LeadMagnetGeniusLet’s demystify the term. Content marketing is a strategy where you create and share valuable, relevant content (information, entertainment, etc.) to attract a specific target audience and build a relationship with them – with the ultimate goal of driving some profitable customer action. It’s not about pushing a hard sell on your product with every piece of content; rather, it’s about providing value to people so that they trust you and think of you when they’re ready to buy.
A famous quote by marketer Robert Rose sums it up: “Traditional marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world that you are one”. In other words, instead of running ads that say “We’re great, buy our stuff,” you produce content that actually demonstrates your expertise or usefulness, so customers come to that conclusion themselves.
Content can be many things – blog articles, YouTube videos, infographics, podcasts, social media posts, eBooks, webinars, newsletters, case studies, white papers, quizzes, you name it. The key is that the content is valuable to the audience. It helps them solve a problem, learn something, be entertained, or make a decision. By doing so, it attracts people to your brand (they find you via this content) and it builds goodwill (they got something useful for free, which makes them more open to paying for your product/service later).
And importantly, content marketing is typically a long game. You might not see results overnight (although sometimes a piece goes viral). It’s about consistently putting out quality content that over time establishes you as a trusted authority and keeps your brand top-of-mind.