What is Content Marketing?

Definition of Content Marketing
The Content Marketing Institute defines it as:
… a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
We will start by saying that this involves the use of high quality, well-placed content in order to attain a strategic goal for your business. It is about presenting educational information- information which is valuable to the viewer.
Specifically, it should offer information that will assist the audience in their lives or give more insight into what they are seeking.
The golden rule is always: have quality content at the core of your marketing efforts.
Quality content helps one to create a rich narrative for your business in the form of offering related and interesting information around your area of expertise.
This allows relationships to be created between your business and your customers
The goal is to offer such high quality information that:
- Your business becomes the authority on the subject and
- Your audience becomes loyal to your brand or business.
- Your content forms the cornerstone of your SEO strategy driving your business keywords.
Therefore your content should be so exceptional that in time your business turns visitors into customers and ultimately into passionate and loyal subscribers.
For example:
For a dentist this activity would include posting quality content – blog posts, articles and infographics – about:
- What causes Bad breath;
- How Tooth Whitening works
- What to look for in a Mouthwash;
- What causes Tooth Decay;
- Toothache Hacks;
- What to do in tooth emergencies; or even something more light-hearted such as: Educational tooth health games for children.
Building a trusting relationship with your audience comes from providing good advice through knowledgeable, relevant content.
This leads us to the next chapter and explaining what content actually is.
What is Content?
Content is a part of all types of marketing.
This includes every landing page; email; post; product description or tweet. It could be an image; infographic or video.
Content is anything that is used to communicate a message to an audience. it is the sum total of everything that is published on a website.
Thus it is easy to see that it is of the utmost importance to have the best quality content.
Quality Content Beats Information Clutter
Especially as we live in a world that is full of informational clutter, clutter that competes for the attention of your customers.
With so much information on offer, it becomes a challenge for businesses trying to stand out, to be trusted, to offer good advice and build loyalty.
Quality content is what will make the difference for your business.
When one thinks about the digital world it is clear that quality content is a part of all types of marketing:
- Content strategy – Content strategy should be part of any content marketing strategy.
- Inbound marketing – Content is critical to drive inbound traffic and leads.
- Social media marketing – Content marketing comes before planning a social media strategy.
- SEO – Without content, there would be nothing to optimize. Search engines reward businesses that publish consistent quality content.
- PR – Any PR strategy will address issues that the audience cares about, not necessarily their business.
- PPC – If you want clicks, you best have incentive in the form of quality content.
Benefits of Content Marketing
- Search engine’s favor relevant high-quality content;
- Improve SEO ranking and keyword relevance
- Increase website traffic;
- Cost savings;
- Increase in brand awareness and popularity;
- Provides valuable data that can be used to optimize your digital marketing;
- Increase in conversions and
- Turn visitors to loyal subscribers
Conclusion
This form of marketing is not a new practice that came about with the digital age. No, it came to be long before the age of digital and online marketing. In fact, content marketing is a practice that has been around for hundreds of years.
It can be found in any piece of content that offers valuable, relevant or educational information. This information assists to attract and retain a loyal and defined audience as well as to drive profitable customer action.
The methods may have evolved over the years, however the formula has stayed largely the same. It’s the same formula used to get people to buy your products. However it it is not merely about product and price.
Your website and email are incredible tools to market your business online. If you do not utilize them, you are sure to miss out on potential customers, sales and conversions.
To learn even more, read our Blog Posts:
Content Marketing Plan and Content Strategy and Why is Content Marketing important and should be part of your Marketing Strategy.
What next?
Your digital business will immediately benefit from Content Marketing and a Content Marketing Strategy – Contact Us and we will sort you out in no time!
We create quality content continuous monthly basis for all our clients.