What is Smart Content and Why it's Badass

Unless you’re an inbound marketing guru, you might be unfamiliar with the term “smart content.” However, the concept of delivering valuable text, images and video to potential customers is so integral to successful advertising that you really need to step up and take heed. Ask any online marketing professional “what is smart content?” and you’ll learn about one of the most vital tactics you have at your disposal to increase website visitors, generate leads, and convert sales.

Follow this simple Checklist:

1. It must be created for your ideal customer
2. It should be helpful, informative, and entertaining
3. It should be created on a consistent basis
4. It should be able to spread quickly and easily
5. All content should be linked to at least one of your products and services
6. Always include a call-to-action
7. It must be measurable and produce a return on investment (ROI)

Drive Traffic

If you want to attract visitors to your website, you must first get their attention. You need to get your company to the top of the hit list with the search engine giants so that potential customers will see you. It’s well documented that people who enter certain search terms when seeking information about a topic will click on the first sites that appear. They’re not clicking through to page two of the search results.

Google, Bing, Yahoo! and others use an array of algorithms that favor valuable content and weed out that which is useless. Of course, keyword usage is important, but knowing what is smart content and what is not will ensure that you work your way up the list. All the search engines prefer contact that makes sense, so endless rambling of trending keywords won’t help you drive traffic. Your articles need to be witty, entertaining, or educational to attract attention.

Attract Customers

Once you’ve gotten their attention, you need to reel your potential customers in. Successful inbound marketing requires you to post text, videos and other content that are valuable to prospects. Answering common questions, sharing information about upcoming events, and posting how-to videos not only earns their attention, but it also earns their trust. When you establish credibility in your industry, they see you as a partner and are more willing to buy from you. Even if they’re not in the buying cycle when they find you, they will turn back to you when the time comes. Proving your expertise will also ensure that they return to your company for their needs in the future.

Boost Sales

If you’ve done your job with smart online marketing, your prospects will already be familiar with your company, its professionalism and reputation. However, as any member of your sales team knows, you don’t actually enjoy success with content advertising unless you convert business. At the same time, while you’re turning leads into new sales, you need to be managing the buying processes of existing customers. Smart content boosts sales by providing value well before they’re ready to buy.

When you appreciate the answer to the question “what is smart content?” you’ll have access to a powerful set of tools to promote your business. You know what’s important to your potential customers, so provide them with value upfront to establish trust and convert leads into sales.

"Smart Content is more than just well written or well-executed content. There is another meaning of “Smart Content” – one that takes your marketing efforts to the next level, increasing ROI and driving more marketing qualified leads into your pipeline." - GetSmartContent

So you should download this free handy dandy Tool Kit for Launching & Measuring a Remarkable Campaign so that you get get snazzy with your marketing!