For the last few centuries, news, information and knowledge was primarily printed on paper documents such as newspapers, magazines and books. The life of newspapers was short, of useful books much much longer. Today few would think of commencing a search for information amongst the dusty shelves of a library. Most people go straight to a computer, smart phone or tablet and then to the one all knowing oracle - Google. And what they want is good quality, relevant information - quickly.
Where that information is research prior to a purchase, unless it is a subject the person knows well, the process may start with 'education' that explains and outlines options to create a better informed purchase decision - before checking out actual product models, price and availability. If that educational entry is provided by an expert in the field, then that may well create trust when later on the buying phase begins.
Although we talk about a proliferation of media, in reality the only divide is between storage on paper and digital storage. Advertising agencies have slowly evolved the terminology from talking about 'new media' to being a 'digital' agency. The gateway to the digital archives is dominated by Google and unless your search result comes high up on page one, who is going to scroll through the next few hundred, thousand or million results? Quality, relevant content is rewarded by high ranking, you only have to see how highly Wikipedia appears on most searches.
Creating compelling content that takes the moral high ground can be the foot in the door, once the role of field salesmen to hook a prospect early in the purchase process. This may be assisted by placing content on sites that already enjoy high ranking and get links back to your on website in return for providing expert content that improves their position. So not only is there a growing need for great content, but also the means of delivering that collateral to the right prospects.
No comments:
Post a Comment