The content marketer has got no clothes
In this guest post, M’s Stuart Turner argues that the rush towards “content marketing” risks killing it in the process.
Content Marketing – the two words on every digital marketer’s lips this year. If the hype is to be believed, it is the sole shining beacon of light in the otherwise drab, decaying world of marketing.
But what is it?
“On the web, according to a report by Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard, content marketing is simply using content — news, feature, or otherwise — to commercial advantage. ‘Providing content that people are actively interested in reading,’” sums up Stefan Deeran from NewsCred.[1]“
There is so much hyperventilating about Content Marketing being the latest “bright new shiny thing” when it has been around a long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q5Tt5JSRsOc#!
It has now become so blatant that it is often no more than awkward forced product placement in many different guises.
Disclaimer: I work for Curated Content – a data-driven content marketing agency.
I found this a really interesting post and an excellent example of content marketing in practice:
1. Mumbrella is provided with free and engaging content in the form of a guest blog post bringing thought leadership to the topic of content marketing.
2. As a producer of the content, Stuart Turner increases his own reputation as a thought leader / subject matter expert
3. Stuart gets placement of an inbound link to his own agency on a widely trafficked website
4. Potential new clients will read this piece of content, and hopefully, click through to Digital Agency M and take a look at the site.
5. Ideally, Digital M would be tracking this user’s online footprint on their site and this data will inform Digital M what the user is interested in regarding their service offering.
6. This user could become a quality lead for Digital M. And if that lead converts to a paying customer who had never heard of Digital M until they read Stuart’s guest blog on Mumbrella, then we could assume that is an example of the effectiveness of content marketing, couldn’t we?
With no content there is no communication.. so, in a field where the message and the medium have shaped our jobs for decades, it is hard to believe that we can look at the content in isolation of the rest of the activity and limit it to the digital world.
I think however that the term ‘content marketing’ is positive for the overall industry: with all brands having the ability to communicate with consumers without the traditional intermediaries, we have to think differently about brand stories and the traditional operation silos, with the potential for each company to be a Ben&Jerry’s on steroids.
Don’t forget “native” advertising, otherwise known as content marketing and previously known as a plain old fashioned advertorial.
Thanks for the comments evryone. Of course I’ll never reveal my true motives but I hope you enjoyed reading.
Cath’s template for Stuart’s content is going into my toolkit. Thanks both.
Great post and opinion Stuart. It was only at the end that I appreciated that it was written by an SEO professional. Really refreshing to hear this balanced opinion from an insider.
Well put Stuart.
Traditional marketing theory is slowly evolving, but the core of it is basically the same.
The tools of executing the strategy have evolved significantly over time due to technological advancements (e.g. SEO is big today and was non existent 10-15 years ago).
Our industry tends to try and create buzz words to complicate what is a relatively simple concept to stroke it’s own ego.
Nothing beats targeting a market segment with a great product, delivering great service and a ensuring that two way communication is as easy as possible.
In theory it’s simple, in practice you have to spend the time and do your research, implement systems/processes and communicate effectively to break through the clutter!
Nothing beats good old fashioned hard work to create and maintain a ‘genuine’ following of your product/service.
With regards to ‘content marketing’ , the top-line strategy will set the tone for all content through all mediums…this is not new, I think Kotler was amongst the first to describe this concept.
As for Stuarts motivations, well, he is conveying his brand of marketing and that may appeal to a segment. Hopefully from this blog he attracts like minded clients/partners and has planted the seed to an idea. Lead acquisition is the ultimate outcome. We all know that.
Have a great day guys.
Interesting comments! I appreciate your thoughts on the subject and I’m glad I managed to step outside the SEO box successfully.
Thank you for a sensible article about content marketing, devoid of babble, jargon and mystique. It painted content marketing accurately for what it is – an evolution of marketing principles into the (admittedly) shiny digital world.
Business to business marketing, in particular, has been engaged in “content marketing” for lead generation and brand reputation building for decades. Digital has just added a whole new set of tools to the kit, and it does require smart, adaptive marketers and agencies to make the most of it. But after all, as marketers, aren’t we meant to be some of those very people whose key role is to foster innovation and ever more effective ways of doing things. Right?