Are you currently working with a content marketing firm to increase awareness of your brand? Or are you happy with the services of a simple advertising agency? What’s that? You thought they were one and the same?
Sorry.
This popular belief couldn’t be more misleading. Content marketing has evolved lightyears beyond the composition of the simple ad campaign. Content marketing presumes that your customer is enlightened and intelligent and craving more information on the topics that interest her. Ad campaigns actively try to sell a product or service.
Content marketing is discreet. Advertising is in-your-face blunt. Content marketing appeals to your consumers’ wants and interests, engages them, and causes a conversion. Advertising often drives customers away with its blatant BUY ME message.
Which approach do you prefer to incorporate into your marketing strategy?
If you’re leaning toward content marketing, you’ve made a wise decision. According to CommandMetric.com, a whopping 78 percent of Chief Marketing Officers feel that the future success of marketing lies in creating custom content. Pair this with the fact that at least 68 percent of consumers spend time online reading this type of content on the brands that interest them, and it’s easy to make the connection.
Companies that opt for content marketing over simple advertising campaigns are the ones that will still be around 10 years from now.
So the question you must ask yourself is simple: Does my content marketing firm understand this?
Surprisingly, many don’t. With the swift and not-so-subtle shift toward content marketing as a form of promotion, ad agencies everywhere are suddenly referring to themselves as content marketing specialists. But this doesn’t mean that the marketers running them fully understand what the name entails.
If your promotional agency is still tying up the local cable channel in an effort to generically promote your business brand, it’s time to move on. The wave of the future is high-quality content that grabs your consumer by the heart and refuses to let go until she’s invested in whatever it is you have to sell. It involves discovering exactly who your customer is, where she lives, what she does for a living, and what’s most important to her. If her focus is on her family, so should your customized content be. If she’s a busy, single professional who’s more concerned with investing in stocks than in children — let her know you understand.
This is the best and most successful way to eke your brand awareness past all the ad blockers, filters and mute buttons that have been specifically designed to silence it. Make sure you get it. Then make sure the people in charge of marketing your brand get it too.
Anne G enjoys researching, social media, landscaping, gardening and home renovation.
