Content Frees Business From The Bonds Of Traditional Marketing
Debbie Williams says it’s a new era of freedom for businesses when it comes to advertising, marketing and PR. In this brave new world, the power is in your hands.
With content marketing you can draw customers toward you rather than floating your messages out there – or pushing them in people’s faces – hoping to attract attention. With traditional marketing you have to keep repeating yourself endlessly, and expensively, because if your targets aren’t interested now they won’t remember you later.
With content marketing, you have control, autonomy, equality.
Control puts your finger on the advertising trigger.
These days people have zero tolerance for irrelevant, intrusive advertising – they want to decide when they’ll get information, exactly what they want, and how they want it. With content marketing, searchers come to you, already interested at some level. And since you’re providing information they want, you’re automatically helping them.
Content is two-way and interactive, whether it’s your website, blog, social media, downloadable documents such as whitepapers or e-books, video, podcasts or SlideShare presentations. Building rapport defines you as a resource not just a sales machine, giving searchers more reasons to return. In turn this gives you more opportunities to tell them about your company and products and move them farther into the sales funnel.
Content is shared, if it’s good, which can exponentially increase your reach. Shared content comes with the built-in bonus of third-party referral.
You can produce and publish any time you want, on your schedule instead of someone else's. And you can respond directly to comments or questions.
Autonomy gives you DIY capability.
You can speak for yourself, right away if you choose. You no longer have to rely on others to deliver your messages, whether advertising or news, you can skip the misquotes and out-of-context “reports” and converse directly with your audience.
Equality makes you, well, equal.
Goliath, meet David. Even the tiniest fledgling business can compete smartly with the biggest and most strongly-established, wherever they are. Advertising power is no longer based on your ability to spend, but your ability to spend wisely. Size doesn’t dictate your ability to create good, well-targeted content and deliver it right to the sources your audience prefers and respects.
Traditional marketing:
Print , radio or TV ads, marketing brochures, product literature, trade shows, direct mail, billboards, telemarketing – you’ve probably been there. They’re all one-way forms of communication, rarely with any intrinsic value. And you’re completely dependent on third-party sources to link you with targets or the general public.
Has anyone ever clipped an ad and sent it to a friend? Recorded a TV spot to show others? Not likely. You have one chance to reach your audience, then it’s gone.
Traditional marketing is time-consuming, imprecise, expensive and cumbersome, whereas content marketing is infinitely less costly, entirely customizable and amazingly nimble.
New to this? Check out Dawn Damico’s video. She sums it up nicely, noting you need:
- The best possible products or services – that’s something only you can control, but reputation is absolutely critical these days because recommendations and referrals hold more weight than ever before with shoppers
- Content focused on you, your business and your products or services. What do people want or need to know – both the facts and what sets you apart. (fix this)
- To make your content available electronically wherever your prospects are looking so it’s easy to find and share. Do this consistently, not randomly.
Content marketing represents a shift.
It changes the way you perceive advertising and the way you make it happen. You’ll invest in creation the same as always, but differently and not nearly as expensively. And you’ll save substantially on delivery because you’re handling that yourself. With content marketing, your advertising department is no longer dissociated from the rest of your people, because customer relationships are built throughout the company.
It’s measurable and constantly getting better so you can actually see what works to concentrate on that and eliminate non-performing marketing efforts quickly.
Content is interesting and informative. Content still supports your inside or outside sales force, but more effectively and cost-effectively. Your sales team can be much more productive, focusing on personal customer care and building relationships
Still not convinced? Check out this great infographic with eye-opening statistics comparing content marketing to traditional methods. And if control, autonomy and equality don’t set you free, consider the financial freedom that comes from marketing that costs less yet delivers a far stronger return on your investment.