Content Marketing (Part One of Two)

A marketing buzz phrase that’s been flying around a lot the past few years is "content marketing." What is it and how will it benefit you and your graphic arts organization? Let’s start with a definition:

Content marketing is any marketing that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire and retain customers.
—Wikipedia, "Content Marketing," 5/11/15

Great content helps companies get found. Getting found by key business influencers is the first step in landing new customers. Even the best conversion strategies won’t work without a pool of prospects.

Here’s the good news for printers that have provided technical information, design guidance, educational forums, white papers or blog content: you’re already practicing content marketing. The remaining question is, how effectively are you using it?

This graph to the left contains some recent data published by Hubspot, a marketing automation software company specializing in content marketing. While it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to predict that marketers would more positively rate the effectiveness of social media, blogs and SEO, the shocker to me is that surprising large numbers of sales reps do as well.

Having spent a career trying to get hot shot print reps to actively participate in the lead gen process—with admittedly mixed results—I’m seriously impressed that the landscape is changing. Over the past few years, my non-printing client sales teams have more quickly embraced marketing lead generation efforts, but thankfully the gap is narrowing.

I’m writing today’s blog at 30,000 feet, returning from a trip where I landed a new content marketing engagement with an IT security services provider. This Silicon Valley-based company benefits from a c-suite that prioritizes thought leadership within three carefully targeted business sectors. The company has compiled an arsenal of articles, white papers, case studies and Webinars, but until now, has ignored systemizing the distribution of this information.

Oops. I’m at 350 words! Dang blogging best practices! Stay tuned to this bat channel...

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Join me next week as I very openly share the elegantly simple content marketing portion of my business engagement with this new client.