I was recently told that I was crazy for making a guide of marketing resources for my clients and website visitors to help them better understand digital marketing.
No, really. I was told this. From another small business marketing consultant.
Now, to his credit, he believed that sharing this information was nice and helpful but would ultimately cause me to lose money. If my clients become empowered enough to do it themselves, why would they need me? Not only that, but what if I do something wrong? Wouldn’t they be able to tell? He cared about my businesses’ viability and had no ill intent.
He was, however, dead wrong.
There is arguably no better way of solidifying your position as a knowledgeable, authoritative source than by providing the resources for your customers to succeed on their own. By establishing your business as an authority, you will be top of mind should they decide to purchase and will be the company they recommend to others.This concept can be applied to any business. While I was the Marketing Manager of Jackcrete, I made a comprehensive learning center that offered advice on repairing concrete using options besides what Jackcrete offered. The results were clear- more referrals from site visitors that got helpful information from our site and later referred us to their friends that could use our services, and more sales to qualified leads that trusted us because of our transparency.
Offering legitimately helpful content has benefits for your website, too. Visitors will be more likely to share your content and post links, adding to your backlink network and driving further high-quality traffic to your site. Writing longer articles that are well-researched will also increase your keyword density, increasing the likelihood that you’ll show for different relevant search terms.
While I’d like to say I’m offering good advice and resources because I’m altruistic, it’s simply not true. The truth of the matter is that there are very real incentives for helping out our customers, and if we can benefit along with our customers, why would we as business owners want to avoid that?
About the Author
Baylen McCarthy is a marketing consultant and travel blogger based in Hampton Roads, Virginia. His work includes web design, search engine optimization, and digital advertising services, among other marketing solutions. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Baylen, shoot him an email or leave him a message.
