Content marketing is something that is close to my heart as a marketer. I am very much the content marketing evangelist and have spoken quite extensively about it. In my Icelandic online training program there is a very big module about marketing communications and as I am reworking the materials in English (my training will be launched internationally next year) the realisation just hits me again and again how large a part of modern marketing content marketing is.
Amongst other things, the marketing communications part of my training covers the marketing process, how marketing activities must work together for optimum results, and then I list a great big menu of marketing communications tools and activities that SMBs and entrepreneurs have at their disposal.
To make sense of the myriad of things out there, I have prioritised the options and given examples of what activities are most suitable for what types of businesses. As I went through the list of only the most important things to do in marketing, just the ones that hardly any business can go without today, it became increasingly clear that in today’s business world content marketing is not an option but a necessity. It is something that we are all doing and all need to do if we are in business, and its importance will only increase in the future. It is literally everywhere!
Below are a few places where content marketing comes into play – and many of us don’t even realise it!
- Your website: This is content marketing through and through. What needs to be on there? What do people want to know? What is the value of the content on your website to your target audience?
- Keyword analysis: The basis of all content marketing. The key to people finding your content when they are searching for information about the things you do.
- Search Engine Optimisation: As with keyword analysis, we need to do everything we can so that people will find us when they are looking for the types of things we offer.
- Your marketing copy – the text in your marketing materials and otherwise: This can be on your website, your social media profiles, in brochures, ads, news releases etc. etc. If this isn’t content, then what is?
- Getting media coverage: Media do not just cover you because you need to get the word out there. They offer advertising for that! If you want them to cover you without paying for ads, you had better understand what interests them and what they are after and give them exactly that. It has to have value for the media and their audience. Which, incidentally is also the core of content marketing in general.
- It doesn’t really matter which social media you are on – social media marketing is in essence content marketing. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr or any of the other ones out there, if people aren’t getting something from you that they find value in and they find interesting – and is presented in a way to appeal to them – you can work your ass off, running like a hamster in a wheel without any results. And blogging – which you could in a way classify as social media, is of course content marketing in its purest form.
- Email marketing is content marketing. Way too many businesses only use it to broadcast advertising; sending offers, pre-sales and such. For many there are great opportunities in using email marketing more effectively to build a relationship with prospective and existing customers and reaping the reward of ongoing business – not only from the bargain hunters ;)
- There are a lot more things out there that would constitute as content marketing. Things like webinars, Google Hangouts On Air, podcasts and more.
I could go on and on and on, but at the very least I hope that this has helped you realise that content marketing plays a big part in all marketing, whether you like it or not. The question then becomes: are you going to make the most of this fantastic opportunity to build a relationship with your customers, or are you going to leave money on the table?
If you want to make the most of content marketing, check out my resource page at thoranna.is/contentmarketing and make sure you subscribe to my emails to get more useful stuff for your marketing ;)