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I will admit it. For years I avoided using the term "content marketing" in business conversations. It sounded new and intimidating, like it needed a certified expert to pull off, and I was no social media guru. I was a guy who worked hard to understand my clients' customers and to put useful content in front of them through trade publications, video, newsletters, blogs and social channels.
It turns out that is content marketing.
Useful content answers the questions customers already have.
The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as a strategic 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.
If you produce brochures, newsletters, application stories, spec sheets or articles that inform customers and answer their questions, you are already doing content marketing. Many people associate the term only with online tactics, but the practice long predates the internet. Chances are you have been a content marketer your whole career without calling it that.
Absolutely. If you are not actively using content to market your products and services, you do not have much of a marketing program. Whether you call it content marketing is up to you.
Creating the content is the easy half. The harder questions are about distribution: how does the content reach your audience? How do customers find yours among everything your competitors publish? How do you know whether it is working, and how do you measure it?
Those questions are the reason a proactive public relations effort and a content marketing effort belong together. The trade media, your dealers, your owned channels and search all carry content to the people who need it, and each one needs a plan. We cover distribution, measurement and the rest across this Insights section, and we are glad to talk through your specific situation on our ‣ page.