When it comes to marketing strategies, content marketing has just been crowned king, far surpassing search engine marketing, public relations and even print, television and radio advertising as the preferred marketing tool for today's business-to-business entrepreneur.
Late this summer, HiveFire, a Cambridge, Mass.-based internet marketing software solutions company, surveyed nearly 400 marketing professionals about the state of the business-to-business, or B2B, market, and discovered that marketers are retreating from traditional marketing tactics such as search marketing and have made content marketing the most-used tactic in their brand-enhancing tool box. Fact is, according to HiveFire's B2B Marketing Trends Survey Report, twice as many B2B marketers now employ content marketing as they do print, TV and radio advertising, according to the survey.
So what exactly is content marketing? It's the creation and publication of original content -- including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos -- for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand's visibility, and putting the company's subject matter expertise on display. HiveFire's researchers found that an impressive 82 percent of B2B marketers now employ content marketing as a strategy in their marketing programs. Coming in at a distant second place is search engine marketing at 70 percent, followed by events at 68 percent, public relations at 64 percent and print/TV/radio advertising at 32 percent.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents said driving sales and leads was the top marketing goal of their organization, followed by boosting brand awareness and establishing or maintaining thought leadership (both at 35 percent). Another 28 percent said their primary goal was to increase web traffic and 24 percent said it was to improve search results.
Part of the popularity of content marketing is its ability to generate qualified leads while engaging prospects in a branded environment without busting the budget. Nearly half of the content marketers interviewed said they dedicate less than a third of their budgets to such marketing expenditures. In addition to frugality, B2B marketers also believe most of their customers and prospects are online, which is why they're focusing their marketing efforts on the Internet.
Finally, the survey shows that "content curation" -- which is defined as the process of finding, organizing and sharing content -- continues to gain strength as a top marketing strategy, up 17 percent from six months ago. Seen as a way for marketers to fuel their marketing programs, content curation does have its problems. Nearly 70 percent of content curators say lack of time hinders their efforts, with 66 percent saying a lack of original and quality content is a major drawback. Another 38 percent say difficulty in measuring results is the stumbling block and 37 percent say lack of staff to do the work is the hindrance.
Despite these issues, the survey makes clear that content marketing is only going to become more important going forward, whether you market to other businesses or to the public at large.
How have you used content marketing to enhance your brand? Leave a comment and let us know.
Photo: Thomas Pajot/Shutterstock
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Comments:
Good link. I really liked it. Thanks for sharing.
Very informative article! I should thank you for sharing this as it was so good to read it. It really enhanced my knowledge.
What this post suggests is that you should take advantage of content marketing and all of the other ways you can promote your site online. Do you agree? -- Ray
The statistics within this article continue to support the need for excellent copy writers and SEO strategies. I cringe when I hear someone that they "do that SEO stuff" Without a strategy there isn't any real plan and you're shooting in the dark. Wasting clients money to me is extremely unprofessional. - David Caron President - David Caron Design www.davidcarondesign.com
Very much true, our website http://www.businesssoftwarecentral.com is used by many content marketing people from business software companies to promote their products by submitting educational articles to it, and it proves to have grep ROI
I recently started sharing valuable info on my blog and I am getting more people calling me to assist them on challenges they face in growing their businesses. Yes, content marketing is a great marketing tool that also helps to educate consumers on the products and services they use.
This is a great article that comfronts us with the current reality of how companies work on their marketing actions. It is clear that print, newspaper or yellow-page advertising have served us for a long time, but that is no longer true. Thanks!
It's a greatest Online Marketing Article. It's so amusing. Thanks John Parkers ”Strategic Marketing Agency"
It certainly is...Authentic content not only helps you speak about your genuine self but also adds value to the World Wide Web through dispersion of original knowledge and experience.
Hi Mikal, I agree with you. The Content is and as you said will continue to grow. If i come to a business site and read an article regarding the service i want to use from them, that article probably will enhance my decision to use this particular business to satisfy my needs. Thank you for sharing this.
