Content Breeds Content

By Kelley Finan, Director of Content Integration, PR

"Think like a publisher." Gurus of content marketing consistently give this advice to companies wondering how to effectively use content as a marketing tool. While content marketing does indeed require the need to think like a publisher, it also requires that companies change their entire approaches to – and attitudes toward – delivering information to customers.

Today, the customer dictates content. Not just the message, but how, when and where it is delivered. Content is publishing with a purpose. It’s a strategic approach to delivering the information your audiences want, when and how they want it. Companies need to have a content strategy that engages customers and potential customers wherever they are – online, digitally and offline -- and during the various stages of the buying process.



Recent research from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs shows that more and more companies understand the need for content marketing:

• 86 percent of B2C marketers use content marketing, employing 12 individual tactics on average.
• B2B marketers use social media more often than their B2C counterparts; however, B2C marketers consider it more effective.
• 57 percent of B2C marketers think social media is effective vs. 49 percent of B2B marketers. On average, B2C marketers use four social media platforms, compared with the five used by B2B marketers.
• On average, 28 percent of B2C marketing budgets are allocated to content marketing, and 55 percent of consumer marketers plan to increase their content marketing spend.
• Both B2B and B2C marketers are still struggling with the effectiveness of their content marketing.

So how can marketers make their content marketing more effective? Through its work with clients, SBC Advertising has found that a good content marketing strategy is:

• Disciplined but fluid. The strategy needs to be grounded in solid research and executed through a consistent, repeatable process, but it also needs to support the ability to provide new and fresh content across all mediums, quickly and often.
• Customer-centered. It’s all about providing customers and potential customers information that will make them smarter and more confident about engaging with your company, industry, products or services -- without blatantly "interrupting" them. A good content strategy will not only define what channels will be used to deliver which content, but will also answer why the content should be delivered. Remember, it’s publishing with a purpose.
• Asset-based. Content can be a company’s most valuable asset when it comes to customer engagement, whether it’s product packaging or a how-to video. Mobile content and apps, print magazines and newsletters, broadcast advertising, videos, web sites, photos, and even case studies, infographics, white papers, webinars and research are all important assets that can tell a company’s story and engage people in your brand. Everything should be considered potential content, including content that is shared or curated from third parties.
• Multi-disciplinary/multi-media/muti-channel. Content management shouldn’t be limited to one medium. Social media, public relations, traditional marketing and advertising, branding, digital and mobile can all benefit as part of a seamless content strategy that is integrated across channels.
• Measurable. Analytics are crucial to understanding the effectiveness of content. A strategy needs to define exactly how companies will listen to their audiences and how they will react to their changing wants, needs and behaviors.

Custom publishing, branded content, corporate media, corporate journalism or content marketing … call it what you will. In the end it’s all about providing content that is easy to access, relevant and valuable, and results in customer action and loyalty.
SBC Advertising offers a variety of strategic content services. Contact us at (614) 255-3266 or zbingham@sbcadvertising.com to see how SBC can help your company succeed with content marketing.