What is content marketing? This buzz phrase continues to be bandied about but isn’t often explained. 82% of marketers* report actively using “it” but what is it for a small business that doesn’t have a hundred people strong marketing department? Simply put, content marketing is creating and sharing information related to your products or services but that doesn’t explicitly promote your brand. Its objective is to increase engagement with your target audiences and then, through that interaction and rapport build brand awareness and increase sales. This blog post is an example of content marketing. It doesn’t actively promote what Purple Mookiting does but speaks about marketing.
Why is content marketing so important now? 47% of purchasers* view three to five pieces of content before engaging with you. That process of digesting information before reaching out to you is essential in helping your prospect choose you. This is a way to differentiate yourself from your competitors and emphasise your authority and empathy.
What does content marketing look like? The three top organic content distribution channels are email, social media and websites. Your prospects will look at your website, watch your videos or read your blogs, decide if they should subscribe to your mailer programme, pop over to your social media, scan through your posts, and decide if they should follow you. Based on what they see and your subsequent interactions with them, they will decide whether to engage with you further.
The ultimate goal of content marketing is not to be an interruption in the viewer’s search for interesting information (as adverts often are) but to be the interesting, thumb-stopping content they are looking for, to be so on point, so meeting their felt-need, that they feel compelled to share it and continue to engage with the brand that brought it to them.
Next week we’ll unpack how to go about setting up channels and creating content marketing.
*The State of Content Marketing in 2021 [Stats & Trends to Watch] by Hubspot: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-content-marketing-infographic?utm_campaign=Marketing%20Blog%20Weekly%20Email%20Sends&utm_medium=email&utm_content=140292998&utm_source=hs_email