Much of the marketing buzz today is about social media and building a relationship with your customers, but many marketers struggle with how to build that relationship. Consumers are swamped with thousands of marketing messages every day.
How do you break through all of that clutter to get them to even think about your brand?
Many marketers are discovering that you need to communicate differently if you are going to break through. You need to do more than just sell products and services, you need to provide information that improves their lives and makes them appreciate your company or brand as the source of that information.
Today’s Internet-savvy buyers are hungry for content. And not just any content, they want valuable, relevant content that offers solutions to their problems and helps them lead successful, productive, enjoyable jobs and lives.
Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute puts today’s marketing challenge in this way, “consumers have simply shut off the traditional world of marketing. They own a DVR to skip television advertising, often ignore magazine advertising, and now have become so adept at online "surfing" that they can take in online information without a care for banners or buttons (making them irrelevant). Smart marketers understand that traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective by the minute, and that there has to be a better way. Thought leaders and marketing experts from around the world, including the likes of Seth Godin and hundreds of the leading thinkers in marketing have concluded that content marketing isn't just the future, it's the present.”
A report by industry analyst Rebecca Lieb on the future of content marketing concludes that ”marketers are increasingly recognizing the need to become storytellers to attract and keep their audiences engaged”. That study goes on to state that "content marketing is the up and coming way to grab people’s attention online — something every organization is trying to accomplish."
CMI research agrees with Altimeter’s findings: 60% of businesses plan to increase their content marketing budgets over the next 12 months — up from roughly 50% in the previous year.
Want to learn more about content marketing?
Come to MarketMix 2012 to hear Russell Sparkman of Fusionspark Media discuss the fundamentals of Content Marketing through a presentation about the Content Marketing Cycle.
The Content Marketing Cycle is an easy-to-grasp approach for how to produce content as the basis of marketing and social media engagement, consistently and persistently. The presentation will touch upon essentials of Content Marketing, including Analytics & Insight, Content Strategy, Content Creation, Content Curation, Distribution, Participation and Evaluation. The presentation will also give you insights on how this process aligns with the traditional sales funnel, explaining the role of content, from generating leads to closing sales.
At the conclusion of his presentation, Russell will do a "live" content strategy workout with a member of the audience, to demonstrate the essential processes and techniques. For more info on MarketMix 2012, including the latest line-up of keynote speakers and breakout sessions, go to www.marketmix2012.com.
Hope to see you there.
-- Don Morgan
Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.
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