Which Businesses Benefit the Most From Content Marketing?

October 24, 2022 (Updated: May 4, 2023)

torso of man in blue suit standing in front of stairs buttoning his jacket trying to decide which businesses benefit from content marketing

If your brand isn’t using content marketing, you probably have a list of excuses. “We have other projects and campaigns that are more important.” “Our brand is too big or too small to need content marketing.” “It takes too long to see results.” While content marketing is a helpful, viable tool for every brand, we get it. You’re hesitant to leap because you want to know it’ll work first. Today, we’re looking at which businesses benefit the most from content marketing to see if this strategy is worth your investment:

What Types of Businesses Get the Best Results From Content Marketing?
Which Industries Benefit the Most From Content Marketing?

What Types of Businesses Get the Best Results From Content Marketing?

Companies in certain areas of development or certain business situations may see better results from content marketing than others. Here are a few examples of brands that could benefit from incorporating a content marketing strategy into their plans:

Startups

Starting a business from scratch is hard. There are so many moving parts and considerations that your team may not have time to dedicate to snappy, enticing marketing campaigns. But just because you don’t have the time to create the next viral online ad doesn’t mean you should ditch marketing altogether.

Whether you’re worried about your budget or your resources, content marketing is a lower-stake, cost-effective way to build your brand image, reputation, and awareness. While content marketing still takes time and planning, it’s one of the most accessible marketing strategies for new companies. It’s long-term, so the content you create early can bring in new leads and audience members for years to come.

Plus, your brand, or your content marketing partners, have control over what you create, where you share your pieces, and how you use them to interact with your audience. As your brand gains traction in its industry and builds a follower-based, your content marketing will only become more beneficial.

Companies Looking To Set or Correct a Brand Image

Brands in an identity crisis are also the perfect targets for content marketing strategies. There are plenty of reasons a brand could need to set or correct its image, like:

The brand is new and hasn’t had enough time to establish its identity.
Your products and services cover a range of needs or industries, making your brand image unfocused.
The company had a recent shake-up, scandal, or bad press and is in “damage control” mode.
A company has a disruptive or innovative idea that forces its audience to think differently about the brand.
The organization is looking to rebrand or correct audience misconceptions about its image.

If your company falls into any of these categories, it’s time to dig into content marketing. The advantage of this approach is that you’re not making a hard sell for your products and services. Instead, by sharing valuable information with the audience, you’re developing brand authority in an industry. You’re creating bonds of trust with your audience and shaping the way they see your company, team, and products or services.

Expanding Brands

If your company is going through or about to go through an expansion, it’s time to start or revive your content marketing plans. Expansions mean different things to different companies. A few examples of expansion your organization could encounter include:

Opening new physical business locations or online work or retail spaces
Increasing the size of your team or adding new departments
Creating temporary or permanent partnerships with other businesses
Offering new products or services in any market
Entering new markets, either geographically or demographically
Merging with or acquiring other companies or brands

Companies undergoing expansions always have something to prove. Why should the audience trust this new thing you’re doing? Sure, you’ve served them well in the past. But why aren’t you sticking to what you know? Change isn’t always bad, but it is unsettling for both the company and its audience. Content marketing is a way to assure your followers that no matter how the organization changes or expands, it’s still the same brand they’ve grown to love.

In your new markets or locations, content marketing during or after expansion works similarly to content for startups. It helps bring new audience members into your fold. It also builds acceptance and trust with them the way to do with your loyal customers.

Organizations That Solve the Big Problems

If your company’s offerings work to solve big, complex, or in-depth problems, content marketing is the perfect solution. Not every brand sells something simple, like toilet paper or soap. Even if what you do or what you sell is important, you won’t be able to convince people they need it with a five-word banner ad.

That’s what makes content marketing such a brilliant strategy. You can use a blend of long- and short-form content to attract, entice, inform, and sell your products and services. Content marketing gives your team the space to go into greater detail about what your brand does. It also shows how your company benefits the audience in ways and methods where they’re open to hearing it.

