WTF Is Content Marketing?
We talk a lot about content marketing and apologize if week after week you’ve been asking yourself, “WTF is content marketing?”
Let’s go over a bit of marketing history. About 15 to 20 years ago, marketing was simple – TV, print and radio. Pick one, better yet, use all three and your business would blow up overnight. But then, the Internet introduced a new way of life and shit got real crazy. All of a sudden dot-com companies were taking over the world and knocking TV, radio and print advertisers right out of the market.
So what is content marketing? Content marketing is a strategy that involves promoting your business by sharing high quality content that your audience wants to read. Notice I said “your audience” … not everyone.
Engage Your Peeps
Content marketing is not about engaging everybody – the Internet is way too crowded for that and you’ll constantly spin your wheels trying to reach everyone. Instead, you need to focus on your niche – your ‘hood – and tell the folks in your community what they need to hear from you.
Build Street Cred
Street cred means people respect you in your hood. You’re known as the best dressed, the top hair stylist, the marketing guru – whatever it is … when you have street cred, people listen when you talk. And that’s exactly the type of respect you want to gain in your market.
How do you build street cred? Do whatever you do well and then let people in on how you do what you do. The idea here is to share information – words, videos, photos, etc. – that the folks in your community want to read.
If you provide senior care, share information about senior health, nutrition, etc. Hair stylists – let women know how they can keep their hair looking good after a workout. If you have a legal practice, tell your audience how they can avoid legal pitfalls.
Why bother? You’ve got to give a little, to get something big. Your community grows as people share your epic posts and a percentage of those community members will be moved enough to actually buy your products and services.
What’s the Word: Whatever your market, offer web surfers information and insight about the goods or services you provide, as well as any related subjects. Doing so increases the odds that your site will turn up in search results.
Once you’ve snagged that surfer and satisfied his itch for worthwhile information, the ability to act on that knowledge and make a purchase should be but a click away.
One Comment
This advice is absolutely perfect for my line if work. I am in the aftermarket automotive business and in a very specialized niche which the message in this post remains loud and clear!