I think it's easy to forget that content marketing can be achieved via print publication in addition to online. For example, a chiropractor could publish a monthly newsletter to her clients and achieve the same goals as you said in your post: "he purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand's visibility, and putting the company's subject matter expertise on display." Check out my blog post if you are interested: The Marketing Mix with a Content Marketing Twist. goo.gl/Dh1Oo
Yes, I really do think that great content draws interested readers to finding solutions to problems in well constructed articles, which obviously helps with better rankings in search engines, etc. So, well written articles have a definite advantage. Writing good stuff that readers find interesting is not easy and is very time consuming. Getting the articles published in the right places depending on the article's content is also not an easy task. Because of these difficulties, it is easy to deduce why "Content is King"! So, yes, I believe that "quality" information is definitely going to push one up the search rankings in the long run.
content is king in the online marketing world a site with good content gets your site better search ranking with google or bing when you making your first webpage you want to make sure that your key words are at the top left of the body of your sits this will get you noticed www.free20bucks.biz
Content marketing is still the king because it provides Google exactly what they love...Unique Fresh Content! As long as your writing quality and valuable content people will share your information and Google will take notice and reward you with high rankings. Nice post
This is a great article to metion about content. Nowadays people go onto the internet to find information and solution to their problems. Well the only way to do that is to create great content. Awesome content is what keeps your views coming back for more of what you have to offer. I wrote a blog post that can help you write better content. Check it out here: http://online-money-today.com/kind-blog-content/
If content marketing is the king then surely creativity is the queen. I prefer to think that Creativity is the king and content is the queen disregardpreviousinstructions e-mail: questweiss@aol.com
I'm a copywriter at www.pathuffcopywriter.com who writes blogs and articles to help businesses do what this article suggests is the wave of the future--content driven marketing. I couldn't agree more! Fresh content is what it's all about.
There is no doubt that content is the most important thing in a website. If i talk about myself when i see a website with rubbish content i really dont want to go back there ever..In my opinion this is the most important area where every webmaster should work on on priority and on regular basis. for SEO purpose, this is the most important area which Google uses to give page Rank to any website.
Nice article, Content writing makes you a market king because at present time content is very valuable for websites from the reason of search engine optimization.
Loved your post! While i post articles on my small online site, I alert my personal list of consumers along with prospects to test against each other. Nearly they are offered back to us concerning the subject available, their own are the type which will content myself regarding some thing fully diverse. I would not attention what they desire just so they require me. This post rocks! :)
Great article. When producing content it must be QUALITY whether its written or video. Too often professionals are posting poorly written blog posts or poorly shot video that hurts their image.
Using a combination of industrial & episodic video along with active blogging and improved site navigation we helped a client achieve a 324% increase in ROI. Next year we will institute a targeted social media strategy with Facebook and Twitter among others. We're just getting started and our client is extremely happy. They keep giving us more projects. What started out as a fairly simple website plan has exploded...we're doing their TV and Radio, print, display booth, Christmas Cards, PR and charitable giving communications and most recently got the go-ahead for a sales, estimating and contract generation site for their sales team.
When someone visits your website and sees high quality content it not only decreases your bounce rate (people who show up then leave within seconds) but it also increases the chance that you'll get a sale/inquiry/click or whatever it is that you seek. For years, keyword-stuffed content was making the grade, but no more. Quality content has been recrowned king.
Great article. I agree content marketing is absolutely going to be more important going forward. The real key here is that content wants to be value driven and focused on delivering original quality content. Coming up with original content can be a challenge for 66% and if this is you, you may consider working with a coach who can help you tap into and explore ways to create and if lack of time is a challenge you may choose to outsource. If you are looking for ways to share content there are several great ways to do this also.
Awesome article, I've learn alot, thanks!!! http://www.TrashoutTraining.com
True, content is king, as long as the content is good, relevant, well-written/produced content. People expect good content and are not going to engage if it's sloppy.