Which Industries Benefit the Most From Content Marketing?

Image via Unsplash by @huntersrace

Even if your brand doesn’t fall into one of the business situations above, your industry might be another signal that content marketing is right for your company. Here are some industries that see the best results and grab the most leads from a content marketing strategy:

Financial Brands

People won’t trust just anyone to handle their hard-earned money. One of the best ways to get people to trust your company, aside from providing quality services, is to prove your expertise through content marketing. Financial brands can use this strategy to explain complex industry topics in simple language. Whether you’re targeting high-end business clients, senior citizens, or teenagers, content marketing is a way to speak to the audience at their own knowledge level.

Proving that your team and brand have the experience to do right by your clients helps your company generate more qualified leads. When those leads pan out, they turn into lifelong clients. Consider engaging in content marketing if your organization is a:

Commercial bank
Investment bank
Brokerage firm
Planning firm
Credit union
Savings & loan (S&L) association
Mortgage company
Insurance company
Tax preparation service

Technology Companies

The world today thrives on technology, especially after the COVID pandemic. Tech has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from work and home to healthcare and even travel. Whether it’s hardware, software, security, or systems, people need easy-to-use, reliable solutions. The downside of such widespread technology use is that there are so many options available.

So how is your audience supposed to pick from five software programs that all do relatively the same thing? Content marketing is the answer. Technology brands that excel in their content marketing set their products or services apart with brand image and expertise. If your company answers questions or provides valuable resources beyond sales content, clients and customers see that attentiveness as a selling point. Your insight becomes a deciding factor in choosing your brand over another.

Recruitment Firms

People look for new jobs and career advice every day. Whether someone wants resume help, interview tips, or a list of the best-paying jobs in an industry, content marketing is a great way to spread the word. Recruitment firms handle more than just sharing job postings like the old newspaper want ads. They work directly with both businesses and job seekers to get candidates prepared for new roles and match companies with the right talent.

Content marketing from recruitment firms serves as confidence builders and informative resources for anyone looking for a career upgrade or change. And when people feel confident that they’re making the right job decisions, they’ll be more likely to return to your recruitment firm when they’re ready to make their next move.

Health Services

If people thought little about their health or wellness before, most people can’t escape thinking about it now since 2020. Health services and wellness is a massive industry. Everyone needs it. Whether someone seeks preventative care, has an ailment, or has an interest in medical breakthroughs, they all fall into the same industry category.

Similar to financial services, people won’t trust just anyone with their health. Brands in this industry have to build a connection and rapport with potential patients, clients, and customers before they’ll commit. Content marketing is the best tool to do that. This marketing strategy allows you to speak with your audience in plain language to get them the help they need. But content marketing also provides channels for developing more in-depth pieces where necessary.

Retail and eCommerce Brands

Whether a company sells goods in person or online, retail and eCommerce companies are prime targets for successful content marketing. Like with technology, retail in any industry is competitive. For example, everybody needs clothing. But factors like style, quality, price, and taste affect how people buy their clothes. You can influence these types of purchasing decisions through content marketing.

Sticking with the example of fashion, buying guides, lookbooks, or other styling content goes a long way in convincing people your pieces are right for their wardrobe. Even if the competition similar items at similar price points, content marketing allows your brand to show off its personality. By showcasing these values, content can sway the audience to your brand more successfully than by pushing your products alone.

Travel Companies

People travel for two reasons: pleasure and necessity. Pleasure travelers take vacations and choose to see the world on their own terms. Necessity travelers do so for work or personal obligations they can’t avoid. In either case, a travel audience wants to find the best accommodations to make their trips easier, more comfortable, and more enjoyable when they’re away from home. Content marketing provides a way for travel companies to play on those expectations.

