Client Q&A: Does Content Marketing Work?

This blog was first posted in 16/02/2018

With a slew of media articles to his name, it’s clear that Campbell Hastie is pretty savvy when it comes to promoting his mortgage broking business – the Go2Guys. We sat down with Campbell and asked his advice on how SMEs can grow their influence online.

Why do you invest in spending your time (and energy) in content marketing?

It’s pretty simple – in my line of work the sales cycle for my customers is really long. They’re looking to buy a home, and getting themselves ready to do that can take two years or more.

Buying a house, and the real estate dream, is a topical issue. I’ve got a lot to say about it – so I keep talking, and they keep listening. The marketing that I do is very cost-efficient for the results it gets.

What are the key ways you promote Go2Guys online?

We post about one or two blogs a month, a monthly email, an eBook, and dip into online advertising on Facebook and through Google AdWords if we’re wanting to target specific groups of people. Seems like a lot of ‘extra’ to do, but often one medium feeds content into another.

What benefits do you receive from blogging?

I see blogging as pull versus push marketing. It lets me show people that I’m an expert in my field. They can see ‘hey, he knows what he’s talking about’. Whereas, with an advert, it’s just thrown up in front of you and interrupts you.

Part of that is focusing on value-added info in the blogs – content that really speaks to where people are at and what to do in their situation, otherwise what’s the point in reading… or using me as a broker?!

It ultimately means, when people are in that position to buy a house, they’re already half qualified. By the time they give me a call, they have that trust in knowing they’ll be working with an expert.

There’s also your eBook. Can you explain how that came about?

I wrote the guts of that during the GFC, when things were obviously quieter. It took me three weeks on and off. I obviously knew the subject matter, so found it pretty easy to do. It probably cost about $1.5K all up to create and has been responsible for around $50,000 of revenue. Not bad for something I wrote in my spare time. I’ll be giving it a refresh in the next little while. We’ve achieved a lot of that success through promoting it on Facebook, and using a couple of other clever little tools.

How do you find time to spend on content marketing?

You’ve got to buddy up. Working with your team at The Content Agency adds the final polish to my blogs. They tighten things up and can create a blog from just a couple of bulletpoints, if I don’t have time to do it. The team there make sure my voice is consistent and plug in the right SEO keywords. It also means I don’t need to worry about the monthly email, it’s all taken care of.

I’m always thinking about how I can tweak our website to power things up (the mortgage calculator we have on there is brilliant for capturing leads). I work with Tin Soldier on that stuff.

PR done well can have a very long-lasting effect. Shelley Ashdown got me on the radar of a few key media people back in 2013 and they know I’ll give them some great insights and that I know my stuff.

Do you have one final tip?

It’s pretty easy to do all this. Half of the blog topics come from thinking of the problems my clients face and the questions they have. You need to have some personality and the confidence to speak your mind and have an opinion (and a bit of humour always helps).

If you want a helping hand to get started with digital and content marketing, or would like the experts to take care of it for you, give us a call.