What Is Content Marketing?

By Mary Ellen Slayter on December 5, 2012 / Strategy and Planning / Leave a comment

What is content marketing? It’s an approach to marketing that focuses on the creation and sharing of content to attract, acquire and engage prospects and customers. Content marketing is an essential ingredient for the success of any organization that wants to maintain a meaningful online presence.

Content Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing

Marketers at organizations large and small need to understand how content marketing works. Let’s start by addressing how it differs from traditional marketing, in particular advertising. Traditional marketing and content marketing differ in two basic ways:

1. With content marketing, content resides on earned or owned media.

With advertising there is always a media buy involved, which is not the case with content marketing.

2. Content marketing is a pull strategy, not a push strategy.

Content marketing attracts prospects; it doesn’t interrupt them.

Some would say that content marketing is a puffed-up way of describing social media. Certainly YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and blogs can play important roles in content marketing, but the term covers many other channels too, such as e-books, white papers, podcasts, bylined articles, visual information and webinars. These are all different types of content that can be found on your website or various social media channels, and they can form the foundation of your inbound marketing strategy.

Is Content Marketing Free?

Yes, this form of marketing can help you reduce advertising costs, but you shouldn’t assume they are free. Effective content marketing requires some investment in production and distribution. You might need new external support sources, such as technology partners or content marketing agencies that have experience in video production and mobile application development, for example.

Will Content Marketing Ever Replace Advertising?

Not any time soon. For optimal impact, integrate advertising and content marketing. You will be able to express your brand more powerfully using them in tandem.

Who Is in Charge of Content Marketing?

Who is responsible for producing and overseeing all this content? Ideally, it’s everyone’s job and responsibility. In the years to come, content marketing is going to become critical in most organizations, with the marketing departments likely leading the charge. But there needs to be cross-departmental support when it comes to finding, producing and distributing content.

Reputation Capital Media Services is a Baton Rouge marketing agency that helps B2B companies and their marketing agencies produce high-quality digital content, including blog posts, e-mail newsletters, white papers and multimedia. Our editors and writers are experts in their fields, which include HR technology, employee benefits, and financial services and accounting. Contact us for a free 30-minute consultation to find out how great content can help you attract and retain your customers.