Hotels and travel agencies can share the best places to visit, eat, or stay in their cities. Cruise companies or airlines may explain the top destinations or sights you can see from traveling with their organizations. The idea behind content marketing for travel isn’t selling the services. It’s about promoting the experience the audience gets from traveling, and that your services make the experience better for them when they do.

Professional Services and Consulting Companies

Professional service and consulting companies are those that provide time and services to help individuals or organizations complete tasks or reach goals. These companies cover a range of other industries, like computer science, engineering, finance, or legal services. But no matter the industry, these types of jobs all share a common thread. The marketable skills they have come from their team and employee expertise. Content marketing shows off that kind of knowledge.

These types of companies can leverage their internal or contract subject matter experts when creating videos, articles, or other pieces. Share what your people know to build trust with your audience. If they can connect with your team members through their interviews or wisdom, people will be more likely to sign with your agency over another.

Real Estate Organizations

Residential and commercial real estate organizations benefit from content marketing. Similar to professional services, your agents can leverage their knowledge of particular properties, areas, or buying and selling services to impress the audience. Real estate agents have a lot of opportunities to create content around their properties and their knowledge.

Consider things like buying guides for homes in certain school districts or retail properties for sale in thriving downtown communities. But this industry can also attract customers by promoting the atmosphere and culture of what it’s like to live or work in a certain location. Similar to travel content, real estate agents may promote local events, chamber of commerce partnerships, or up-and-coming locations that are ready to blossom when the right tenants move in.

Manufacturing Companies

Manufacturing is more than just churning out product after product for sale. Within this industry, strategy, supply chain, and other logistics come into play to get those products from factory to client or consumer. With the disruptions in the supply chain, thanks to unforeseen and uncontrollable global factors, many retailers and suppliers wonder what companies are doing to correct the issues. That’s where content marketing helps.

Manufacturing and logistics companies can create expert-level content with plans to help their clients receive goods on time to satisfy their own customers. These plans and strategies show your company’s solutions and thought processes. Those factors are appealing to current and potential clients. The more you address customer pain points through content marketing, the more successful it’ll be.

Restaurants and Food Service

We’ve said it before, but like other industries, competition is high in food service. Whether you run a restaurant, grocery store, or catering company, it’s sometimes tricky to narrow in on what makes your brand unique. Content marketing helps. From sharing your restaurant’s story to a top-secret recipe, you can show off what aspects of your business make it exclusive. Focus more on the experience rather than the necessity of interacting with your brand.

Food service companies also benefit from user-generated content like reviews or social media shares. When you build a loyal audience, they take on the responsibility of sharing brand content with their circles. Your company can piggyback off of that content. Acknowledging your fans or followers and sharing their content to your brand pages or channels perpetuates the cycle. When new leads see other people getting attention from your brand online, they’ll want it too, and create more content.

Local Businesses

Like professional services, local business may fall into several industry categories. But no matter if it’s food service or retail, if your brand has a local bent, you need content marketing. When you market in a local setting, you appeal to the best target market—the people nearby. Videos allow you to show people what the atmosphere experience is like in your retail or service space. Articles and blogs let you talk up your standing in the community and how it benefits the locals.

Plus, local businesses have plenty of chances for collaboration through content marketing. Your brand could sponsor a town event and work with other local organizations to develop content to promote it. Local businesses benefit the most from content marketing through brand awareness and positioning themselves as leaders in a particular community.

Don’t Start Your Content Marketing Journey Alone

You don’t have to dive into content marketing alone. Whether you’re looking to outsource content marketing for your own agency, get help for your internal marketing team, or provide content marketing for your clients, CopyPress does it all.

Get the conversation started by filling out our contact form. Tell us more about your content marketing needs and goals, and questions you have about trying this new strategy. Or, if you know you’re ready to start your content marketing soon, schedule a no-obligation introduction meeting with our strategy team to plan your next great marketing initiative.

Christy Walters

CopyPress writer