Question - Business 2 Community

These days, the Internet is awash with the term ?content marketing? and its slight variants (like ?online content marketing,? about which I for one have been incessantly writing). To clarify terms, I present to the reader a brief but serviceable (one could almost say ?textbook?) definition of content marketing:

Content marketing is an overarching term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to engage current and potential consumer bases. The idea behind content marketing is pretty straightforward: by delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers, businesses can kindle reader interest, attract targeted prospects, generate relevant leads, and foster brand loyalty.

Online content marketing consists of blogs, eBooks, whitepapers, webcasts, webinars, podcasts, videos and eMails. Brands use both online and traditional content marketing to achieve a variety of business goals. These may include: brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, customer acquisition and retention, engagement, thought leadership, sales, and lead nurturing, to name a few.

That?s great and all, but why should I care? Why do I need content marketing? At the end of the day, what is content marketing going to do for me and my business?

Fair questions.

By way of reply, I shall endeavor to take the approach of a philosopher and answer with another question:

What are the Primary (Business) Functions of Content Marketing?

• CM Creates Brand Awareness: Kinda like putting a $100 bill in the collection plate, it?s a polite way of calling attention to yourself without seeming like you are doing so.
• CM Attracts Prospect and Leads: This is a polity way of saying it can make $$$ for our company.
• CM Fosters Brand Loyalty: This is a polite way of saying it can make $$$ for your company now and in the future.
• CM Creates Thought Leadership: Let me translate: people will be buying what you?re selling, both figuratively and, if you play your cards right, literally.
• CM Encourages Customer Engagement: You know when you are the first one to show up at a cocktail party thrown by someone you?ve never met, and there is that nervous moment where you both try to figure out what to talk about? Think of your Content Marketing piece as a natural conversation starter between you and your prospects, kind of like the weather, last night?s big game, or that person you both vaguely know that invited you.
• CM Nurtures Leads Down the Sales Funnel: Put another way, decent marketing content turns skeptics into supporters.
• CM is ?Pull,? not ?Push:? Some oft-overused marketing kitsch, rather than interrupting prospects with what the messaging you think they want to hear, CM strives to attract prospects by providing content that is useful to and sought by its intended audience. I?ll leave you to unravel that distinction.

What?s the bottom line? Marketing kitsch, buzzwords and buzzphrases aside, your company really does need content marketing. No, really?

Source: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/question-what-the-is-content-marketing-and-why-should-i-care-0290913

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