Content marketing and your business

By Darren Gilbert

Now, there are certainly a number of content marketing sins to avoid and content marketing is a strategy that needs to be part of your business plan in 2015. But what is it exactly?

What is content marketing?

While content marketing may appear to the untrained eye as a new way of engaging with your audience, it’s not. According to Ramesh Ranjan, an inbound marketing specialist at LocalTrifecta Internet Marketing, it’s actually been around since the late 19^th century.

So what is it? At its core, it’s about attracting attention by creating and distributing content. However, that is a fairly simplistic explanation. The Content Marketing Institute says it better: “[Its] purpose is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior. It is an ongoing process that is best integrated into your overall marketing strategy, and it focuses on owning media, not renting it.”

In a world that has becoming increasingly reliant on generating connections (and by association, sales) through social media, content marketing is an important part of your business.

Why do you need it?

If you are a business, then content marketing is for you. That may sound like a broad statement and it certainly its. But it’s also a true one, and the reason for that is simple. “In the digital age, every business is in the publishing industry,” writes Michael Parrish DuDell, contributor to The Huffington Post.

Now, there is nothing new in that statement but it’s one that can often be forgotten as you attempt to run your business. Content marketing gives you the opportunity to be top of mind in a world already saturated with marketing messages. Of course, that means that you need to provide content that is relevant and worthwhile. If you get that right, you will see the benefits.

“Building a platform of compelling and authentic content can have a slew of positive effects on your business,” adds DuDell. “It can help build brand loyalty, develop thought leadership (the real kind), increase sales, create a better culture, gain valuable permission assets, and the list goes on and on.”

How do you make it part of your strategy?

Simply admitting that you need content marketing shows that you’re serious about engaging with your audience. It also shows that you are interested in giving your audience something that they want.

But how do you do that? For Hannah Atkins on Media Vision Interactive’s website, it comes down to a four-step process: First you need to create an editorial calendar for yourself so that you have an idea of path ahead of you. Once that is done, you need to brainstorm a few ideas. Then comes the creation of that idea. Basically, its about putting together everything you’ve planned into content that you can distribute, be that a video, article or an infographic.

Finally, it’s down to promoting and sending out your content. Just be careful here and monitor the reaction. The last thing you want is to have someone reacting negatively and then you don’t know about it until it’s too late.

What are your thoughts? Is there anything else about content marketing that people should know? You can tell us in the comments below.