can seo companies provide content marketing?

Many old school SEO companies pretend to be on top of the latest Internet marketing buzzword. They have a sales staff that is fantastic at hunting, gathering, and closing leads. Unfortunately for them, nearly everyone and their mother these days knows that many of these companies fail to deliver on their promises.

What went wrong for SEO companies?

I can’t speak for the entire industry. And, of course, a handful of good SEO companies to exist. Here in North Carolina we have many of the snake oil type of agencies. They get in your door and throw a 1 – 3 year long contract in front of you and the next thing you know you are sitting back waiting for their link building techniques, press releases, and blog spam to deliver some sort of magical result. Well, most people are waking up to the fact that ranking in search is not a game. Trying to trick Google or the other search engines is not a real goal and definitely not a tactic any business that desires long term growth should employ. One Raleigh SEO Company that I glance over at from time to time has a marketing team, a sales staff, company vehicles, etc- the list of their overhead is a mile long. So what do they deliver? At the end of the day the SEO guru working on your Internet presence is managing 10 – 15 accounts and making minimum wage. Content developed is generic at best and often comes from someone on the other side of the planet who speaks English as a second language. To word this as politely as possible, their content sucks.

Is content marketing new?

Many of these companies will lead you to believe that developing quality content is a new thing. Well let’s get something straight, shall we? I remember when the first search engines were built. Their goal now is absolutely no different than it was decades ago. Search engines want to connect people with the resources that people are looking for. If they don’t, people will go use a different search engine. There is a lot more to content marketing than this alone, but still..

Understanding content marketing:

Content marketing is an art form that not everyone can handle. This is content that is unique, valuable, and relevant. Ultimately content marketing (hopefully) results in user retention or customer sales. The consensus is that this type of content doesn’t sell. But, assuming the content is on your website, most companies have a phone number prominently displayed at the top of their site or a contact form in the sidebar, or a social media profile in place that people can follow (or all of the above), so, of course you are selling. But the post can simply be informative, entertaining, or engaging with your audience. There are ways to monetize content without selling, and this is usually done by simply educating or engaging, which builds trust. A user that lands on your site doesn’t have to immediately make a purchase for content marketing to be effective; they may however think of your brand when the time comes to purchase.

Content Marketing and SEO:

There are several aspects to content. Can you even have a social media strategy without a content strategy? Is content the center of your SEO strategy? Can you run a PPC campaign without great content? Can your content easily be shared? Do people want to share it? To me this is the epitome of creating great content and the center of any good SEO strategy. Content marketing amplifies created content. For some niches, simply creating content is enough; transmission repair shops probably do not have a loyal community of followers, but, great content and good rankings can be the life or death of their business. So, no, not everyone needs content marketing.

Conclusion:

Select marketing firms will adapt or have already been providing great content for years. Others will continue going about business as usual. Is the company agile and/or creative enough to accomplish great content? Time will tell. We specialize in content consulting, strategy, and provide content marketing and creation, social media strategy, SEO & Search Engine Optimization. If you have any questions just let us know.

Len

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