Most old-fashioned marketing methods were characterized by short term gains, but no staying power over the long run. An example today would be direct mail. Sure, it might convert a handful of people, but the vast majority of individuals who get flyers through their door will immediately discard them. Billboards might work for a few weeks too, but over time the style and the design will become boring, and it’ll lose its effect.

There’s nothing wrong with this strategy, of course. It’s just that it can never be sustainable in the long run. You will have to continuously generate new ads and marketing ideas to keep your audience interested.

In the online world, it turns out that inbound marketing methods are a heck of a lot more successful than traditional outbound methods. Getting your customers to come to you, rather than going to them, is the long-term bet that the majority of sophisticated companies are now playing. Instead of coming up with a new advert every month, top businesses are increasing the amount of content on their platforms and hoping that this will draw the punters in.

For this reason, it’s essential not to screw up content marketing. This is why is it the best long-term strategy.

Content Marketing Is Complementary To All Other Marketing Strategies

The great thing about content marketing is that it feeds into many other strategies companies use to market their products online. First of all, it really helps with SEO by increasing the number of words on your site, telling Google you update your site regularly, and bumps up your domain authority by increasing the number of clicks you get.

Second, it’s also good for social media marketing, since the content you generate for your site can be used as part of your campaigns. Have a great video or infographic? Share it online to attract new traffic.

Third, content creation improves the traffic to your website. It’s important, therefore, to create a website that allows dozens of visitors to easily view your blog at any given moment.

Fourth, it helps build trust in your brand. If people can see that you’re regularly churning out content and writing down new ideas, they’re also going to see that you have a high degree of expertise in your particular field.

Ever Green Content Lasts Forever

A lot of the stuff that you read online is related to things that are trendy at the moment – for instance, a lot of blogs were written when Google released its Panda update last September. But, as the world changes and trends come and go, a lot of these time-specific blogs lose their appeal.

For companies who want to be efficient with their time, it’s important to avoid these types of posts and focus on so-called “evergreen” content – content that doesn’t have a sell-by date.

Evergreen posts include articles on the subject of helping people become better communicators, or helping them plan the perfect holiday. Things that involve fundamental human behavior tend to last a lot longer than things that involve new technology, especially if that technology is changing rapidly.