"Strategic content marketing actually costs less per lead and generates more qualified leads than traditional marketing. Outbound and other traditional marketing methods do not generate the same amount of leads, and they end up costing more over time." - Miles Anthony Smith
"Content marketing", the trending word that is buzzing throughout the digital technical world, is not new, rather it can claim using the much popular idiom, 'I wasn't born yesterday!' Why? Because the phrase "content marketing" was used as early as 1996, when John F. Oppedahl led a roundtable for journalists at the American Society for Newspaper Editors. In 1999, author Jeff Cannon wrote, “In content marketing, content is created to provide consumers with the information they seek.”
But with present day meaning, the term appeared in 2001 as Rebecca Lieb writes in her book titled “Content Marketing".
Content marketing is basically "a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action"
But how trending is this phrase right now? The answer lies in the popularity that it enjoys among marketers:
About 66% of marketers expected to increase their content marketing budget in 2022. (B2B Content Marketing 2022 Report)
59% of companies reported having 1-5 employees dedicated to content marketing.
In the past 12 months, most B2B marketers reported content marketing being most effective in creating brand awareness (80%), building credibility/trust (75%), and educating audiences (70%). (B2B Content Marketing 2022 Report)
According to a recent survey, 88% of marketers have successfully reached their goals of creating brand awareness and building credibility and trust through content marketing (Content Marketing Institute, 2021).
As many as 70% of marketers are investing in content marketing actively.
82% of marketers actively use content marketing.
90% of marketers using content marketing plan to continue investing the same amount in the channel in 2022.
Difference between traditional and content marketing:
The key difference between the two is that content marketing is a permissive marketing technique while traditional marketing is an interruptive one. That means Content marketing is based on “permission” – on getting people to come to you for information, whereas Traditional marketing is based on “interruption” – on going to where people are and getting in front of them.
Traditional marketing campaigns reach a lot of people however Content marketing adds value to a specific target audience.
Traditional marketing campaigns are usually expensive, but statistics show content marketing efforts cost 62% less than traditional marketing efforts, and they generate 3x as many leads.
Traditional marketing campaigns are hard to measure directly and mostly have rented audiences that will not keep any long term relation with the brand but Content marketing builds an opted-in, subscribed base and fosters a long-term relationship with the target audience.
Why this shift to content marketing:
This sudden shift was quite obvious as Content marketing is the very art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling and it is based on non-interruption marketing; and instead of pitching your products or services, you are making your buyers more intelligent by providing them with valuable information which ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.
Pulizzi and Barrett (2009, 9-20) explain six reasons businesses are making the change to content marketing:
1. There is a change in buyer attitude; they need content that makes them smarter and more knowledgeable.
2. Traditional media sources can’t be counted on to assist you in reaching your
customers
3. Media companies are shrinking their budgets, thus reduce content quality
4. Selling to your customers is becoming more challenging as future marketing will be based on conversations and engagement between business and customers which traditional marketing is unable to fulfill.
Why content marketing is rising in popularity?
With the emergence of Social Media and other technology, traditional marketing has become less and less effective.
The major reason business is turning to Content Marketing is that it nets them increased sales, reduced costs, and more loyal consumers. Even the ROI in using Content Marketing is phenomenal
Content Marketing, with its added consumer value concept, is proving more effective than traditional marketing.
Content Marketing provides some tangible and intangible benefits to a company which uses it.
Intangible benefits include increased brand awareness, increased respect and esteem in the industry, gaining new customers because they like your Content and decide to try your brand, and more team coordination
Among the tangible benefits are increased site traffic, improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and direct customer conversion (MOZ 2018.)
Content Marketing provides the content that SEO demands.
Why should we use content marketing?
Creates genuine engagement: Content of a particular brand can develop a positive association with its consumers and only that, content can even gain future support.
Delivers value: Content can establish and continue to hold the reputation of a brand, so its value to the customer translates into loyalty and sales.
