Content marketing is not a new concept, it is not just advertising and it is not just about generating compelling pieces of content. Content generation is however ‘hot’ this year, as Mike Sweeney comments on his sys-con.com blog.
It is concerned with creating unique and industry specific content targeted at a specific audience, distributing such content in the most effective place in a systematic way. Rather like an understated and far cheaper version of the old stalwart advertising, it encourages the reader to take a specific action as well as defining the publisher as an authority in their field.
Sweeney discusses the idea that traditional methods of advertising disrupt the reader and are less efficient than content marketing in driving traffic. Well written content can be used in a variety of different mediums such as podcasts, blogs and company newsletters, promoting a company across the communications mix. Content is also widely reported to increase rankings on long-tail and broader search terms as well as distributing itself on social media sites such as Twitter, integrating a company’s social media strategies.
Junta42′s Content Marketing Spending Report has shown that 6 out of 10 marketers are spending more on content in 2010, reinforcing the idea that it is the marketing strategy to be embracing in 2010. The survey also shows that content generation spend is now more than 30 per cent of companies total marketing spend – this figure is up 11 per cent on 2008, with more and more companies embracing schemes such as news content marketing and employing external agencies to become online news providers.
Most popular content marketing strategies include utilising social media such as Twitter and Facebook, closely followed by newsletters, blogs and whitepapers.
Perhaps the most influential figure, proving Sweeney’s view that content is the tool to embrace, is that 59 per cent of marketers plan to increase their content marketing spend, a figure that is only set to increase further…
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