What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is about creating and using compelling content – content that consumers find relevant to the point that they seek it out and share it – to drive visits to your website which ultimately result in increased leads and sales.

Content marketing can take on many forms – from online articles to whitepapers; from videos to viral newsletters; from social networking to YouTube channels and everything in between. Future advertising and marketing success will require companies and marketers to become masters at creating rich informative content and seeding it in a way that allows it to be easily found and shared by the intended audience.

Content Marketing and the Internet

When it comes to the Internet, content is king. Never before has so much content and information been available at the tips of our fingers! When’s the last time you set foot in a library or opened an encyclopedia!? From search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, every day people scour the web for content to consume.

Got a clogged drain? Google “how to fix a clogged drain” or look for a “plumber in Washington, DC.”

Need to find a reputable cleaning person? Head over to Facebook and Twitter and query your friends – “does anyone know a reputable cleaning company in Maryland?” Most of us have never been as well connected as we are today. If you spend any time on Facebook, you’ve probably been amazed at one point or another at how many people have 500+ “friends!”

The Shift from Traditional Marketing to Content Marketing

If you’ve been using traditional advertising - broadcast, cable, direct mail, print, radio, TV, etc., you’ve probably noticed a steady decline in your results over the past 4-5 years. At the same time, the costs of traditional advertising haven’t necessarily declined along with this drop in performance. Sound familiar?

What’s going on here?

The problem with traditional advertising – besides the excess noise and the fact that consumers have become increasingly resistant to pushy ads – is that the market is far more fractured and it’s becoming more splintered with each passing day. To illustrate this point, consider the following example:

The Jerry Seinfeld Show was a pretty popular show, right? The final Seinfeld episode would not have been a top 10 show in terms of viewers in 1960! If you think about it, it makes total sense. Back then, you had a few channels and few other options. These days, you have multiple cable networks, direct TV, TiVo, YouTube, etc. and regardless of which of these you have, you likely have 100+ channels to choose from even with the most basic packages.

While everyone is talking about the potential of online marketing, it’s only a matter of time before early adopters of online marketing channels like Pay Per Click ads start to see a lower ROI than they see today. As more people use PPC advertising – particularly those that don’t understand CPC advertising – everyone’s costs will increase because the ad prices are determined (largely) on a bid system. Everyone has become blind to banners and the use of personal data on the web is going to be in the mainstream spotlight before long.

Using Content Marketing to Boost Your Business

Content marketing can be anything from an email marketing newsletter to a whitepaper. It can be a Facebook fan page or a Twitter account with thousands of followers. It can be a blog a website or a YouTube channel. It can be a series of case studies or a one-time whitepaper. The critical thing is to create content that you think your target customers will find truly valuable. You want to share your expertise and give them something so value that they seek you out to find your latest offering and share what you’ve done in the past with their own personal network. This is the modern day version of networking.

Don’t be fooled - Putting together an effective content marketing strategy isn’t easy. First, you have to be able to create content that kills. Few people can do this naturally. For the rest of us, it requires continual practice and a great deal of time and thought, but it can be done! Next, you have to know how to seed the content. How will people find your content? Will you put it on your website? Do you know about SEO and how to get the content picked up by the major search engines? Do you have a well trafficked blog? How do you build a newsletter or a following on Twitter?

Your success with content marketing depends on your ability to answer the aforementioned questions and execute your strategy effectively. Alternatively, you can call the content marketing experts at Blue Corona and tell us your situation. Even if we aren’t the best copywriters in the world, we know our stuff… after all, you’re here and reading this!

Contact our content marketing experts today! We offer packages to fit any sized budget and require no long-term contracts.

Check out our marketing case studies - many feature great examples of content marketing