What is Content Marketing?

The Internet is brimming with company blogs, podcasts, videos, and other content. Businesses and strategic marketers are engaging their customers online through various platforms with content marketing and are seeing great results. But what is content marketing really? What does it entail? How does it help a business grow?

What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as, “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” 

In that definition, two keywords distinguish the difference between a brilliant business brainchild and rubbish spewed all over the internet. Relevant and valuable. If you remove those key aspects from the definition, your content is just like any other post on the world wide web. Spam. That's what makes content marketing so intriguing.

Entertain & Sustain

Every day we receive thousands of marketing messages, and making your content stand out from the cacophony of messages is tricky. That's where content marketing comes in. Content marketing isn't just sharing information, it's creating something that is entertaining and consumable. It's storytelling and it makes your viewers want more.

Blog articles, videos, podcasts, infographics, webinars, and the like entice consumers to read your information, all the while connecting your brand to that area of expertise. Being a knowledgeable authority establishes a foundation of trust with your consumer and keeps them coming back to your site. In turn, readers become valuable potential buyers.

They can also become your biggest advocators. Many consumers are loyal to the brands they trust. Say they look forward to receiving your marketing - emails, blog content, print, social posts - and find that it sheds light on their pain point, they are likely to not only heed your advice, but also share it with their peers and others who are struggling with the same problem. That's how your business grows. 

More Resources on Content Marketing 

There’s a reason Seth Godin calls content marketing “the only marketing left” because it’s genuine, profitable, and tailor-made for the internet generation. Content marketing works. Don’t know what content marketing best practices are?  Let us share our knowledge with you. If you want more content marketing tips, check out these blogs:

•  A Content Marketing Infographic, by Leighton Interactive
• Why Content Marketing, by Moz
• Essentials for Creating a Successful Content Marketing Strategy, by HubSpot