On Words and Business

Great points about content marketing in this article on formulating your content strategy. The 10 points are all good, and here are my faves:

2. Business objectives. Make sure to determine what you are trying to accomplish with the content, think about the results you want and how to achieve that, and, of course, how much you want to spend to get there.

6. Spaces. What is your distribution strategy? Your website is a key spot for distribution and should be part of the equation. But there are many other ways to share your content including media exposure, email, newsletters, events, and more.

8. Schedule. The best content marketing programs are planned ahead. This ensures a constant flow of information as well as the ability to time content to specific milestones.

By the way, if you aren’t a member of MarketingProfs yet, I recommend you join. It’s a great resource.

By now you must have seen the Old Spice marketing campaign.

B2B marketers can learn from the success of this creative strategy, as it includes just the ingredients needed to launch a successful content marketing campaign.

1. It wasn’t an overnight success. It was a three year effort culminating in the ads, videos, and social media presence we see today.
2. It involved trial and error. The agency took risks, evaluated what worked, and didn’t give up when something didn’t work.
3. It involved a lot of planning, a significant budget, and trust in the process.

The 3 basic stages before buying a product or service:

1. Do I have a problem?

The goal of content marketing at this point is to share materials that educate your customers about the issue or problem, including the consequences of ignoring it.

2. If I do have a problem, what solutions are out there to help me solve it?

This is when your content needs to provide details about the features and benefits of your product/service, so your customers can figure out what the differences are between offerings and why yours might be best.

3. Is this the right solution for me?

This is when your marketing materials should discuss things like the return on investment in your solution and any additional information (like service and support options) to help customers evaluate your product and compare against any competitors.

Seth Godin on the benefits of educating your customers.

The bottom line: “…sooner or later, the inevitability of information spreading works in favor of those that bet on it.”

Are you ready to make people smarter?

Interesting musings on thought leadership. Jim McGee talks about the lack of success organizations have had “transforming thought leadership into something systematic and manageable.”

He makes a compelling argument for moving thought leadership from a marketing program to a core operating principle. That way, it becomes a side effect of work, not just one more thing on the to-do list.

I agree that it shouldn’t be simply a marketing construct. It should be baked right into the way the organization works. How can we encourage this in organizations? Can marketers help lead the internal conversations to make that happen?

Thought leadership and content marketing are related. But they’re not the same thing.

It’s entirely possible to publish content and make it available to your audience without once sharing innovative thoughts or ideas. Thought leadership is about contributing new ideas, stepping out of the comfort zone and putting your stake in the ground.

Sometimes you need to create content that doesn’t fit that description. Sometimes you may need to reinforce or explain an existing concept or idea. That’s okay.  Not every word you write or speak needs to break new ground. It would be exhausting if it did.

Just make sure that whatever content you use to market your business, you’re telling a compelling story, or moving the conversation forward, or contributing to the zetigeist in some way. Otherwise, thought leader or not, why would you audience be interested?