Move over advertising! Content is a brand’s best friend in 2013. That’s really hard for a reformed advertising exec to say. But the writing is on the wall. Or on the digital horizon. In our New Year’s 2013 Psychic Predictions and Prognostications, most of the predictions had to do with content: brand as publisher, curation for brand authority, quality content to improve SEO, inbound marketing, importance of “content strategist”, and the growth of visual content.
The truth is that great content has always been a wildfire for brands. This video from Content Marketing World makes the point.
Gilad de Vries, in a Forbes guest post, wrote a intriguing argument on the lack of emotional resonance of digital ads versus the storytelling ability of content marketing. He called digital ads “incredibly weak branding vehicles” that “never truly create the kind of emotion experience that gets consumers excited about your brand”. Of course, the advertising side of me wants to offer an argument that digital ads are not really a stand-alone medium. They operate much like a directional outdoor board, pointing the way to your website. But there is truth in his statement. His argument continues that the only true branding mechanism online is content marketing. That’s where we certainly agree – content marketing does allow brands to tell their story – and to include the consumer in the circle of brand love and shared experience. It’s not just one tool – like Facebook or a blog – it’s the integrated and consistent storytelling that fulfills a brand. Its shared interest with your consumers.
I love his definition of content marketing:
Content marketing is a strategy with two obvious pillars: content and marketing. ‘Content’ means the creation of original content or the curation of content for the benefit of your audience. ‘Marketing’ means getting people to discover and engage with your content.
And here is where is gets sticky. The content has to be of such quality that your prospective consumer will seek you out. They will discover you – and in the discovery – it becomes their own. Content marketing is reaching a common ground with your customers without selling to them. And it’s about true relevance. It has to be important to your followers.
