Whatever kind of business or side hustle you're running, you're probably using content marketing to connect with potential customers.
After all, everyone's doing it.
And that's exactly the problem.
While the so-classic-it's-trite-now maxim “content is king” dates all the way back to 1996, it was around 2010 that content marketing really started making waves in the marketing world.
Today, it's gone from cutting-edge paradigm shift to the bread and butter of digital marketing. But it's also become very much a “me too” kind of strategy.
Everyone does content marketing because, well, everyone does content marketing.
But in hopping on the bandwagon with the rest of them, tons of marketers have actually lost sight of exactly why they're investing so much in content in the first place.
It's not just something you need because your competitors have it too.
The whole point of content marketing is to provide value to your customers, strengthening your brand and winning their loyalty and admiration in the process.
A recent article from The Content Marketing Institute explains why the question you need to be asking is, “how can we help our customers in a way that our competitors aren't doing?”
Instead of saying: “We’re going to ‘do content marketing because everyone else is doing it.’ ”
Ask: “How can we help people in a way no one else is?”
I guarantee you a terrible reason to have a content marketing program is because you – or the executive team – think you should.
Your reason for content marketing needs to be clear and it should focus on how you can help someone in a way that no one else is.
Creating content with a differentiated point of view is key to getting noticed when there is so. much. noise.
No one wants more basic content on topics covered ad nauseum.
As an I-don’t-go-as-often-as-I-like member of Lifetime Fitness, whenever I am there or receive its magazine in the mail, I am impressed with its content play around its mission, healthy way of life.
In fact, Lifetime is so committed to that mission that it recently announced plans to change its web address to reflect the evolution from a fitness company to a lifestyle brand – Lifetime, The Healthy Way of Life Company.
As it explains: “We offer more than fitness; we help people change, get healthier, reach new goals and do things they love. We are champions for healthy, happy lives.”
This branding evolution ties in directly with its mission and supports everything Lifetime does, from the in-club experience to the print magazine, to products it sells and more.
[image source: The Content Marketing Institute]
TIP: If your brand’s “why” is not clear, consider this question from Michael Jr.: “If you didn’t need to make any money, but you wanted to help your customer, what would you give them?”
You can find more eye-opening truths about content marketing in the full article over at The Content Marketing Institute.
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