While traditional media and social media are still going strong, the up-and-comer in the marketing world is content marketing. And if you’re not focused on content marketing, well, you may get left behind.
What is content marketing? It goes by many other names – including private media, corporate media, corporate publishing and others. But it’s all about content – and in marketing, content is king.
Businesses are using content marketing to attract customers, retain customers and engage specific target audiences that may become customers over the long term. It’s a way of talking to your customers and prospective customers without “selling them.” It’s giving them relevant information and valuable information – that builds loyalty.
The truth is that companies are sending us info all the time. But too often it is neither relevant nor very valuable to the recipient. In other words, it’s useless.
If you’re marketing to business decision makers, for example, here’s an interesting statistic: 80% of business decision makers would rather get information about your company from a series of articles instead of an ad campaign. They’ll spend a lot of time with your information – a lot more time than they’ll spend reading an ad! And here’s the best part – those same business decision makers state they actually look forward to receiving information about a company when it comes in the form of content – as in articles, white papers and editorials, to name a few.
But don’t just think in terms of traditional channels for those articles and editorials. Content delivered via social media and via the Internet is equally, if not more important. More and more executives are walking around with their tablets, personal computers, smart phones and other devices, and that’s where they’re getting their content. Just look around a Starbucks and see what people are doing while drinking their double-shot Cappuccinos. They’re staring at screens of all sizes and downloading content. In fact, content downloading is almost as addicting as those $5 espresso drinks.
In the coming months, you have to make content king in your company’s marketing strategy, from what you deliver to customers and prospects to how you optimize your website. In fact, search engines are beginning to tap into social media signals more and more, so if your company isn’t generating online content on a variety of platforms, you may be out of luck.
Nobody is sure where content marketing is going, but there is one thing you can be sure of – it’s not going away.
What is content marketing? It goes by many other names – including private media, corporate media, corporate publishing and others. But it’s all about content – and in marketing, content is king.
Businesses are using content marketing to attract customers, retain customers and engage specific target audiences that may become customers over the long term. It’s a way of talking to your customers and prospective customers without “selling them.” It’s giving them relevant information and valuable information – that builds loyalty.
The truth is that companies are sending us info all the time. But too often it is neither relevant nor very valuable to the recipient. In other words, it’s useless.
If you’re marketing to business decision makers, for example, here’s an interesting statistic: 80% of business decision makers would rather get information about your company from a series of articles instead of an ad campaign. They’ll spend a lot of time with your information – a lot more time than they’ll spend reading an ad! And here’s the best part – those same business decision makers state they actually look forward to receiving information about a company when it comes in the form of content – as in articles, white papers and editorials, to name a few.
But don’t just think in terms of traditional channels for those articles and editorials. Content delivered via social media and via the Internet is equally, if not more important. More and more executives are walking around with their tablets, personal computers, smart phones and other devices, and that’s where they’re getting their content. Just look around a Starbucks and see what people are doing while drinking their double-shot Cappuccinos. They’re staring at screens of all sizes and downloading content. In fact, content downloading is almost as addicting as those $5 espresso drinks.
In the coming months, you have to make content king in your company’s marketing strategy, from what you deliver to customers and prospects to how you optimize your website. In fact, search engines are beginning to tap into social media signals more and more, so if your company isn’t generating online content on a variety of platforms, you may be out of luck.
Nobody is sure where content marketing is going, but there is one thing you can be sure of – it’s not going away.