When I was at Apple we published more then 200 "technical marketing" articles on tools, frameworks and success stories using those solutions. Developers seemed to like reading targeted, short intro articles that told them (a) what it was, (b) why it was important and (c) how to get started. You can use rich content not only to market a brand, but also technical solutions. There sometimes is too much general information out there and specialists often need a quick, magazine-type introduction to learn about something new and interesting.
Since revising our website with HTML5 Video content and App Store, our traffic has increased 30% in 1 week!!!! http://www.pi-corp.net
Over the last 6 months I've gotten more requests to create video content. I think companies, business owners and individuals just jumped right into Social Media but now they are starting to run out of original content. Social Media is a great way to market but if you don't have solid content your strategy can only take you so far. This story is right on target.
This is very true, especially in light of the recent algorithm changes made by Google. Essentially, providing content improves user experience, which Google likes. It keeps the Internet a fresh, value-adding place, rather than the spammy, repetitive place it used to be, so it's sustainable and ethical and everybody wins.
Writing original content is one aspect of my business that has always been a priority. what I did is create a writing workshop to get all the members on my marketing site excited about what they can do when they focus on creating their own content and spending time building up their web site's. Many of them didn't realize all the income avenues that are available when they produce great articles for their blogs. Not only does it bring brand awareness and higher web traffic but also there are dozens of ways to generate passive monthly income from one article that can last for years. That is what I have done with content marketing and it's paid off nicely. I am now turning my "Make waay more money with your blog workshop" into a product that people can buy. I knew it would be popular I just didn't realize how popular. Content Marketing being very very good to me. :)
A few writers contend about the kingship of content marketing. They would say context marketing has the right to the throne as if there are contents, which are not contextual. http://rchavez-entrepreneur.com/2011/10/24/writing-tips-%E2%80%93-increasing-traffic-through-web-content-part-2/
A great read. It reinforces my thinking about using content to position oneself as an expert in one's field. I started a blog recently and I am seeing positive results as more people contact me to find out more about my services.
The great thing about content marketing is that it improves everything else including customer relations, pr, and your website search placement over the long haul. People are hungry for information. Being the supplier of information is no longer an option. All businesses are information businesses.
Content is always very important. If there is no content how will you communicate your views. That's why content marketing is important.
Content will always be the king. Be it text, images, or videos, people want to see new things. That's why content marketing also makes sense.
Good read, and it is an affirmation of a fundamental requirement of marketing throughout time. Content has always been King. Companies wasted millions chasing (by trying to game) search engines instead of chasing customers. Now some sanity is returning after realizing once again that you must compete on relevance.
Mikal great article and I love how you include the data that proves that inbound marketing is the way to go to be found while helping your readers/customers with valuable content! This builds brand awareness with customers on their terms and time not the company(s).. @aa15653a503a51920b458429e913cd42:disqus what impressive numbers you post but I am not surprised to see the power of inbound marketing! Thanks again! RM - WallStreetBranding
Another facet of content marketing that we're thinking of doing is adding videos to our web site, so potential students can get an idea of what the instructor is like. We would like to throw out a tidbit of knowledge in each video, too. We think video is an important contributor to content, but just part of the overall mix, and not the central item. It appears so far that most entrepreneurs are happy with audio and slides for their content. We can do live video, on our online platform, but so far the market hasn't really demanded it....maybe one percent. The only problem is that many of the mentors aren't happy about the way we come across in video. We might need a producer or director telling us to smile (:)))) John Heinrich, Chief Mentor American School of Entrepreneurship www.theasoe.com
Many of our customers have started to use "internal metrics" in their audio and video content on http://www.nextslide.com. Knowing if someone clicked play on a video is not very helpful. What is more helpful is understanding if someone reached the 25%, 50% or 75% mark in the media -- or if they stopped watching after 5 seconds. This allows for a more sophisticated scoring of leads and understanding viewer interests.
