New Rules of Marketing and PR | Marketing | Best Practices
I’ve been talking about how content drives action and serves as the backbone of marketing for more than 15 years now. I've seen hundreds of companies implement these stratgeies and they work.
There’s no doubt that when a buyer is investigating companies, their products and services, as well as people to do business with, it's content that generates interest.
The new publishing model on the web is not about hype and spin and messages. It is about delivering content when and where it is needed and, in the process, branding you or your organization as a leader.
When you understand your audience—those people who will become your buyers (or those who will join, donate, subscribe, apply, volunteer, or vote)—you can craft an editorial and content strategy just for them. What works is a focus on your buyers and their problems. What fails is an egocentric display of your products and services.
This post is a continuation of my “marketing basics” blog posts. If you’ve missed them, here are the others so far:
- Marketing Basics: Buyer Personas
- Marketing Basics: Nobody Cares About Your Products (Except You)
- Marketing Basics: The Story Customers Tell Themselves
To implement a successful content marketing strategy, think like a publisher
Marketers at the organizations successfully using the new rules recognize that they are now purveyors of information, and they manage content as a valuable asset with the same care that a publishing company does.
That’s what Raytheon did when the large defense contractor and industrial corporation implemented a brand journalism approach to content marketing.
One of the most important things that publishers do is start with a content strategy and then focus on the mechanics and design of delivering that content.
Publishers carefully identify and define target audiences and consider what content is required to meet their needs.
Publishers consider all of the following questions:
- Who are my readers?
- How do I reach them?
- What are their motivations?
- What are the problems I can help them solve?
- How can I entertain them and inform them at the same time?
- What content will compel them to purchase what I have to offer?
To be successful, you need to do the same thing.
