Lately, it seems like short-form and interactive content gets all the love. White papers, case studies, and long-form blog posts get pushed to the side in favor of infographics, video snippets, and social media posts. That’s not to say these aren’t important pieces of your marketing strategy; they are, and they provide their own value.
But setting aside long-form content to focus exclusively on shorter pieces may be detrimental to your overall content marketing efforts. Here’s why you need to fall back in love with long-form – and how it can help you meet your content marketing goals.
Long-Form Content Ranks Higher
Did you know that long-form content ranks higher in search results? According to Searchmetrics, the days of quick hits are over. To be at the top of search results, you need to be publishing content that is at least 1,000 words on a regular basis. Getting found is half the battle.
Buyers Get More Information
One of the biggest benefits of long-form content is how much information the buyer gets. We all know that buyers are pretty far along on their journey by the time they finally contact one of your sales team for a demo. At that point, they’re armed with a ton of background knowledge. Why shouldn’t you be providing them content that puts you ahead of the competition, that makes your company stand out among a sea of as a Service providers?
Prospects Spend More Time on Your Site
By its very nature, long-form content requires someone to spend extra time on your site. Having it reduces your bounce rate, which in turn helps your search engine rankings. Just one caveat: if your content isn’t compelling, your bounce rate isn’t likely to improve.
You Have Something to Carve Up
Repurposing content is definitely a thing, and your long-form content is ideal for this. You can use statistics in it for infographics, carve it up into social media posts, and use snippets as the basis for videos.
Sales Has Extra Collateral
Since long-form content tends to dive deeper into a topic, it becomes useful not only at the very top of the sales funnel but further into it. For example, if you’re writing a long blog post about how your flagship WidgetWarez 2.0 integrates with Salesforce, your sales team can send that content to a prospect who is wavering because the prospect wants to know more about integration.
You Become an Authority
Becoming a thought leader isn’t just a vanity thing. It’s a real thing, one that can tip the scales in your favor. When influencers within a company are presenting to a decision-maker (i.e., the person signing the check), they want to have authoritative information to back up the purchase. If they can point to articles, case studies, and white papers that back up the sales team’s claim, they have a better chance of getting that check signed. Be an authority. Publish long-form content.
Do you need help with your long-form content? It’s my specialty! Contact me to discuss your projects today.