Show, don’t tell
“Content marketing”. A far from new concept but still bit of a buzzword in the marketing world. Perhaps especially because it stands out from the more traditional approaches to promoting your business.
You can spend a lot of money on showcasing your products and services with great descriptions and in 4K resolution. But the modern customer needs more. In a competitive market, they need to know why your company is the one they should choose – and it’s not enough to just say it.
You must show it.
Content marketing is first and foremost about giving the user value and creating a relationship through content – which potentially leads to a purchase and loyalty in the long run. Content such as blog posts on relevant issues, films, professional podcasts or a useful PDF guide. The possibilities are many.
The most important thing is that the recipient gets something out of your content – and that it demonstrates an important quality about your company. Whether it’s knowledge, humanity, humor or something else.
You may recognize some of these characteristics, but under a different name: inbound marketing. Content marketing and inbound marketing are closely related and often exist in interaction – yet they are different. We have written an article about inbound marketing that can make you smarter about that part. Here you can instead fill your brain with knowledge about content marketing.
3 essential principles of content marketing
Actively selected by the user
The user actively chooses to interact with your content, without you having to ‘push’ it towards them. This is where content marketing differs from, for example, a video ad on YouTube. The recipient is not interrupted in their experience as with classic advertisements – your content instead contributes to the experience.
Must be found on your own channels
Instead of your video being shown before the documentary on YouTube, or the article being published on a major blog website, make it possible for the user to find your content exactly where you ultimately want them to end up. On your website, your emails or social media pages.
Market strategically
Of course, your content also needs to be marketed – as the name ‘content marketing’ suggests. After all, what good is your well-crafted and value-creating content if no one sees it? Plan for how you are going to drive traffic to your content. Should it be shared on social media or via email, through SEO – or should it perhaps be brought to life through paid advertising on Google and Facebook?
So, content marketing is the way forward?
It’s not that simple. There’s a reason why content marketing hasn’t just taken the stage and knocked all other forms of marketing off the pedestal. Because even though the strategy has clear strengths, the content marketing medal also has a downside.
First: content marketing is time-consuming. The whole point is that it should create value for the recipient. It’s not enough for them to just see your company’s name and scroll on. You’re not shooting with a cannonball. That’s why you also need to put significantly more creative effort into it. In an already busy everyday life, it can quickly feel like a huge marketing project – but if done properly, it’s worth it.
In addition, measuring the results of your content marketing efforts is more complex, as it rarely leads directly to anything measurable – a lead, purchase, etc. Content marketing is often used as part of the lead generation for the benefit of sales. However, it is more often used to build brand awareness and brand positioning. Therefore, it’s about using it strategically and letting it be a part of the rest of your marketing strategy.
It takes patience and commitment to work professionally with content marketing. But in the end, it can be what it takes to stand out.