mar·ket·ing
[mahr-ki-ting]
1. The act of buying or selling in a market (Dictionary.com)
Content marketing, taken at face value, is simple terminology for a complex process. Content, as in creating information that meets your customers’ needs, and marketing, as in distributing and promoting it to a targeted group of people, inherently makes sense.
Go back to the definition of marketing at the top of this page. Marketing is all about behavior. It’s an action. It’s not about generating buzz, or web site traffic, or press mentions – unless those things lead to a profitable customer behavior.
Don and Heidi Schultz, in their book IMC: The Next Generation, state that “for all the complexity of marketing and communication plans, firms want only four outcomes from them.” Those four outcomes include:
- To acquire new customers.
- To retain and maintain present customers.
- To retain and grow sales volume or profit from existing customers.
- To migrate existing customers through the firm’s product or service portfolio.
What this means is that every bit of your content marketing focus must affect customer or prospect behavior. If this becomes the cornerstone of your content, the distribution and promotion of that content takes on a different meaning than just creating traffic or buzz. Every word and every page you create has a purpose – to drive the ultimate customer action.
As you prepare to drive your customers to do one of the four outcomes above, remember these six basic principles of content promotion. Some are simple and often overlooked. Keep these handy as you launch your content marketing initiatives.
Six Key Principles to Content Promotion
1. Segmentation is Key
Almost all businesses have different kinds and levels of customers. To be most effective, the ultimate distribution of your content should NOT be one size fits all. Group your customers into different buying groups (also called buyer personas), and treat both the content and marketing to them as separate.
Anything that you deliver to your customers or prospects that is not specifically requested could be considered spam. That is why it is imperative, for both your print and email content programs, that you have your customers opt-in to your programs. Opt-in means that they have specifically requested your print magazine, enewsletter, eBook, etc.
According to CAN-SPAM law, you have a right to use email correspondence to communicate with your customer, as long as you have some kind of working relationship with them. But that doesn’t mean that you can send them unsolicited information on
an ongoing basis. Use email information to get their permission to send them your content. Use new offers to get them to sign up for your content. You must also give your customers the option to “opt-out” or unsubscribe to anything you send them as well.
3. Content without Promotion is Nothing
Lee Odden, one of the leading marketing bloggers in the country, posted this about the content vs. promotion debate:
Almost all organizations believe they create, or can create, great content on a continual basis. All too often, a brand will engage in a content project, not see positive results, and halt the initiative, thinking that the content didn’t meet customer needs. The majority of time, the problem was not necessarily in the content, but in the marketing of the content.
4. Meet Your Customers Where They Are Plus One
Your choice in media depends on your customers. You wouldn’t necessarily roll out an iPhone Digital Magazine version if none of your customers had iPhones. That said, you need to help your customers take the next step. Yes, give them content in media they already use, but also, you need to be cutting edge.
Just because your research indicates that a small percentage of your customers engage in online video, doesn’t mean you can’t get them there. It’s not like the iPhone example where they have to have one. If you create a valuable video on a topic your customers need to hear about, they have the PCs and internet connection to get them there. As long as the content is truly important, you have the opportunity to be seen as an innovator just by the type of media you are using to distribute your content.
5. Consistency in Communication
The old rule of thumb when it came to print advertising impressions was seven impressions. It took seven impressions of an ad per year to make an awareness impact on a decision-maker. This is much the same with content marketing. Behavior change doesn’t happen overnight. Content must be delivered on a consistent basis in all media. That means one white paper should be a white paper series. One video should be a video series. One magazine issue does not a magazine make. Whatever you decide, send it frequently to your customers and stay on schedule. If you can’t commit to a schedule, don’t do the project. While great content can make a difference, going dark or inconsistent delivery will damage the perception of your brand.
6. Let Your Content Go
If you love your content, you must learn to let it go. In the past, brands had complete control over their content message and the medium. This is still basically true with custom magazines and newsletters. But the rise of the internet and social media has changed the rules forever. Once our content goes online, it could end up anywhere. Let it. Regardless of where it ends up, the goal is to get that message out to the right kinds of people. If that happens and you see action, you’ve accomplished your goal…whether they engaged in the content on your site or someone else’s.
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Related Articles:
- How Poor Marketing Kills Great Content
- 16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing Initiative
- 5 Tips for Launching a Marketing Knowledge Program
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