Beyond Keywords: The True Value of Content Marketing

Discover the essentials of content marketing with Anthony Karls and Lisa from Rocket Clicks. Learn what content marketing is, its importance, and how it can create value and trust for local businesses. Dive into the differences between content marketing and SEO, and explore practical applications for driving revenue and increasing profits.

00:00 Introduction to Revenue Roadmap

00:32 Meet Lisa: Journey to Rocket Clicks

03:31 Understanding Content Marketing

05:24 The Value of Content Marketing

06:26 Content Marketing Examples

12:42 Content Marketing and SEO: Differences and Overlaps

14:39 Importance of Content Marketing for Small Businesses

16:53 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

#DigitalMarketing #ContentMarketing #BusinessGrowth

Transcript

Anthony Karls: 0:00

All right, here we go. So this is Revenue Roadmap, where we talk about driving revenue and increasing profits in local businesses. I'm Anthony Karls, president of RocketClicks. Today, I am with one of my clicks, Lisa. So for those of you that haven't met Lisa yet, she is one of our product owners here at RocketClicks. So for being here with us today, Lisa.

Lisa Filip: 0:23

Definitely.

Anthony Karls: 0:25

today we're gonna be talking about content marketing. Uh, we're going to be talking just super high level. So what is it? Why do we do it? Uh, before we get into that, Lisa, we need you to tell us a story about how you found yourself here at RocketClicks and in marketing

Lisa Filip: 0:42

Sure. Yeah. Um, so I actually was recruited by a member of the RocketClicks team. She and I were coworkers at our former job. Um, so she had found RocketClicks and moved over there, um, and was very happy. We were very, very close. So I, she talked to me every day and was telling me how great it was and all this stuff. And, um, I had already been in an agency previously, so I was a little Thinking she was just in the honeymoon phase. Like, yeah, yeah, sure. You think this is such a great big place to be, you know, I, I feel like you wouldn't lie to me, but maybe, you know, I don't know. So she kept trying to get me to come over. She's like, just talk to them. They're looking for more paid people. Like, you know, just get on the phone. Um, and I pushed her off. I push off. I push off. And finally, I, you know, I said, all right, fine. You know, I was looking for another opportunity. Continue to grow my skills. And, um, you know, I, I got to chat with a couple of the leaders here at, at RC and, uh, they were good salesmen. Uh, they convinced me pretty quickly, uh, that I was, you know, missing out on a great opportunity and you know what, they were, they were right. So, um, I finally caved and said yes and came over and have been here ever since. So it was a good, good experience for sure.

Anthony Karls: 1:55

and your background, your backgrounds in, in paid media. You, you've run a couple of our paid media teams here. You're now kind of head of our B2C local team working with that whole division. So, um, Tell us a little bit about why you chose marketing as a career.

Lisa Filip: 2:14

Um, so yeah, I've been in, in digital advertising since straight out of college. So always been kind of in the digital sphere. Like I had said, I worked at a previous, previous agency. Um, we specialize in like clinical trial patient recruitment. So very niche, uh, very, you know, lots of rules and regulations to play with. But, um, but yeah, I had found myself there just because, um, I really loved the, like a kind of evolving nature of digital and of marketing in general. Um, it was very problem solving focus. It was very understanding why people do what they do and how people, you know, think and act and all those things. And it all kind of tied into, you know, one, one role, so to speak. So I always had a lot of interest in teaching and in, uh, psychology and stuff like that, but I don't have the patience to be a therapist. So, you know, it was kind of a match made in heaven of the things that I love to do, but a lot of really hands on application. You get to see what you make out in the real world and impact real businesses, which I love. So that's kind of how I ended up, uh, you know, in marketing and in digital, uh, because of that kind of. Fast pace changing nature of it. So, um, so yeah, so that always an agency though. I've never quite gotten away away from it But I just kind of I love the love the pace. So

Anthony Karls: 3:30

Awesome. All right. So today we're talking about content market. Uh, so before we, before we like dig into this deeply, what, what is content marketing? Like, this is a topic that I think it's confused a little bit, especially when you, you start, like if you're a local business owner, this might be an area where it's not super clear. Like, what is this? Uh, so what is it? What, and what isn't it? So let's just.

Lisa Filip: 3:57

definitely Yeah, so I mean content is it feels a little counterintuitive maybe to a small business like you said, but it's really creating a piece of you know of content of Some sort of value that you're giving out to your audience, but you're not trying, you're not trying to sell to them. And I think that that's probably the thing that maybe businesses get really used to is there's always a hook, right? There's always a, we're trying to get that user to take some sort of action, but what really good content is, is creating something of value and giving it out. Um, to your audience and not necessarily asking for anything in return, other than them just being an engaged individual with your company and with your business. So it's really creating that kind of altruistic value, um, with, with the people that you're, you know, you're kind of hoping to, to become a part of your business someday. So that, that's really, I think what it is. Is in a nutshell. So

Anthony Karls: 4:50

Yeah. So it's all about, it's all about creating a piece of content that. Delivers value to an audience you're trying to create. So if you're doing that successfully, you are, you're not forcibly trying to sell them something you're trying to forcibly trying to give them information that's super valuable so that they can take it and potentially apply it in their business or move forward in some way with it. But they've then developed some trust in you. So like. So, all right. So that's, so that's the point. That's the, that's the, what it is. It's we're, we're creating value in the marketplace. What's the why behind it? Like, why are we doing, why would we do this? Like, what's the point?

