Content Marketing: It?s Not Rocket Science

Content marketing is not new, nor is it rocket science. Whether I?ve been labeled as a public relations practitioner, advertising assistant or content marketer ? one fundamental truth remains: I?ve always been producing and distributing valuable and relevant content to an understood group of people to encourage engagement and a change in an attitude or behavior (a.k.a. content marketing).

It?s not the concept of content marketing that is new; it?s the mediums and the strategies that companies employ to tell their story. The concept of content marketing (communicating with customers without making a hard sell) should have been evident in our old school ways of PR and within our advertising campaigns. We have always been taught (shout out to Professor Nancy Whitmore at Butler University) that you must truly know the public you are trying to reach and communicate information that adds value to their lives in order to be remembered.

Brands that do this, that have always done this, create loyal followers (nothing to do with Twitter, much to do with the essence of groupies). Brands that communicate their story (their employees? stories, their customers? stories) well create relationships that last beyond a single purchase or a one-time visit to a Facebook page.

I believe as PR professionals and marketers we lost sight that our clients? customers are people who can be inspired, motivated, educated, etc.  We lost sight that getting to know customers and providing them with relevant, valuable information strengthens an enduring relationship. 

Content marketing done right does not interrupt or bombard with selling language. A content marketing strategy done right delivers communication to someone who actually wants (and even at times has requested) to hear from you. After all, according to Roper Public Affairs, 80 percent of business decision makers prefer receiving a series of articles rather than an advertisement (this again - isn't shocking. In 2007 I spent much of my time writing advertorials).  

Ok, so rocket science may have been a little ? brash. Understanding what content marketing is ? that isn?t rocket science. Connecting the dots that this is what companies have been doing for centuries ? we can get that.  But, accepting that the way you (or your clients) have been ?doing? content marketing  are no longer working because your customers have changed (and so have their technologies ? Twitter, Facebook, DVR, SiriusXM Radio) can be tough. And, determining where the hell to begin with your new ways of content marketing ? can be excruciating.

Customers are changing. Technologies are evolving. The question ? are you?

Source: http://www.deepripples.com/blog/content-marketing-its-not-rocket-science

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