So, What IS Content Marketing?
The definition of content marketing is:
“A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action”.
Content marketing meets your audience’s needs wherever they are in their buying journey. By providing insightful and relevant content, you can build trust with your prospects and watch your brand transform from just another company trying to sell them something to a valuable resource. This method of communication and engagement is much more mutually beneficial than the one-way, shout-it-from-the-rooftops marketing strategy you may be used to.
In traditional forms of marketing, the emphasis is on one thing only: getting your audience to make a purchase. This laser-focused strategy often yields tactics that attempt to persuade or influence an audience through aggressive, or worse, bland, pointed advertisements. While this may encourage someone who’s already been considering your offerings to make a purchase, it doesn’t allow for any other type of interaction with your consumers. Think about it this way:
Scenario 1: You’re thinking about buying a car and see a billboard advertising a particular make and model on your morning commute. Are you going to pull off the highway and go straight to the dealership with your money in hand? Probably not.
Scenario 2: You see that same billboard on your morning commute. Then, you see that same model praised in a blog post as you’re enjoying your afternoon coffee. The next day, you start looking at online reviews for that car in between answering emails. After work, while you’re scrolling on Instagram you see an ad for the same car. After clicking on it and entering your info, you get an email from a local dealership asking if you want to come in to take it for a test drive. Now you’re probably feeling pretty confident that this is the right automobile for you and are ready to take the next step and see it in person.
On the surface the brand interactions you had in the second scenario might seem coincidental, but they’re definitely not. Smart marketers know how to leverage content, technology, and savvy ad targeting to show you the right message at the perfect time. The most magical part?: They can make it seem like they did nothing at all.
While you might want your audience to buy something, no one wants to be sold anything. Gone are the days where a catchy jingle was all you needed to make a strong impression. To influence today’s consumer, your marketing arsenal needs to be far more well-stocked. Your customer doesn’t want a pitch; they want an experience. They need to understand how you can help them achieve their goals and meet their needs.
The present and future of marketing revolve around providing valuable, informative, and captivating content that encourages an authentic relationship between you and your audience. When done correctly, content marketing seamlessly enables us to achieve more than ever before.
Realizing Your Content Marketing Goals with MG Creative
Here at MG Creative, we are committed to helping you succeed in your content goals, from the initial strategy phase all the way through the delivery of tangible, lucrative results. You will get an expert, full-service team of creative professionals that will work to infuse your business’s brand and story with life. We are here to help you advance your business by leveraging the unrivaled power of content. Looking for Content Marketing inspiration? Check out our post: 3 Examples of Content Marketing We Love
