Welcome To The Big Wide World of Content Marketing!
Content marketing is more important than ever, now we are in the digital age.
But when you start to think about it, any type of marketing needs content. So what do we mean by ‘content marketing’ exactly?
Traditional marketing is business-centred: it’s all about the business. “Look at us!”, “Listen to us!”, “See how great we are!”. In some ways, it has a lot in common with bragging.
Content marketing on the other hand, is about the consumer. It’s not just about selling – instead, it aims to provide useful information, such as the “why” and the “how”. The focus is on engaging the consumer, and building a relationship with them.
More Than Just Online
Where do we all go if we need information nowadays? The internet of course!
This is why many people think content marketing relates only to online content – and while it certainly reigns supreme in the digital space, it encompasses so much more than that.
In fact, content marketing has been around for centuries – perhaps since the first printing press, which allowed written material to be circulated easily for the first time in history.
Early Examples of Content Marketing
Here are two notable examples of content marketing from the early 1900s:
- With the advent of the motor car, Michelin provided free travel guides to car owners. It was a brilliant marketing idea – consumers were encouraged to go for drives, using their cars more often. This in turn, would mean that sooner or later, they would need new tires. And when that time came – guess which company they turned to?
- Around the same time, American company Jell-o distributed free recipe booklets which showed consumers how to use this new dessert – leading it to become the household name it is today.
Technology and Content Marketing
As technology has progressed, content marketing has grown to be a way of providing information and entertainment across a broad range of media – from radio spots and television programs, to comic books and magazines, images, movies, email newsletters and blogs, podcasts, and social channels including Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and the like.
Without even realising it, you have probably already been utilising content marketing in your business. Which methods have you found to be most successful?
