Content Marketing. No matter how hard marketers try to get away from buzzwords, there seems to be no way to avoid discussing a "content-driven strategy" at every. Single. Meeting.
It's gotten to the point where you can't pitch any campaign ideas without including "content marketing" somewhere in your presentation, lest you be deemed a digital luddite who thinks Google Adwords and a Yellow Pages is all the digital marketing you need.
"No, no, I used the phrase "content marketing!" That means I know people use the internet to make buying decisions!"
So, let's all admit it. There are problems with content marketing.
First, every company's interpretation of a content strategy seems to vary. Are your blog posts "content marketing?" What about your data sheets? Press releases? Tweets?
Second, most of the content marketer's product is glorified navel-gazing. Content writers are notorious for creating marketing assets that specifically fit their interests. In other words, marketing teams aren't paying attention to what their audience wants, and instead are just pushing out the messaging that appeals to them as a company.
And lastly, I would contend the most prevalent error marketers make doing content marketing is a failure to distribute and promote properly. They spend all that time researching, writing, and submitting your content, only to see it gain a viewership of 26 people. And two of those were you and your mom.
The best billboard in the world won't work if no one sees it.
If you're doing some of these things, can you really argue that there was never a more obvious example of wasteful, ineffectual marketing?
I've come to believe the emphasis is all wrong. So much so, in our company, we've replaced "content marketing" with a new term. A better term. One that's effectual and accurate.
Let me introduce you to the idea of "Value Marketing."
Value Marketing is a simple concept. Produce something of value to your target customer. Get it in front of them so they can "exchange value" for it (produce a lead). Rinse. Repeat.
Value marketing doesn't leave space for you to write the content you like, because it's the customer's opinion that matters. It doesn't give you an excuse to simply blog and broadcast links to your content on Twitter, instead of engaging in a conversation.
It doesn't lower the bar.
And, value marketing delivers freedom. It doesn't depend on writers. It acknowledges that many things can be valuable to your customers. These items are worthy of promotion. They are things that should be part of your digital marketing strategy.
Content marketing started like almost every great idea: organically. A strategy built to respond to a pain that everyone experienced-the eroding nature of search. But, then, content marketing went off the rails-and became ultimately full of hype-producing for most marketers little in the way of results.
So, content marketing is dead; long live content.
You became a marketer because you wanted to use your creative genius to connect consumers to products or services. Starting at X, there are an infinite number of ways to get to Y. With old school content marketing, your audience may never get there.
But, if you give something valuable, they just might follow you down whatever crazy path you take them.
content marketing / shutterstock