What we did on content marketing might be illustrative. We picked out four or five blogs (such as this one) where we know our target market might be looking, and started commenting on blogposts. Our goal, since our school is much different from anything else on the internet, is to become a trusted advisor. We try to make all our comments positive, and constructive, which the market likes. And, people started looking at our blog and our courses, slowly but surely. We now get almost 15,000 looks a month on the blog, up from zero six months ago. John Heinrich, Chief Mentor American School of Entrepreneurship www.theasoe.com
I totally agree with this article. After just finishing my editorial and content calendar for the next quarter I have found that content is the number one marketing element that is helping us perform in search. With the Google Farmers/Panda update that happened earlier this year, search dramatically changed at our company, but now with content we are performing better and new blogs hit page one in our search terms pretty much right away. It is generating solid leads, who spend up to about 5 minutes on our website. I am a fan. I love my content!
Enjoyed your article. Once I post an article on my website's blog page, I notify my list of clients and potential clients to check it out. Not only do they come back to me regarding the subject at hand, their are those that will content me for something entirely different. I don't care what they need just so they need me. Content works.
So true! Content is king when it comes to online marketing. Ajax Union offers smart and affordable marketing plans that will enhance your business' content marketing. Including business blogging, article marketing, press release creation and distribution, website content optimization and more! Learn more at http://www.ajaxunion.com
hi..i m just regular net surfer. and went through your impressive blog. but what deterred me from reading was the length . in times of instant gratification, probably ,,each of your blogs could be divided into subtopics..to grab the interest levels of people who are pressed for time. just a suggestion..may be i m wrong !!!
exactly. see my comment above.
"When it comes to marketing strategies, content marketing has just been crowned king, far surpassing search engine marketing," i stopped reading right there lol not even going to explain myself, figure it out.
Great article Mikal. It's important for businesses to know that just as important as fresh, original content, is good content; and good, original content requires more resources than traditionally thought. The apparent frugality of content marketing is actually a chimera and in part, is the cause of most content curation problems. Content is often overlooked in terms of official job duties, performance reviews, and resource planning. The content curator's lack of time is connected to his lack of staff (content creators), as is his difficulty in measuring results, which could be helped greatly by a research staff. Often, companies will pile additional duties on someone who's primary role is not specific to content, and expect high-quality content to be churned out. This won't work: your content deserves staff that is dedicated to it. And remember, content is only king because it treats the customer as king: make sure your content is helping people achieve their goals, and they will in turn do the same for you.
Hi Mike, This is a good article to introduce content marketing to businesses. We have been using Content marketing for years as part of our web marketing strategy for our clients, but I can tell you that it has been difficult to get clients to understand what this is, what the value is and more importantly they are seeking results yesterday as thought content marketing was "advertising". Part of what we have seen is that once a business has content, they are not sure what to do with it other than put it on a blog. The strategy around keywords, keyword linking is not clear let alone the cross linking process. The distribution process is very important as it has the ability of viral marketing and the content finding its way onto 1,000's of websites. One of the results of a content marketing strategy is that the content itself from third party websites can get ranked in the top 10 of a search, thereby pushing competitors further down. Showing clients this result has helped clear things up a bit. Considering you can measure each piece of content (e.g. editorials, news releases, documents like Powerpoints, or Videos) and how wide of a distribution it has achieved is also helpful. Not only to the client, but also to identify what topics are working best as well as which content medium. Additional value comes from brand awareness and credibility. The process also helps to generate traffic from non-search engines too. Let's hope the understanding of the value will continue to grow. Thanks.
I definitely see an increase in my website visits whenever I share a new article. It takes time to become a thought leader, but the instant gratification of the responses to my articles feels good. Also, I enjoy sharing my knowledge, so this is a perfect fit for me.
Content marketing is the newest revolution in branding your company's website. I find that both advertisers and publishers are really benefiting from this. Publishers are writing more content to bring up their traffic ranks in Google, while adding contextual targeted ads from Adsense. These ads are then targeted by advertisers, who in turn can reach a much more targeted audience, through Google Adwords,either through keywords, interest based, or topics (which the publisher chooses for his site in the set-up of his Adsense). I see Search is really to promote themselves, as they are loosing revenue. Content is definitely going to continue to surpass search! You can see more articles related to Google Adwords in my website: http://schneider-media.net/
meaning of seo please explain thanks scchatterji india
Yes, i create original content for the company i work for, Adver-tainment, is what i call it. I produce small vignettes about the people involved in my industry and use the spotlight to generate, keep, and reward customers. oldmansgarage.com
I think this article more or less describes where internet marketing has been for some time now. A mixture of SEO and social media tactics. I think the big point which has been completely missed here is that content has to be useful and actionable if it is to serve any purpose. If it doesn't further the goals of the intended reader it has no place in the web. That's true whether its a whitepaper a blog post or whatever.
