Content marketing. We’ve all heard of it, but what exactly is it? You’ve made an educated guess about content marketing, but you’re still not sure about the ins and outs. And you’re too embarrassed to ask anyone. This post is for you!
The dictionary definition of content marketing is:
“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
The goal of content marketing isn’t to create as many ads as possible – it is to add value to the customer with the goal of encouraging customer behavior. Content marketers create the media people actually want to consume. It is not about selling the product, it is about delivering valuable information to the clients in hopes that they will use their newfound intelligence to purchase your product.
Do not think of content marketing as being a separate entity of your current marketing strategy, but rather intertwined with your current tactics. Content marketing should be involved in most all of your marketing strategies. Social media uses content marketing because it is all about making the audience connect with your brand by delivering relevant information. SEO uses content marketing because search engines look for quality content. PR strategies cover the issues customers care about, blogging delivers relevant content, and many other strategies utilize content marketing as well.
So what are some examples of content marketing?
1. Blogging: The most obvious example of content marketing is creating a blog post. Blogging fits all of the descriptions of content marketing. It delivers valuable, relevant, and consistent content to an audience.
2. Infographics: Infographics are exactly what they sound like – info and graphics. They may include statistics, charts, facts, and timelines. Infographics are extremely useful because they can be easily posted on social media and websites.
3. Videos and podcasts: These are often underutilized because it seems intimidating to create a video, but don’t underestimate your ability! Create a high-quality video that never goes out of style so you can reuse it over the years.
4. Ebooks: These speak for themselves. Lots of information in an easy to access format. Give your customers some valuable insight to make them keep coming back to you every time!
Those are just a few examples of content marketing, but the possibilities are endless. There is no cookie cutter example of what is or isn’t content marketing. The main takeaway is to always remember to add value to your customers. Think like your customers and try to imagine what information would be most useful to them. For more tips, contact us today!