A businessperson in their twenties during the 1980s could not have possibly envisioned the way business is being conducted today. Businesses and customers are now connected on a 24/7 basis through the Internet, meaning companies now have the ability to conduct business while the owner and employees are literally sleeping. Also, physical boundaries no longer interrupt the reach of a company that wants to sell its products and services anywhere in the world. In fact, the only thing that limits an online company is its willingness to properly market its good and services and the money to do so.

Content Marketing
As online business evolves at the speed of light, the pressure to compete is placed squarely on business owners who need to stay up on the latest trends in marketing. Content marketing is currently one of the key buzzwords used in regards to marketing over the Internet. For those who don’t know, content marketing is the creation of online marketing formats that are designed to drive business to one’s business and website. This content can be created in a variety of formats, including videos, eBooks, infographics, photos, how-to-guides and news releases that can be communicated through search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing), blogs or social media (Facebook or Twitter).

The Benefits of Content Management
The primary benefits include being able to reach millions of customers without advertising in a magazine, newspaper or billboard. It costs much less than traditional forms of advertising with a reach that goes as far as the Internet will take it. It also provides the ability to update and change marketing information quickly and efficiently without having to recall marketing materials. Finally, it allows companies to build a recognizable brand without spending millions on advertising.

3 Reasons to Increase your Content Marketing Budget
If you and/or your company are already using content marketing, but feel you could do more, here are three important benefits you could derive by simply increasing your company’s content marketing budget.

1. Create More Traffic to Your Website – According to a survey conducted by Content Plus, 60% of customers feel closer and more comfortable with companies that have an established online presence. This translates to more site traffic to the tune of 600%-700% in some cases, and higher traffic results in higher sales. By investing more money in pay-per-click advertising and a social media program, a company could raise its online presence, which provides more access to customers. It’s a numbers game. Many companies report sales increases by as much as 60% when they use an effective content marketing campaign.

2. Develop Your Brand – According to an article in Forbes, building a brand is about telling a story of who your company is and what they do. Your branding a brand is the end product of effectively telling that story. For customers, it’s more than advertising products or services. It’s about sharing intimate company information with the customer, which converts to sales and loyalty in the long run.

3. Stay Ahead of the Competition – While as many as 94% of B2B marketers use content marketing, only 36% of those surveyed by Search Engine Journal were able to say they had increased their investments over the past couple of years. That translates to a huge opportunity to get a leg up on the competition by increasing your company’s content marketing while the others stand pat.

Content marketing is here to stay. Those businesses that invest the time, effort and money to evolve with currents trend are going to be the ones that reap financial rewards. If your company is not doing so yet, it’s never too late to ramp up your content marketing budget and become a major player online.