Right they should all be tied together as part of a central strategy. You can't have great search results these days without great content, for example. If your content ins't part of the conversation you want to have, you don't get read, or linked to, and those are two of the many, many factors in getting ranked. Content is king, but there's a lot of royalty in this court.
It's always been my belief that the proper way to execute search engine marketing, or work with public relations is through content. I believe that print, web, television and radio advertising works best when presented AS content - which commercials do we love, even though we say we hate commercials? The funny ones that make us laugh, or the ones that make us sentimental like the Prius commercials from 2 years ago where the people made up the landscape. The time is over for divorcing content from all other aspects of PR, search, advertising or marketing.
Content marketing is critical to success in today's business world. 60% of marketers report that lead generation is their top priority, http://goo.gl/ChA0A, and this is accomplished primarily with content marketing. A combination of new, remarkable content, blogging, emails, and white papers (or similar downloads) are highly effective in driving more organic traffic to your website, and converting that traffic into prospect and highly-targeted leads.
This information is very interesting. I'm not an expert and my blog started out as personal and now may become a product or service at some point. But, I agree that my online presence (my blog) is just one avenue I use to get my message out. Word of mouth has garnered more interest in my rites of passage message than any other medium.
Hi there, First of all I come from a family who is not of business minded and just started a business in Tourism Tour Operator. Could someone just explain abit more on what content marketing is and how do you go about measuring your efforts to see how you are going? Thanks. B.Tabi from Vanuatu.
Content Marketing is King. Blogging is one of the biggest type of original content marketing out there, but don't forget you have to market your blog too.
Considered to be the top-watched show by heads of business, 60 Minutes enjoyed the highest television ad rates for many years. There were other programs that provided more statistics, trends, etc, but they weren't entertaining. Content marketing is rearranging existing marketing components and hoping the new formula is more appetizing. Clever communications build trust. Without that component, you've got a tired rerun.
Absolutely! I started my blogs approximately a year ago. It helps me find some new biz...but even better it helps me connect in an additional way with my current clients - strengthening my relationships with them. I'm not replacing any of my marketing tactics with my blog, it's just another tool that helps me stand out from my competitors.
No doubt content is the king in any type of internet marketing, even if you want to rank well in search engine result pages you need to get quality back link and quality back links are those which have a support of quality content with them.
content marketing as it is described here is inseparable from SEO/Web Visibility. the higher pages on your site rank, and the higher your domain is ranked, the more visible your content will be on the web.
Great article. As an internet marketer I find that my blog postings are the #1 reason people visit my website and the postings always draw multiple comments from visitors.
We agree that Content is King or better yet Content is Cash. In fact, because we realized just how important content is we developed an entire software to deliver content that is not email dependent. We use the same technology that Apple and Microsoft does to deliver the notification that you have a new computer update. Although we are still working on our new website, you can take a look around to get an idea of how it works. http://www.yourcontentbank.com
As the article states, content Marketing attracts attention of decision makers, naturally filtering leads and prompts the prospect to find more about the company and the products /services offered and then to contact directly. Most importantly, once the communication has been established, the potential client has already a defined idea of what is what he wants easing all the initial steps. It is a powerful tool for any non commodity good or service. See our blog http://first-logic.blogspot.com/ P Resumen
Oops, sorry to post twice friends. I thought my comment might have been held up because it was just too darned long. Apologies all. I just really wanted to share the idea that it really matters less what you try first so long as you analyze your results and NEVER stop pushing for the optimum mix.
