What is content marketing?
To some its a buzz-word that has been floating around for some time now, right up there with “scaling” & “passive income.” It sounds more complicated than it really is, like a broad concept without a tangible definition.
To make it simpler, break it into two words and elaborate.
First word: content
Your content is information you produce (NOT what you sell) that is useful to your current & potential customers.
For a real estate company, this might be info on how to maximize your property value prior to selling. For a company like SOUTH, it could be how to Search Engine Optimize your website after we’ve made it for you. And for furniture stores, it can tips about interior decorating.
Content can be curated, rehashed, or paid for. In the sense of content marketing as a strategy, it’s typically free. Other times, people pay for you content, but that’s not what I’m talking about.
Second word: marketing
Most people don’t actually know what marketing is.
Most people think marketing is buying a billboard, handing out t-shirts, or having flyers made to put up in Starbucks. Marketing your business is all of those things… but so much more.
Marketing is any message that your business conveys. This includes social platforms, this includes how sales people dress, everything down to the copy on your website. It’s ALL marketing.
One idea many of the sales people I used to train didn’t grasp was that their actions with current customers would affect potential customers they haven’t even met yet. This could come in the form of Google reviews, social media promotions, and general word of mouth around town.
For the ones that lasted a long time in a profitable store like the main one I managed in North Charleston, they could see the positive effects over the long-term. Customers would walk in & recognize me or ask for someone by name that hadn’t worked there for 3 years.
They made such an impression that the person remembered their furniture salesman’s name 3 years later! Keep in mind, furniture salespeople are about as trusted as used car salespeople. Talk about impact!
On the flip side, it was pretty easy to point out when someone mistreated a customer. They quickly decided Google should know about it. Marketing your business is any message that is conveyed, intentionally or not.
Nuts & Bolts of this idea
Your content is information (other than a product or service) that you give to the world. And your marketing includes any message you send.
Are you starting to bridge the gap here?
Content marketing is how you use your company’s Facebook page to entertain people with funny memes. Content marketing is what you put in your emails to customers. Content marketing is the helpful pamphlets you leave out around your store that educates customers.
Which means you need to be very selective about what messages you convey. The more helpful you are to your customers, the more effective your strategy.
Being able to relate to your customers is difficult. Most of us will be tempted to just put out dry white papers on a subject in your industry or just post an occasional message to our company Twitter account.
That’s why the best content marketers have fans, not just customers.
- They entertain their customers
- They educate their customers
- They relate to their customers using their “language”
- They find out what social platforms their customers use & publish on it
- They engage with their customers (not just shout at them)
- And when it’s time for customer service, they listen to their customers and respond accordingly, knowing their every move is now public.
Content Marketing as a Business Strategy
Does your website speak to your clients or is it just a template thrown together? Does the professionalism of your sales people convey the mission of your business? And if you’re promoting content, is it how you want to be seen if/when the news catches onto it?
The stores I used to manage got some press this week. The Charleston City Paper wasn’t thrilled with their ads, but the company seems to think they are working well. I don’t agree with the ads, but this is the message they wanted to convey and they did it intentionally to be edgy.
Since I know who works there, I can honestly say that the message conveyed in these ads matches the experience you’ll receive if you come into a store. Whether you like the ads or not, they have figured out the message(s) they want to convey through their ads.
When it comes to content marketing, it is the same idea. What message(s) do you want to convey? And how will you get them out? Atlantic Bedding chose to be edgy & use Facebook.
Check out this piece from last year on how to identify which form of social media best for your business if you’re stuck on which medium(s) to use.
Marketing your content can be done many ways. Through an email campaign, via a blog, through your sales people’s actions, or through the use of social media. And if you’re intentional about it, through all those mediums.
The Ultimate Form of Content Marketing
Since this topic has been swirling in my head for a while, I’ve had this idea of the the ultimate form of content marketing being how we live our lives.
For business owners, people will pick up on what you do and how you carry yourself. They’ll decide if they want to follow you or run away.
As a Christian man, people will look to see how I live my life to determine if what I say and do is worth listening to or in your case, reading.
In the case of my Mom, a personal trainer, she’s never had to advertise for clients. She trains upwards of 60 people each week. Not because she selflessly promotes herself on social media, or because she’s purchased billboards promoting her business. But because how she lives her life is the ultimate form of content marketing.
People are drawn to her because she is constantly helpful to people, whether it’s in the form of a kind word, encouragement, or just the fact that they see her working hard every day and she’s still in great shape. Her content sells her service.
She knows who she is and what message she wants to convey. She does it every day and she probably doesn’t even realize it.
Does your business know what it’s core message is? Once you’ve got that figured out, make it permeate throughout your organization and intentionally craft every message you can.
Be helpful, be generous, and be transparent with your audience and you’ll reap the rewards of content marketing.
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Do you utilize content marketing? How so & what benefits have you seen from it?
I’d love to hear from you below in the comments section or on Twitter (@mikemccann3)!
Have a great week!
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