What Even is Content Marketing?

You might think this is an easy question to answer but dig deeper, its more complicated than it seems.

Your understanding of content marketing will probably be connected to how you interpret ‘content’ and ‘marketing’ independently, so let’s break it down:

What is Marketing?

Marketing, like everything, has changed and evolved over time and will probably be understood differently by people based on their age, work experience, and personal attitudes. Some of my friends and family even equate ‘marketing’ with ‘lying and manipulation’ on a mass scale (!)

I meet many small business owners who think marketing is basically the same as sales, which many of my marketer friends would disagree with. I also meet sales guys who think a marketer’s role is simply to support and answer sales needs, they don’t really consider any of the strategic aspects of marketing. When someone says they do ‘digital marketing’, many people think this basically involves posting stuff on social media.

In reality, the roles of a marketer can be very diverse, ranging from brand strategy to technical SEO, to social media management, paid advertising campaigns and much more.

At the broadest level, this is how I would define ‘marketing’ when done correctly:

‘Presenting an offering which answers a need, demand, or solves a problem for a particular audience.’

Marketing is Not Always Transactional

NGO fundraising activity, government slogans, new film releases, anti-smoking campaigns and business emails are all in a sense ‘marketing’.

Stonebriar Community Church Fundraising Campaign

You might wonder, wait, how does a fundraising campaign answer a particular need or demand among the audience they target?

But, they do.

Fundraising campaigns targeted at people with no connection to the mission, no money to spare, and no active interest in donating are unlikely to succeed. More successful ones will hopefully address those people who are looking for something positive to do with their money and/or have a personal connection with the mission.

The need addressed here could be the individual’s desire to improve a particular situation, or a need to feel a sense of satisfaction and personal development.

What is Content?

Content is not a new thing! It simply refers to ‘information or communication’ with an intended audience.

Early cave man drawings, business blogs, financial webinars, viral videos of cats, 1939 posters calling for the public to participate in war-time effort, a Harry Potter novel, tweets from world leaders, a Beethoven Concerto, Aladdin. This is all content.

Content + Marketing

When you put the definitions together, content marketing is :

The ‘information or communication’ used + to present an offering which answers a need, demand, or solves a problem for a particular audience

Whatever your aims, whether you’re trying to build a personal brand, sell more of a sports product, or promote a charitable campaign, I truly believe that this understanding of content marketing can help lead you to success.

Spend time to understand who your target audience is, learn what their needs, demands, and problems are, and consider how your content truly addresses them.

Good Content Marketing is Not:

• Thin blog posts that provide no value.
• Spammy emails that no-one signed up for.
• Insincere claims about yourself, business, product or service that you can’t back up.
• Pushy promotional activity.
• Social media posting with no clear strategy, simply because you feel you ‘have’ to do it.