Content has been a big topic the last few years. It seems every time you see a survey of the things that CMOs are concerned about, producing enough quality content is usually their number one concern. We even have a style of marketing now called “content marketing,” which of course doesn’t actually market content, it uses content to market other products. Are you following this?
Content is the fuel that makes today’s marketing work. Simple as that may sound, not everyone has swallowed the Kool-Aid yet. Can you do quality marketing without quality content? Perhaps. There are some businesses that are not in the stage of the market that content earns it’s keep. Some products don’t really lend themselves to the written word; others fail in diagrams. All is not created equal.
So to help you understand the landscape, here are 5 important points to contemplate:
You can calculate and communicate the exact value of your content. You can learn in pretty good detail exactly what kinds of content resonate with your audience. Especially if you hold some other variables constant (audience, medium) while you vary the content.
You can pass content as value to your channel partners. Everyone wants and can use quality content. Especially your channel partners. It used to be that channel partners would look to their vendors for MDF or “leads” and while money still talks, compelling content that supports the marketing effort benefits everyone.
Use different content for the top and bottom of the funnel. It’s best to use broad subjects and provocative subjects to entice people to enter your funnel where you can educate and nurture them. Bottom of funnel content will be more product based; reviews, case studies, technical white papers.
Content can be reused. I know it’s crazy to overstate the obvious, but quality content can be used in much more than one was. Snippets of a white paper make blog posts; a reworking of a brief can make a contributed article. Some folks are absolute artists at doing this. Find one for yourself and stretch your content!
You buy it once, it pays many times. This is my favorite. Having quality content is a bit like having money in the bank. You can use it to make money in a campaign, you can use it to make our channel partners smile, you can use it in your PR on your website and in your emails. And you only have to buy it once! The inventory that never depletes.
Today’s marketing not only requires the ability to find, write or purchase content that gets the most out of your campaigns. It also requires a knack in actually using that content..
How does your content stack up?
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