process, aka the Buyer’s Journey, is defined by the AIDA acronym:

Awareness. This is what we do in Objective #1 to get your company ranked for pain point SEO keywords, complemented with paid search.

Interest. Case studies, white papers, infographics, interviews, media coverage and other content helps buyers understand how you can help them and discover your value proposition.

Deciding. Comparison matrices, competitive positioning graphics, testimonials and more help buyers understand why your company or offering is the right one for them.

Action. Offering high-quality content at each stage of the Buyer’s Journey helps buyers to to “yes” faster.

Objective #4: Lead Nurturing

Not every prospect in your Total Addressable Market (TAM) is ready to buy today. We have seen estimates that only between 1-10% of all potential buyers are in-market at any given time, making it vital stay visible with qualified leads until they are ready to buy.

Content marketing gives you a principled, relevant, and business-oriented way to stay in touch with prospects until they come in-market.

How often you stay in touch depends on your marketing cadence, the frequency of publishing new content and reaching out to prospects. We covered marketing cadence in our blog article #9 – Marketing Cadence: How Much Communication Is Too Much (Or Not Enough)?

TIP: Content online has a shelf life. Driving organic SEO is one thing, maintaining Page 1 results is another. The Google algorithm considers how long content has been published and if any new content has been published subsequently. Older posts are given lower priority, which means once you stop publishing content, your SEO rankings and website traffic will degrade over time, albeit not as fast as traffic driven by Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and paid search.

Results

In summary, Content Marketing drives four primary objectives: (1) drives organic SEO rankings, (2) establishes Thought Leadership, (3) shortens the Buyer’s Journey and (4) nurtures leads until prospects are ready to buy.

Developing a Content Development Plan informed by pain point SEO keywords goes a long way to ensuring your content achieves these four critical communications objectives.

The benefits of a well-designed and executed Content Marketing plan include:

• High organic placement on Google searches your buyers use to find solutions to their problems
• More inbound Marketing Qualified Leads
• Higher-quality leads
• Optimized paid search budget
• Never miss an opportunity!

Let’s Talk! Contact us today to learn more about how Content Marketing can help you tell a story that matters and achieve your marketing objectives.

About Prism Group

Prism Group is a full-spectrum, multi-talented B2B agency focused on Energy Tech, Climate Tech, Oil & Gas, Oilfield Services and Media markets. Our work is telling stories that matter, because our clients are working to change the world for the better. What makes us different is that we put into action the strategies we recommend – we get it done, so you can get results and increase the value of your business.

CONTACT
James Constas
President
Prism Group
JConstas@1PrismGroup.com