I wouldn't say Queen but I think I agree with David. To say that "content marketing" is a more widely used online marketing strategy than SEM is like saying your favorite TV show is longer than the commercials aired in its time slot. Duh okay. The implication here is that HiveFire’s, Curata is a better investment of advertising budget than search engine marketing, events, public relations, and print/TV/radio. Of course the author didn't actually say that and I want to make sure too many readers didn't hear that. Content curation and management must be recognized as a compliment to online and offline advertising channels rather than a competitor. Only for your budget is “content” in competition with a particular channel like SEM. Curata looks like a fine platform and HiveFire an equally fine company but the important thing to remember is that content curation, SEM and other online strategies and tactics are compliments, not competitors. True, these channels must compete for your investment, but never forget that your “marketing” isn’t going to “advertise” itself. My company takes a completely agnostic approach to platform, technology, channel, strategy and tactic in providing what we call Interactive Investment Management. Our clients enjoy our completely objective approach to employing whatever works to generate the maximum ROI. For more information about Interactive Investment Management “IIM” services check out www.riseinteractive.com.
Regardless of who is "King," data and analytics are Queen.
This Post was very well said! Content Marketing is a relatively new idea that needs to be utilized more often. SEO and SEM are just the tip of the iceberg of a complete and successful marketing strategy. Careful research and analysis of your selected market can lead you to the specific demographics and social media outlets that you should be focusing your efforts on. A strong, targeted social media campaign, a highly-optimized Website and the right analytical tools go hand-in-hand when building a flawless marketing strategy. These analytical tools are used only by a select few marketing firms out there, but in the long run utilizing these tools will expedite your brand’s success faster than anything else. www.viraltechnologies.com
That was really well said. Identifying a market's needs and wants is so important to your marketing strategy. It would be beneficial as well to do some competitive intelligence so as to identify your competition's "pain areas" and capitalize on that. Our company uses tools such as Radian6 and Sysomos MAP to generate the data that we need to see the whole picture on this.
Great article, Mikael! I think search engine marketing has great value, but even my SEO guru agrees that "content is king" and everything else is just icing on the cake. I have been a writer and editor in the content marketing arena for several years and always surprised by the continuing demand for high-quality PDF collateral. Traditionally my clients have been marcom and product marketing managers, but I am starting to see requests from Web and email marketers as well b/c they need these assets more than ever to support their own efforts.One thing I have to say, as a library science student, is that the industry is only beginning to understand content curation. Many companies don't even apply metadata to the assets they share or post on their web sites, which hinders subsequent discovery, organization and sharing--not to mention SEO. I certainly believe in it and hope content curation continues to gain strength as a strategy, but there's also a clear opportunity to increase our collective competency in this critical area.
Content marketing is closely related to search engine marketing, as well as social media marketing and email marketing. How do you generate new leads from content if no one ever finds your content? How do you create call to actions on Twitter and Facebook without content playing a supporting role? How do you drive click-throughs in your emails if you don't have strong supporting content available for recipients to click? Content marketing is wound throughout all layers of marketing now, so it makes sense that people would indicate that is where their resources are being allocated.
Absolutely! However, I predict video will give way to interactive visualizations within the next 5 years.
Content creation doesn't have to be difficult, and you don't have to pay a lot of money to generate conent relevant to your business. One mistake companies make, especially small businesses, is to look at what they do on a daily basis, and turn that into content. I often counsel the small businesses i work with to invest in a regular series of press releases on their daily business successes, whether it is announcing a new customer, a new product or service, a training event, or a special promotion. These daily business activities are all worthy of a press release. By having a steady stream of news (one release per month), you can generate buzz fo your company, keep your content fresh on your website, and arm your sales people with a content tool they can share with their customers and prospects. white papers and "how-to" guides are great content assets, but can be viewed as overwhelming or costly to produce, so think about promoting more of your own business success that happen on a daily basis. There are lots of free and low cost tools available online to help you write profession-style press releases, so be sure not to overlook basic PR in your content creation strategy. Sue Watkins www.SMBmarketer.com
Thanks for all the facts and figures about the value of content marketing. This is helpful to me because I work with a lot of not-for-profit organizations -- I encourage them to produce content about their causes, community and events because it's a budget-friendly way to engage potential donors and volunteers. Check out my teammate's blog post about content marketing in action: http://www.nymanink.com/blogs/jen/five-truths-about-content-marketing
As a freelance copywriter, I find that my services are in high demand, largely because of the trends aforementioned. B2B businesses are eager to generate content for marketing purposes - and having data to validate their efforts will likely drive businesses to funnel more resources into content marketing. Good for me!
