Content is Everything! But What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is marketing that is based on offering the target audience useful and interesting content or information. Succesful content marketing is therefore based on successful content rather than solely marketing a product or service itself. The content shouldn't therefore be just persuasive but rather answer to the target audience's challenges and objectives by educating, guiding and inspiring them. 

So why should one aim for content marketing? The answer is simply to differentiate. A huge part of all marketing that is out there at the moment is more or less the traditional product or service marketing in which the showcasing of product features or the promotion of a service is at the core. This kind of marketing is coming out from all channels whether we're talking about web, tv or print media. Often the consumers ignore this kind of marketing or they might block the web ads with a tool specially designed for doing so. The problem of the traditional marketing seems to be the fact that the target audience is often not truly addressed but instead shot at with tons of offers and product demonstrations. The idea of content marketing however is to stand out from the crowd by producing quality content that is relevant to the audience.

Better results by using several content marketing tactics

Effective content marketing requires several tactics. The content should be shared in different forms through several channels so that the target audience is served as effective as possible. An American research (CMI/Marketing Profs) states that a big part of B2B Marketers use around ten to twenty different marketing tactics. According to the research Social Media, Articles on your Website and eNewsletters are the three most common tactics of content marketing (see picture).

Guidelines for content marketing:

1. Right content for the right audience. Target carefully and measure which content interests your readers. Form target groups and tailor content for these groups.
2. Right content in the right form. Use different kinds of content marketing tactics. Think of what kind of content you're publishing and in what channel the content is at its most effective. For example text vs. videos.
3. Right content in the right channel. Define the channels in which to publish your content. Also think of what kind of content is appropriate for what channels. Encourage sharing of the content so that your well thought-of content will reach as many people from your target group as possible.