Why your business should have a content marketing plan

The phrase content marketing is often used within the marketing world, but many people outside this jargon-laden bubble aren’t sure exactly what it refers to, or indeed whether they should be doing it.

In a nutshell, content marketing is an approach that focuses on creating and sharing online material which is engaging and relevant, adding value without explicitly promoting your brand. Rather than creating demand for a new need, content marketing taps into an identified existing need, or needs, of your company’s target audience.

Entertainment, not sales

The content, which could encompass a raft of different material, is devised to stimulate interest but not be a direct ‘sell’. Examples of content marketing tactics include videos, blogs, vlogs, infographics, social media posts, Q&As, ‘How to’ sheets, e-newsletters, podcasts, pictures, and even books. Memorable content is wittily referred to as ‘sticky’, while of course the holy grail of’ viral’ content is something that is just too good not to share.

Content objectives

A content strategy may have some or all of the following objectives:

• Increase brand awareness
• Increase brand credibility
• Expand or diversify the customer base
• Establish (or increase) online sales
• Create an online community

Big brand examples of content marketing from 2016 include: Cath Kidston’s email teaser campaign of exclusive imagery from its collaboration with Disney; and Superdrug’s Hero Hunters – health and beauty experts who were recruited to explore and honestly review the company’s own brand products.

At CJAM, we’ve produced content for a number of clients including TyreSafe and BulkEx, including live video streaming from exhibitions and conferences, engaging with key business audiences.

Precise targeting

It’s easy to step across the line between adding value and selling, so if you want to provide content that people want to view rather than avoid, you’ll need to ask yourself: ‘who, specifically, do I want to attract with this content and will this entertain or inform them?’

Make it memorable, make it work

Within content marketing, visual content is highly prized as it’s easier to retain information that has an accompanying relevant image. Video content, in particular, is set to rise further in 2017 and by 2020 82% of consumer internet traffic is predicted to be video, estimates a Cisco study.

While you don’t need a huge budget to create video or other content, you do need a strategy rather than randomly posting odd snippets here and there with no cohesion or consistency. Like any marketing campaign, you’ll also need to measure engagement to assess the success of your endeavours.

For professional help and advice on creating ‘sticky’ content contact CJAM.