Lisa Filip: 5:29

yeah, so the why is right, you know, you may feel like you're not quote unquote getting anything out of it, right? People aren't, uh, taking an action and saying, sure, sign me up by your product or whatnot, just because you put a piece of content out there. But. Um, what you do get out of it is you get that engaged audience, right? You're building, um, a really great network of individuals and a community, um, that, you know, are engaged with your brand and you, you know, just kind of put that out there into the ether, um, so that you're kind of creating this group of individuals that you can then reach out to at a later date, um, you know, and, and offer, you know, kind of the, the, I should say, you can introduce to them. The problem that you solve, right? Because you've engaged with them, you've given them this content. Um, and then you can kind of put forth, you know, our business can help you solve your problems and you built that trust with them. So they're going to sit down and they're going to listen to what you have to say.

Anthony Karls: 6:24

Yeah. Um, so what are some, so give me some examples. So what are, what are some good examples of content pieces that are made specifically for creating value that aren't necessarily asking for anything in return? Like, what are some.

Lisa Filip: 6:43

definitely. Um, so the, the thing that comes to mind on the, the local team here, we work with a lot of law clients. Um, so they're, you know, providing different services. Um, some of our clients are family law focused. Um, so a lot of that is. You know, providing services for, you know, divorce or, you know, kind of child care management and things like that. So things where it's. Really, uh, individuals going through a hard time, right? It's a personal experience. It's going to look different for everyone, um, by nature. Most people have not experienced this before if they're maybe going through a divorce for the first time. So really good content in that sphere looks like putting out videos and documentation and support of helping these individuals navigate this experience that they're going through for the first time. You're not, Offering your services. You're not saying, Hey, we'll be your lawyer. You're just saying, Hey, this is a really hard thing that you're going through right now. And these are some things that you can expect. Right. This is what the process looks like. This is maybe some things you should be considering. Maybe this is some alternatives to divorce, right? We don't even, you know, maybe you're not there yet and you're just trying to understand what all your options are. The difference between, you know, legally divorce and legal separation. Some people have maybe never heard of those terms before. So it would be putting out videos or podcasts or, you know, blogs that just explain that and kind of help people understand maybe. Things that, that, you know, they weren't prepared for or hadn't considered before having it, you know, be a first time that they're going through an experience like that. So that would be some really good content where you're just building that trust with an individual and providing them information without asking for anything in return.

Anthony Karls: 8:25

So when we think about content marketing in, in, in relation to the five stages of awareness, like where do, where does content marketing fall specifically the stuff that you were just talking about? Like, where is that? Where is that going to be more often? And then how, how does that relate to cost?

Lisa Filip: 8:42

Yep. Yeah. So that's going to be definitely upper funnel kind of in the unaware or maybe, you know, problem aware stage where individuals are aware to the extent that maybe they have an issue, right? They have questions that they're asking, but it's in, in general, very, very high level, like, very, very high funnel. Right? Um, so this person is just kind of starting their research. Um, they're not looking to take an action, right. And the longer your sales cycle is, the longer that processes, right. The farther they are away from being interested in taking any sort of action. So to your point about tying that to cost, right, this is something that is, you know, very much a long term investment, um, where you're putting the effort in up top of that funnel. And knowing that it'll trickle down over time, but it's not an immediate return, right? It's not a, I'm going to put 20 into creating a piece of content and I'm going to get, you know, 20 out or more because someone, you know, kind of signed up for my service. That's definitely not where it sits in the fall. So,

Anthony Karls: 9:47

Yeah. I mean, when we think about that 20 that you just, you just said there specifically in the family law space, a lot of the keywords that if you were to bid on in a, in a paid search strategy that are lower funnel are going to cost you about 20 or more for a single click that may or may not do anything versus you spending some resources on developing that one piece of content that. Once you post it, you may have to update it pretty infrequently over the next couple of years, but we'll continue to add value over and over again. Like you, you looked at understanding, all right, what, what about going through a divorce as a, like, if this was you going through a divorce as a, uh, as a female, uh, homeowner who needs to understand what it's like to do it with, uh, with a, uh, partner who also works and all of that, like what happens to the house? Like, how do I consider. What are the things that I should be aware of? You know, long form piece of content that you probably don't have to update very often, but a lot of people are going to ask that question. And then you're not really trying to ask them anything other than like, here's, here's my brand with good information, and I know you're not ready to buy. We know in that space, it takes about, for a petitioner, it's about a three year period. Research process. So like there's a lot of opportunities for us to be in front of them over that three year process before they start talking to us directly. Um, let's bet that was another interesting thing that I found over my career is in the content marketing space. Uh, if the transaction timeline from research to purchase, uh, is shorter. Typically, the amount of content marketing options available are smaller, but the product like our service, like divorce, if you're the petitioner, like it's a generally, it's going to be a three year purchase process before three years before you reach out to the law firm. And that will be much faster once you reach out, but there's a lot of stuff that they're going to research along the way. How are you nurturing those people?