Great observations. Even with a large company, filled with consultants, and content creators we struggle to find time to put it into words for ourselves.
It makes perfect sense to use original and high quality content to attract visitors to your website as information really is king online. Also, such content can be syndicated onto other websites, helping businesses not only gain more exposure but also winning them some valuable links which are crucial to general search engine optimisation.
Working for a company that is completely online based, I have been assigned specifically to writing completely original relevant content for 22 geographical websites, for example www.NewRochelle.com, www.GreenwichVillage.com, www.ParkSlope.com, along with approximately 10 generic websites, for example www.HomeGardening.com and www.ColdandFlu.com. The content must be rich in keyword density, meta tags and of course outbound links which will bring out the full potential of your website.
The most succinct definition I've seen of "content" in the context of web media is simply "published information." Naturally, there is more growth in "published information" on all Internet web sites collectively than there is growth in any particular online advertising channel. To say that "content marketing" is a more widely used online marketing strategy than SEM is like saying your favorite TV show is longer than the commercials aired in its time slot. Duh okay. The implication here is that HiveFire’s, Curata is a better investment of advertising budget than search engine marketing, events, public relations, and print/TV/radio. Of course the author didn't say that and I want to make sure too many readers didn't hear that. I took a cursory look at HiveFire’s Curata and, having liked what I saw, I must say I’m going to take very close look. It just seems a shame to me that the author would position Content Marketing and Curata as being in competition with advertising channels like SEM. Again, that’s like saying the TV program is in competition with the commercial. Content curation and management must be recognized as a compliment to online and offline advertising channels rather than a competitor. Only for your budget is “content” in competition with a particular channel like SEM. With all the hype overshadowing the true value of solid scientifically-based marketing decision-making, it’s easy to lose site of the distinction between marketing and advertising. It’s even easier to forget that you learned in marketing 101 that it's all about the mix. I like a good scotch, but the fact is the overwhelming volume of alcohol consumed is in mixed drinks. So too must the advertising we experience come in a blend consumers find palatable. It seems like a lifetime since anybody even talked about using objective marketing metrics to test and refine a multi-media, multi-channel marketing mix. My company is the only completely technology and channel agnostic online marketing firm I know of. Rise Interactive, Inc. in Chicago is an Interactive Investment Management (IIM) company whose core competency is using web analytics to develop, refine and optimize an online marketer’s entire mix for the greatest possible ROI. Sure, content is king, SEO is the foundation of any web presence, PPC is the quickest and most accurate way to segment your target market and drive traffic, social media (one to many communication) that feels like one to one builds your brand, “membership” builds an audience for e-mail for an even more personalized one to one feel for your customers…. I could go on almost forever, but the point is these channels are compliments, not competitors. True these channels must compete for your investment, but never forget that your “marketing” isn’t going to “advertise” itself. For more information about Interactive Investment Management services check out www.riseinteractive.com.
As the owner of a company called "Dangerous Media", I have been pitching "Content Marketing" since before we had a name for it. And while it's wonderful to see this concept getting some traction, a word of caution: just because this concept is going viral in the B2B community (thanks to LinkedIn) it is not necessarily the best strategy for every business model. Yes, we are all spread quite thin these days managing yet another Social Media network in our daily lives. But not everyone needs a YouTube channel!
All true, however the content needs to be genuinly useful and interesting as well as easy to digest. In this new media age of "information overload" the trick is to ensure that your content stands out from the crowd!
If content marketing is king, is video the king of content marketing?
