Introduction to Content Marketing

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

Definition

Content marketing is using pieces of content to effectively market products and services online and through traditional outlets, such as publishing and advertisements.

How content marketing has changed

Content marketing has really changed over the years:

• More data: We have a lot of data about content and content marketing, which helps us craft better campaigns.
• More formats: We can produce content in many more formats, such as infographics, videos, podcasts, and more.
• Incorporation of digital, audio, and video: We can combine video, audio, and digital elements together, resulting in a great content marketing strategy.

Purpose of content marketing

The purpose of content marketing is to serve the user first, and to be interesting and useful to them:

• User-first mentality: Instead of thinking about what is most important to the company or the person creating the content, you instead should be focusing on what the user would want to read, consume, or buy. When it comes to content creation, we often have the ‘curse of knowledge’ that we need to actively work beyond.
• Serves a purpose: For every piece of content that is created, make sure it serves a purpose. Weave that purpose throughout your content. For instance, if the purpose of your new e-book is to explain how to complete an annual budget, weave examples and even exercises throughout the content to make it the best-available learning material on annual budgets.
• Content not created for content’s sake: Many experts have argued that we are living in a time of ‘peak content.’ This means that there is a tipping point between how much content we can publish and how much content audiences actually consume. Studies have shown that users on average can only tolerate between one and six new pieces of content from a brand per day. After that, the traffic is unaffected by publishing more content.
• Allows growth in traffic and thought leadership: Many people first start creating content because they want more traffic to their website. However, as time progresses, many publishers see the benefits in utilizing a strategy-first approach. Planning your content before creating it can lead to better engagement, social sharing, inbound links, and lead generation.