Why Is Content Marketing Important? 7 Reasons to Start Content Marketing

We go through seven reasons why. If Billy wants to drive more traffic to his site, he doesn’t search for “Ahrefs” and buy our toolset right away. That’s because he doesn’t even know what SEO is. It’s more likely...

Why Is Content Marketing Important? 7 Reasons to Start Content Marketing
Article stats

Monthly traffic 111

Linking websites 92

Data from Content Explorer

Shows how many different websites are linking to this piece of content. As a general rule, the more websites link to you, the higher you rank in Google.

Shows estimated monthly search traffic to this article according to Ahrefs data. The actual search traffic (as reported in Google Analytics) is usually 3-5 times bigger.

The number of times this article was shared on Twitter.

There are countless marketing channels out there. Why should you focus on content marketing over the rest?

We go through seven reasons why.

1. Content marketing helps nurture and convert leads

If Billy wants to drive more traffic to his site, he doesn’t search for “Ahrefs” and buy our toolset right away. That’s because he doesn’t even know what SEO is.

It’s more likely his journey goes like this:

The potential buyer's journey of Billy Blogger

We need content to gradually progress Billy from step #1 to step #10. For example, when Billy is researching ways to get more traffic, we need to create content that ranks for that topic and educates him on how SEO is the best channel. 

2. Content marketing helps to educate potential customers

Tim Soulo, our chief marketing officer, once told me this:

My theory is that people don’t sign up for your tool and then learn how to use it. My theory is that people first learn how to use your tool, and they sign up because they know how to use your tool.

Tim Soulo

At Ahrefs, we create content that explains how to solve SEO and marketing problems with our toolset. By the time someone purchases, they already know how to use Ahrefs and are getting immediate value out of our product.

This helps us acquire better customers and retain them too.

3. Content marketing is scalable and long term

If you focus on creating helpful, evergreen content that people are searching for, your content can rank high on Google for more keywords over time. This generates consistent search traffic growth:

Search traffic coming to Ahrefs' blog

Our entire marketing team could potentially take a short break, and traffic would continue to flow. This can’t be said for paid marketing, where traffic ceases the second you stop running it.

4. Content marketing is often cheaper in the long term

The Ahrefs Blog generates an estimated 657,000 monthly search visits. 

Amount of organic traffic coming to Ahrefs' blog

If we were to acquire that traffic via Google Ads, it would cost us an estimated $720,000 per month (or $8.6 million per year):

How much the organic traffic would be worth if we acquired it via Google Ads

Given that we’re spending nowhere near that amount on content marketing, it’s reasonable to say content marketing is cheaper than paid ads in the long run.

5. Content marketing fuels word of mouth

If people are exposed to your content through other marketing channels, they’ll often share it with friends and colleagues.

For example, SEO Brodie Clark shared our content without any of us asking:

6. Content marketing builds trust with customers

If you can help someone solve a problem they’re struggling with, they’ll start to trust you. That’s what content marketing is all about: Creating useful content that helps your target audience solve a problem.

If you can do this continuously, you’ll become an authority in their eyes. They’ll turn to you whenever they have questions or more problems to fix. They may even buy the product (in this case, yours) you recommend. 

7. Your competitors are doing content marketing

In all, 71% of marketers report that content marketing has become more important to their organization in the last year. And 82% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing. 

If you’re not doing content marketing, your competitors are.

They’ll be the ones to appear in the search results when your customers are Googling for solutions to problems. They’ll be the ones who will build trust with them and become an authority in their eyes. They’ll be the ones who will nurture and convince them that their product—not yours—is the best in the industry.

Simply put: They’ll reap all the benefits of content marketing, but you won’t. 

What to do next

Convinced that you should be doing content marketing? Then check out these resources to get started:

How to Create a Winning Content Marketing Strategy (+ Template)How to Create a Content Plan in 6 Easy Steps Content Writing Explained + 8 Tips to Become a Better Writer Content Distribution: How to Do It Right