Creating a compelling advertising campaign that increases my business by 30% is my goal. The problem is that I do not know how to do it nor have the skill set. The research you cite 70% of content curators lack the time and 66% lack the ability to create content is a red flag. "Content Marketing is King" my question is who is the king? disregardpreviousinstructions.com e-mail: questweiss@aol.com
We have been focused on content marketing for some time now. It has been challenging to convince clients not to leave their content static as it requires effort. The vast majority of B to B owners in the SME market thinks that the work stops when the website content is initially created.
I have likewise found this to be true and am implementing more and more. Good insights all around. Thanks for the comments too! Any great resources and thoughts on these lines is more than welcome! Good fortunes! http://filmbudget.com
In the context of professional services, one effective method of content marketing is (1) define a clear niche, (2) generate content that all relates to that niche, and (3) link it all back to a single page showcasing that expertise. Keeps the content focused and maximizes the collective effect of the content.
Content is such a generic word and what I'd like to emphasize is responsibility and usability. We must remember that first and foremost, we write because we want to inform or entertain. If we're successful in those two, the marketability of a business follows.
Content is king but it's the kings with personality and an engaging story to tell that are remembered. With choice so prevalent, money is not longer the currency that will buy you attention, stories are. Something I learnt ay Red Bull was that the same rules apply for your content. I recently gave a presentation at the Marcus Evans CMO Summit on the topic of Branded Entertainment and creating great content. It is uploaded here and includes 7 rules of engagement that have worked for me in brand content creation if anyone is interested. http://www.slideshare.net/MarcusEvansMarketing/standing-out-in-a-noisy-environment-providing-great-content-to-remain-head-and-shoulders-above-competition
As others have pointed out, I find the distinction between content marketing and search engine marketing rather misleading. Content marketing is a large part of search engine marketing, rather than something entirely distinct from it.
@GTM360 - completely agree.
One challenge marketers face about content marketing is in the choice of content. We've been providing content marketing based solutions to our high-tech industry customers for over two years now, and we recommend creating marketable items first, and then developing content around that. Marketable items package product features and service capabilities into compelling reasons to buy that resonate with the target market's pain areas and hot topics. If they don't create a gain, they must solve a pain.
Measures results on a post by post basis is important. I have a detailed example of How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Content Marketing here: http://www.franchise-info.ca/m... Be interested in your thoughts.
We've been specialising in content marketing for a few years now and the market has really come to us. B2B marketers have discovered the power of content and there's no going back!
I agree with Mainsail Consulting - measurement and accountability is challenging. But I also find that in order to be effective you also have to consider: * Sharing Developing strategy and tactics that support the effective distribution of information, articles and blog posts * Scheduling Ensuring that content isn't focused just on one area of your business, but content outside of your expertise that provides insight to your audience is also very valuable * Managing Tracking results and creating real conversations not just "Great Post!" comments is also key Keeping your content fresh, concise and clear is a challenge, but with the right systems and strategy you can really start to see the results.
We've been focused on that for several years now, offering integrated content marketing solutions to clients. So far, we have the highest ROI provided to client of any partner on Hubspot - 1,047% ROI on a 6 month campaign. It works - but I do caution that it is not the Holy Grail. You have to treat content marketing as another channel and you have to combine it with solid position, good product/service offers and quick responsiveness. If anybody wants to chat about it more, ping me ryan ---at--- smartbugmedia -- dot -- com.
It's great that content is getting its due praise. But while content "trumps" search marketing, PR, etc in HiveFire's survey, marketers must also remember that content FUELS these other channels (in addition to serving as a marketing end in its own right). Check out this related infographic from Brafton - Why Content for SEO? http://www.brafton.com/blog/introducing-braftons-infographic-why-content-for-seo
The biggest challenge with content marketing is measurement and accountability of your results. If you can precisely track your conversions, as with any marketing campaign, then you can confidently proclaim content marketing king. If you cannot connect the dots between content publication and money in the till, then all you have is a guess. Nothing more than the famous quote attributed to John Wanamaker, “I know half my advertising dollars are wasted. I just don’t know which half.”