Knowing what content marketing is not, is just as important as knowing what it is.
Content Marketing is the creation and distribution of valuable content to attract, retain or service customers within your target market.
What is Not Content Marketing?
To understand what content marketing really is, you need to understand what it isn’t.
Content Marketing is Not a Gimmick.
Surely you have seen those sites with promising headlines that don’t even begin to deliver. That is a useless fishing tactic that does little more than irritate potential buyers.
Content Marketing is Not About Your Company.
When consumers want to know about a company, they read a brochure, or reviews and testimonials. Content is about providing material that will help, inform or enlighten, to build trust and loyalty.
Content Marketing is Not SEO.
Although content marketing and SEO may be interwoven, they are two different things. Content is good when the focus is on offering useful information rather than aiming for what will increase search rankings and web traffic. Good content, however, will end up accomplishing those things with google. It’s just that content produced solely for ranking purposes will come across as shallow and repetitive.
Content marketing is successful when content is original and useful.
Content Marketing is Not PR.
Content marketing does showcase a company’s expertise, but it should never read like a press release. PR generates good will and enhances reputation. It is usually newsy and time sensitive.
You get the best bang for your buck when create a lot of evergreen content, with blog promotions and social media posts tying in with current events or trends. Content may achieve those things, but it is more directly linked with new sales and customer acquisition.
Content Marketing is Not Random
Like a good book with a table of contents and an index, a content platform should have an organized plan and clear theme. Promotion can include some conversational, playful introductions, but the content itself should be cohesive.
In order to be a relevant as possible, you will want to research and survey your current customers, your target customers (they are not always one and the same) and their specific paths to purchasing.
You want to fortify what’s already working while also improving in areas that are not. But without analyzing who your audience really is, you could spend a great deal of time creating content that doesn’t interest your actual buyers.
Content Marketing is Not a Quick Fix.
Content marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. It is a stable, ever-evolving and growing, long-term investment in a valuable resource. To remain valuable, it should be paired, nurtured and updated regularly. Over time, evergreen material becomes a trusted and valuable asset.
Knowing what content marketing is, and what it isn’t, can help you build a solid, high quality platform that brings in customers and keeps them loyal.