Common myths of content marketing
In my years since a marketing student at university and looking back at my many roles in marketing throughout my career, the game has changed dramatically. With the onslaught of the internet, social media and an ever-connected world – the consumer is now firmly in control.
Content marketing – encompassing written communications such as blogging, social media, white papers, e-books, case studies and the such like, is all designed to get you in front of consumers (who, lets face it are bombarded with choice these days) and position you as the business of choice for whatever it is they are looking to buy.
Content marketing is the new buzz word with more and more businesses recognising it as a vital element in their marketing strategy. But with that have sprung some common myths that need to be heeded.
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Content marketing doesn’t cost anything
It’s not like traditional advertising where you need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in newspaper or on TV or radio.
It is true that content marketing is not as costly as something like a TV commercial, however, there are still costs associated with content marketing strategies. It takes a lot of time to dedicate to content marketing, researching the content, writing the content, publishing the content.
Videos are fast replacing product sheets when it comes to explaining how items work and it is still true that a ‘picture paints a thousand words’ so accompanying imagery and videos are all a part of the strategy and all have their associated costs.
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It’s easy
All you do is sit on Facebook for a few hours and add a few comments right?
No. Content marketing may look simple but at the end of the day is a demand generation tactic and as such needs to have as much thought and dedication as any other marketing communication piece. The content reflects the brand and positions the company a certain way in the marketplace. The types of content, the language used and the methods to reach customers all require careful planning and crafting.
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It replaces everything else I’m doing
It the latest thing in the world of marketing so therefore this is where all of the focus should be right?
Wrong. Content marketing should be integrated with the wider marketing strategy it is not a standalone concept. Sure, you can have someone who’s job it is to focus on content marketing but they still need to link everything back to other areas of the business to ensure consistent brand messages.
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It can be done by anyone in house
Content marketing takes time and consistent dedication to be successful. The danger of putting the responsibility onto an existing staff member is that they will not prioritise over their current responsibilities. The danger of splitting up the tasks to a number of different members is knowing who is bringing it all together. Content marketing requires an understanding of marketing, an appreciation of branding, digitial knowledge of updating and publishing online content, copywriting skills, analysis of the results etc. etc.
Where many businesses are struggling is that they have a number of social media accounts, they may even have a blog and sometimes send a newsletter out to their database. What they don’t understand is why they are doing all of these things and who is taking responsibility.
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It just needs setting up and then it’s done
Unfortunately not. Whilst it is definitely best practice to have a good 12 weeks of content mapped out, the reality is this is a constantly shifting sphere. Changes will need to be made so that topical media can be integrated and other business decisions may mean parameters change. In addition to this, results need to be monitored and with social media especially, comments, questions and engagement from the audience all needs to be monitored and responded to.
All of that said, content marketing is a vital part of the modern marketing strategy it just needs to be given the time and resources it needs to be a successful tool.
