Digital advertising has a fatal flaw—ad blocking, it’s costing the industry millions and it’s hurting your bank account too. If your online ads are not generating the ROI you expected, it is very likely that they are not being seen by your target audience or robots are filling out your forms. One of the solutions for this issue is content marketing.
According to Adweek, a study done by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, determined, “Ad blocking is costing the industry $781 million a year—yet makes up only a sliver of the total $8.2 billion lost to major problem areas including bot traffic and content piracy.”
This study creates an excellent argument for content marketing and here’s why:
It is much easier to be seen
With a good content marketing strategy in place, you are creating content for your buyer personas along their buyer’s journey. That means you know how to design content and where to place it to make sure it is seen by the right people and at the right time.
It fosters real relationships
While ads can be an effective way to reach a larger audience, they are very impersonal. Content marketing creates real engagement and allows for a relationship to build over time. If you are doing it correctly people will keep coming back for more information and thought leadership because you are touching on their pain points while lending a helping hand.
It is a great passive sales tactic that is worth the investment
Doing content marketing yourself can be more cost effective if you have the right person in place for the job. Otherwise, consider hiring an inbound marketing agency so you can get it right and see a real ROI. At the end of the day people do not want to be solicited, they want to have a conversation with a human to gain information so that can make an informed decision on how to resolve their issues.
Ad Age says that custom content used to be regarded as one of the most skippable forms of advertising. Today it is being held up by many in the industry as the thing that just might save advertising from all ad-avoidance behavior, including ad skipping and ad blocking.
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