The Basics of Content Marketing

April 1, 2019

Useful content should be at the core of your communications. Traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective by the minute; as a forward-thinking marketer, you know there has to be a better way. Enter content marketing.

 

“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action”.*

 

Instead of pitching your products or services, you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.

 

Content marketing is used by leading brands

The Content Marketing Institute’s annual research shows the vast majority of marketers are using content marketing. In fact, it is used by many prominent organisations in the world, including P&G, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and John Deere. It’s also developed and executed by small businesses and one-person shops around the globe. Why? Because it works.

 

Content marketing is good for your bottom line — but what you’re offering up must ultimately add value to your customers’ lives if you want it to be seen and read.

 

Content is the present – and future – of communication

Go back and read the content marketing definition one more time, but this time remove the relevant and valuable. That’s the difference between content marketing and the other informational garbage you get from companies trying to ‘sell’ you “stuff.” Companies send us information all the time – it’s just that most of the time it’s not very relevant or valuable (can you say spam?). That’s what makes content marketing so intriguing in today’s environment of thousands of marketing messages per person per day.

 

Marketing is impossible without great content

Regardless of what type of communication tactics you use, content marketing should be part of your process, not something separate. Quality content is part of all forms of communication:

 

• Social media marketing: Content marketing strategy comes before your social media strategy.
• SEO: Search engines reward businesses that publish quality, consistent content.
• PR: Successful PR strategies address issues readers care about, not their business.
• PPC: For PPC to work, you need great content behind it.
• Content strategy: Content strategy is part of most content marketing strategies.

 

What if your stakeholders looked forward to receiving your communication? What if when they received it, via print, email, website, they spent 15, 30, 45 minutes with it? What if they anticipated it and shared it with their peers?

 

If you are intrigued and ready to learn more, Aprio can help and guide you.

 

*This article adapted from the website of the Content Marketing Institute.