Offers versatility: Content allows the brand to be versatile and with digital tools, there are many ways to target prospective customers. From free knitting templates to blogs on UX design, there are plenty of approaches for brands considering content marketing. The same brand can use different mediums to reach new audiences.
Some other reasons are as follows:
Content marketing allows you to build awareness for your brand.
Engaging content marketing creates preference as it makes you a trusted source of information and education.
Unlike traditional marketing, engaging content marketing is part of a natural conversation with current and potential customers and is relevant to their interests and behaviors, and builds a continuous story over time.
Content marketing generates more leads than traditional marketing in a short period of time.
It improves brand loyalty
It increases direct sales
Examples of content marketing:
Here lies five examples:
Infographics:
These are nothing but long, vertical graphics that include statistics, charts, graphs, and other information. 45% of marketers are already using infographics while 38% plan to leverage it.
Webpages:
20 billion WordPress pages are viewed by over 409 million people each month.
53% of mobile users will close a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. So, for content marketing web pages are very crucial.
Podcasts:
Podcasts are effective for any brand eager to connect with an audience in a richer, more authentic, more human way.
There were over 115 million podcast listeners in the U.S., and this number is set to grow. So it’s no surprise that many marketers plan to increase their spending in this medium; according to a recent study, about 40% said they would up their investments in audio. "The State of the Content Marketer Report" states that only about 30% of respondents consider podcasts to be an impactful tool
Videos
According to the report of Content Marketing Institute, Video is the number one format and will be the top investment for B2B brands.
87% of video marketers say that video has increased traffic to their website.
80% of video marketers claim that video has directly increased sales.
Blogging:
Short articles, less than 3,000 words, ranked third in the B2B content assets that generated the best results in the last 12 months.
48% of companies that have a content marketing strategy leverage blogging. (HubSpot Blog Research, 2021)
56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it's effective and 10% say it generates the biggest return on investment. (HubSpot Blog Research, 2021)
Most common content marketing goals:
According to B2B Content Marketing 2022 Report, five most common content marketing goals are as follows:
creating brand awareness (80%),
building credibility/trust (75%),
educating audiences (70%),
building loyalty with existing customers/clients (60%), and
generating demand/leads (60%).
Key elements of a content marketing strategy
When creating a content marketing strategy for your brand, one need to consider the target audience first and theb the touchpoints to engage with them. The main four elements of a content marketing strategy are as follows:
brand positioning,
value proposition,
measuring ROI, and
developing a plan.
Advantages of content marketing:
Hahn (2013) listed out these advantages of content marketing:
Helping search and SEO
Building credibility and value
Building relationships
Reducing dependence on external sources
Bringing more control over company’s messages
Differentiating oneself as being an expert on a certain topic
Bringing versatility to business’s marketing strategy, including planning, content creation, distribution and measurement.
Some other benefits include:
More on-site content.
Higher visibility in search engines.
More referral traffic.
Increased conversion potential.
Improved brand reputation
Tighter consumer relation
Improved brand reputation
Universal utility
Decreased marketing costs and compounding value.
Build brand awareness, trust and loyalty
Most common challenges of Content marketing with statistics:
B2B Content Marketing 2022 Report points out at five most common content marketing challenges. They are as follows:
creating content that appeals to multi-level roles within a target audience (44%),
accessing subject matter experts to create content (42%),
Internal communication between teams/silos (38%),
Creating valuable content instead of sales-oriented (36%), and
differentiating our products/services from competitors (35%).
Disadvantages of content marketing:
Some of the main challenges include:
The benefits aren't immediate - content marketing is a long process as trial and error takes time to discover what works best before you see results.
Time consuming - content marketing can be time consuming
Skills and resource - You need to create content, publish it across your marketing channels and analyse the impact. To create certain kinds of content such as infographics and videos, you may need to outsource or develop your in-house skills
Finding content ideas - it can be tricky to come up with ideas for effective new topics and formats. This will become easier as you go along and can analyse the impact of previous content.
Evaluation - it's relatively easy to measure the effect your content marketing has on web traffic and online conversions. It can be harder to determine the impact of your content on brand reputation, awareness and loyalty.
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