Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
Content marketing
Content marketing is the creation and sharing of content in different formats such as videos, blogs, and social media posts, to build interest in a product or service. It is becoming increasingly important for marketers to understand content marketing and to know how to use it effectively. The rise of ad blockers, algorithms, private social, and many other factors will increasingly limit our ability to reach consumers.
However, the inbound nature of content marketing cuts through these barriers. This is because it is centered around creating written and visual assets that have a genuine and intrinsic value to people. This requires a change of thinking for many marketers, because it doesn’t feel like marketing. And this is precisely why it works.
The purpose of content marketing is to drive:
- Inbound customer engagement
- Organic searches from a defined audience
Content is strategically created or curated, and distributed in key locations across the internet to attract customers to your website.
Inbound marketing is a strategy where brands use content marketing to attract customers. The key driver of inbound marketing is ‘consumer intent’ as potential customers actively seek out the brand’s content. As a result, the consumers are more engaged and open to taking action than if the brand were to communicate with them when they are not actively interested.
Outbound marketing, on the other hand, is when the brand pushes its messages out to as many people as it can within a target audience. The brand believes that this audience is a good match for the product or service being advertised. Of course, the consumers might not be interested in the product at that particular time. So outbound advertising is generally less effective than inbound marketing at driving action.
Back to TopWill Francis
Will Francis is a recognised authority in digital and social media, who has worked with some of the world’s most loved brands. He is the host and technical producer of the DMI podcast, Ahead of the Game and a lecturer and subject matter expert with the DMI. He appears in the media and at conferences whilst offering his own expert-led digital marketing courses where he shares his experience gained working within a social network, a global ad agency, and more recently his own digital agency.
Connect with him on Twitter (X) or LinkedIn.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- Identify the benefits of using personas in content marketing
- Critically analyse the relationship between buyer personas, target audience and content marketing
- Systematically analyse techniques for sharing and promoting content and for measuring content performance