Lisa Filip: 11:53

Right. Yep. And the more often that something they naturally find comes across with your You know, companies logo tied to it again. It's all about that trust building because they say, oh, you know, I've seen that that logo before, you know, and I, it was when I did my first search. And now I'm 6 months later, and I'm doing a search for a completely different part of the process because I've. You know, kind of worked my way down into thinking about different things. I was worried about the house. Now I'm worried about my kids, right? So I'm searching for different things. And if that logo continuously kind of pops up along the way, it really builds that trust. Because again, that whole way, you're never asking for anything. You're just providing. So it's a really, really strong trust building experience for the individual customer kind of working through that process.

Anthony Karls: 12:39

awesome. Very good. Uh, so I guess last question. So a lot of times content marketing gets intermingled with SEO. How, where is the overlap and why is it not the same thing?

Lisa Filip: 12:51

Definitely. Yes. Yeah. Um, so SEO, right. The, I was going to, what's the goal, right? So the goal of SEO, right. And, and you're a lot of times we start right with the core content of a site. So it's very nuts and bolts, right. It's very like, this is what we do. This is who we serve. This is the product we sell. Right. And the goal of that is to have it be very searchable, um, on Google on Bing, right. So that when someone types something in and the keywords match, that you're coming up. in the searches that you want to, you know, kind of come up in, um, the difference of content and all the things that we've been talking about, right, is a lot of those, um, pieces of content is you aren't concerned about necessarily where they're coming up in the search, right? You just need those pieces of content to exist, and then you're going to distribute them in different ways. They may live on your website. site, they may live in your blog page, they may live somewhere in your video files or something like that, that is fine, you know, is searchable and it is findable on the site. Um, but you're going to really, you know, kind of push them out organically across other needs. Maybe you have an email list, maybe you have, you know, you're working on building your organic social following. Um, and that's where those videos are going to get pushed out and, and live. Um, and that's, Kind of the biggest difference between content and, um, you know, SEO is that the goal of SEO is to really focus on like the keywords and the nuts and bolts of the content itself to make sure that when someone types something in, you're showing up at the top. Um, but that content for the sake of content is about providing true value and just answering the question, right? What is this person asking themselves? What information do they need? And how can I provide that to them?

Anthony Karls: 14:37

Awesome. Very good. Any, uh, why, why is this, uh, why is this important when we're, Looking at if we're a small business and we're looking to drive revenue or increased profits. Why, why is this something important to consider?

Lisa Filip: 14:51

Definitely, yeah, we see this all the time. Um, you know, businesses, especially if they're, you know, kind of maybe further along in their journey and they've got all the, I'm going to keep saying nuts and bolts, but all, you know, that stuff really locked in, like they've got, you know, there may be paid advertising in a good place, they're showing up on the. Local, you know, map pack really well and, and all those things are in place, but they feel stagnant in the sense that, um, you know, they just can't grow because they're, you know, maybe the number of people who are searching for them has been kind of static where it is. Content is such an important piece of growing just your awareness as a business and creating those. I think going back to what we originally talked about was growing those engaged audiences, um, in a really natural way. Um, as opposed to, you know, kind of like we said, like forcing out like a sales hook or asking for something all of the time. So it's that long term, longer term investment where you're just putting content out there, you're becoming a part of the community, part of, you know, the businesses that, you know, maybe you're, you're kind of tied to locally, um, and building that engaged audience so that then people are sharing those pieces of content organically across their networks. And it. Rose, um, in a very, you know, I'm going to say it again in a very organic kind of natural way, um, and it just keeps churning, you put it out there. And then I think like you said, you know, you're not even having to update it all the time and it just kind of lives and grows and creates these really engaged networks and audiences that then you can reach out to at a later date and, you know, kind of offer your services when the time is right. So that's why it's important. Um, you know, it, it really does a, an amazing job, uh, developing. Audiences that, um, believe in the business are connected to the business, trust the business, and will advocate for you. Um, you know, even outside of, you know, their engagement with you, they're going to share it with their friends and their, their coworkers and things like that. So that's, I think where the value of content really lies. So

Anthony Karls: 16:53

Awesome. Well, thank you, Lisa. Appreciate it. Look forward to, look forward to next time.

Lisa Filip: 16:58

absolutely.