Every brand wants to be admired as an expert and gain its customers’ trust, and one of the best ways to do this is with relevant, compelling content marketing. The content you develop shouldn’t just promote your company or be created solely for SEO purposes. That’s a nearsighted way to look at content marketing. With the right approach, you can build credibility and authority with in-depth content that delivers real solutions for your audience.
While you probably already have a content strategy to drive the objectives and goals of your content marketing, are you taking into consideration credibility and authority? Is your content too light on substance? Or maybe it doesn’t have a unique point of view? If it’s only scratching the surface of a problem, your buyers aren’t going to walk away with new ideas, which could seriously impact your brand’s ability to connect with and convert customers.
Are There Rules for Building Credibility and Authority with In-Depth Content?
There’s no playbook for how to build credibility and authority via content. However, many best practices can revolutionize how you choose topics and set goals for your content to better align with audience needs.
Use data and stats to strengthen your message
Whenever you are setting up an idea, using data and stats can be helpful. But don’t make them the foundation. They aren’t the stars of your content. Rather they should be the supporting cast. Also, ensure this information is useful and from a reliable source before linking. Some examples include research from industry groups, nonprofits, advocacy organizations, or influential thought leaders.
Adding statistics and research into your content can make your points more impactful, but don’t just cite the data, explain and interpret it. For example, an industry group may publish a study about revenue losses. The data they may present doesn’t dive into correlation or causes. If you can add some context to the data with your experience or other data sets, it’s likely to pique the interest of your audience.
Offer actionable tips
Content truly resonates with audiences when they are inspired to take action. This means you need to be specific versus vague. The more detailed you can be with tips, the more likely buyers will see you as credible and authoritative in the field.
For example, if your company designs software that allows for better workflows through automation, define specifically how inefficiencies are impacting their operations and how to shift their processes. Your in-depth content on the subject should provide them with steps they can take to eliminate their challenges.
Include quotes from your SMEs
Subject matter experts (SMEs) can be a huge asset to your content marketing plans. Content collaboration can be difficult sometimes, especially in large enterprises, but it’s worth the effort to build credibility with your content. Engaging with internal and external SMEs can give great credence to your content because they speak from a place of experience and expertise. Whenever you weave in quotes from these thought leaders, your content will be elevated in its quality.
Ensure your content is current
If you work in a rapidly changing industry, what you covered yesterday may not be accurate today. You can track your content and the need to repurpose it with a content calendar. The ability to easily manage and scale this is especially important in industries like healthcare, finance, and other regulated verticals.
Updating content with what’s current shows your audience you have a pulse on what’s going on and possibly impacting them. If they land on an inaccurate blog post, it can damage your credibility, so develop a process for this internally.
Take on hard subjects
In every field, there are subjects that you may find daunting. It could be because they are complex or extremely sensitive. Don’t be afraid to go there; just do it with respect and integrity. These topics are likely top of mind for your audience, and they could be seeking some unbiased clarity that you can deliver.
For example, there are many different industries that have been impacted by the trade war with China. It’s a complicated subject that blurs the line between politics and business. You don’t have to take a stand on the issue. Instead, you can build credibility by sharing the facts and the consequences of the dilemma and provide your expert perspective. Your audience will appreciate your candor and ability to take on hard subjects.
Include more case studies
You’ve already solved problems for your customers, and others are dealing with the same things. So, leverage how you helped others and tell the story. It is undoubtedly more impactful when you can use your customer’s name or brand, but sometimes that’s not possible.
Either way, you have the opportunity to set up a credible narrative that demonstrates how you solve problems. The more detailed you can be, the better in setting up the case study. Lay out the challenge, goals, and solutions in a way that delivers real value to your audience. Knowing that you’ve worked with others in their field sets new customers at ease and ensures them that you’ll be able to serve them as well.
Increase word count (but only if it’s valuable)
Longer content is often seen as more credible by Google, which can help your organic rankings. In fact, research shows that the average first-page result has 1,890 words. Google will reward you for in-depth content, but it still has to be high-quality and easily scannable.
You should never be overly wordy or add in sentences of fluff to increase word count. Instead, create a structure that has lots of headers, bullet points, and visuals to break up big blocks of content. Add specificity and details to each point, including using statistics, research, and examples.
Building credibility and authority with in-depth content should be on your content marketing radar. By using these strategies, you can attract more buyers based on your ability to delve deep into the subjects that concern them the most. And you do it all more efficiently when you use a content marketing platform like DivvyHQ. See for yourself how it helps content teams deliver exceptional content to their audiences. Start a free, 14-day trial today.