Everything You Need to Know about Content Marketing

You must have heard the saying “content is king”, and in an era where marketing rules over the world and nearly everything is digitalised, allowing everyone access to a wide variety of media channels, this statement has never been more true. The competition is fiercer than ever and marketers need different strategies to stay ahead. One of the most powerful tools is “Content Marketing”.

What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is a marketing strategy that uses content as a tool or medium for brands to communicate with their audience. In this context, “content” doesn’t just refer to articles, captions or text, but anything that is created for a specific marketing purpose, whether it be a promotional purpose, raising awareness, or increasing sales. Therefore, if a piece of content doesn’t have a marketing objective at its heart, it may not be considered Content Marketing. Content Marketing includes text, images, videos, and other forms of media.

How is Content Marketing Different from Content Writing?

If you’re a content writer, you are probably familiar with the process of finding a new story to educate your readers. The measure of success of a piece of content such as this can be judged by its popularity among the audience. This is what we usually call “Content Writing”.

However, when it comes to Content Marketing, the word “Marketing” is at the heart of the entire creative process. This means you must consider the objective of the content, the tone of voice, and the details you need to include about your products and services. It is not uncommon for Content Marketers to intentionally use incorrect grammar when creating a piece, sometimes to the point of being incoherent. That is because it is sometimes the best way brands can reach or communicate with a specific group.

Considerations for Content Marketing

1. What is your Brand Persona? This defines the tone of voice for your writing)
2. What is your customer demographic (age, gender, education, occupation, lifestyle, etc.)?
3. What is the objective of the content?
4. What medium will you use (article, journal, blog, caption, etc.)?
5. Where will the content be published?

The more details you can list out, the easier it will be to create a successful piece of content marketing piece since you will be able to articulately communicate all the information necessary using the best method to achieve your marketing objective.

You may find that Content Marketing is not that difficult to create, but it can be very challenging to get right. That’s because you never know how your audience will perceive your content. They may like it or they may despise it. Often the effect is not what brands hoped for, but with proper planning you can minimise this risk as much as possible.