Content marketing vs. traditional marketing

Only recently, “content marketing” has become the go-to solution for how to drive business to a product or service. Maybe you are left wondering: What happened to just plain old “marketing?”

My definition of content marketing is the way a brand becomes a focused publisher of useful information in a systematic way. It’s where you “court” and romance your prospect with an array of valuable information and tidbits until they finally “marry” you.

Content marketing says to the consumer of a product or service, “Let’s help you live a better life by making something easier or more efficient or better understood. We have so much information and we’re always here for you. This e-newsletter has something of value. Our blog speaks to your latest frustration that we can alleviate. Gain insight from this live webinar and then catch the slides on our website. Watch our video on YouTube on the topic. Here’s a reminder of the important take-aways from the e-book you purchased recently – in our daily news brief. We’re publishing on the topic regularly – and expanding the provision of utility perpetually.”

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If traditional marketing is a megaphone, then content marketing is a very large telescopic array. That’s because content marketers must listen to the market with unusually high resolve. They have to know what the market wants in order to give it to them in absorbable, digestible chunks. They provide a steady flow of information that they’ve determined in advance is both lacking in the marketplace and very much wanted.

How does the company discover what the marketplace wants to know about? Keyword research is most instructive for this. You can find out what phrases people are searching on Google for and what the competition isn’t capitalizing upon. That can tell you what to write about – on your website, in your blogs, on your social media posts, in articles and on infographics.

Just the other day, I noticed in our local paper (yes, print newspaper!) a sidebar article by my veterinarian about what might make your dog itch incessantly. That’s good content! It provided a value-add about something useful to me as a pet owner. “Read more about symptoms and cures on their website,” it said at the close. You can bet they did some keyword research to find out what people were most searching for in the middle of the night when their pets were scratching themselves like crazy.

Content marketing even can use traditional media to get people to a company’s information hub: its website. Television news now suggests with every story to learn more online. What will ripple out from the feature segment? If a pastry chef was interviewed, then get his recipe for a no-fail cannoli on the news channel’s website. If there was a clip about the upcoming Westminster Dog Show, go online to see each breed in a dynamic infographic that portrays the dog groups as they’ve evolved since the competition began in 1924.

It’s been said that traditional marketing involves any tactics that aren’t on the computer. I don’t see it that way. To me, traditional marketing is medium agnostic. It’s a one-way message, though. For me, that’s the true distinction. Anything that is self-serving and strictly feature-oriented without a value-add approach overall – that’s traditional. Also traditional marketing doesn’t court the consumer; doesn’t take the target from suspect, to prospect, to lead, to purchaser, to loyal fan. There is no life-cycle messaging in traditional marketing. One message fits all.

The medium doesn’t matter for content marketing. It can be performance art in the public square or it can be a ghost blogging opportunity for your business. Online or off, what matters is: Does it drive people to your website? And is it content-rich?

Laurie Macomber, owner of Fort Collins-based Blue Skies Marketing, can be reached at 970-689-3000.