For a while now we have been hearing a lot of chatter about “Content Marketing” and working out how we can use this to grow business. However, the more we talk about it, it soon becomes apparent that there are a few misconceptions about what Content Marketing really is and how this can be used effectively within business.
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Some considerations before you decide to hire a Content Strategist for your business:
1. Have a very clear understanding as to what your objective is. Will your focus be on acquisitions, cross-selling, up-selling, retention, etc.?
2. Determine which channels would be used to drive and support your content. What will the communication flow be? If/how can you leverage your existing channels (or open new ones if need be – social media is a good one) to support your content.
3. How this is going to be measured? Clearly define your measurables. This may need to be done on a per-channel basis and subject to what your objectives are.
4. Define your target market Whilst you can generate more generic content for websites to support the greater company strategy, if you switch to any direct marketing channels, you need to focus on segments within your market in order to be effective.
That final point brings us to your data – consumer data to be specific. Ever hear the term “Big Data”?
“Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying and information privacy.”
So, basically it’s about getting your data into a format where you can extract maximum value from it, within a secure environment.
Whether you are using this information for insight into product or service developments, or to understand who your customers are in order to communicate effectively with them, having your data in a workable format is vital if you want to run an effective content strategy.
After all, what is the point of generating the most amazing, thought-provoking content, if you are sending it to the completely wrong person…
Just a thought.
