The content marketer has got no clothes
In this guest post, M’s Stuart Turner argues that the rush towards “content marketing” risks killing it in the process.
Content Marketing – the two words on every digital marketer’s lips this year. If the hype is to be believed, it is the sole shining beacon of light in the otherwise drab, decaying world of marketing.
But what is it?
“On the web, according to a report by Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard, content marketing is simply using content — news, feature, or otherwise — to commercial advantage. ‘Providing content that people are actively interested in reading,’” sums up Stefan Deeran from NewsCred.[1]“
Content Marketing has become the new buzzword across the digital marketing industry (particularly SEO) to describe link acquisition. In an attempt to both appease search engines and carve out a niche for themselves in the marketplace, agencies across the globe are now bandying this term around like a pair of shiny, shiny new shoes.
Winding back the clocks a few years we can see an interesting history of trends du jour that have swept up the hep cats of the digital marketing community.
A few years back it was “sticky content”, then it was “social search”, then it was “inbound marketing”and “earned media”… A quick scroll back through the posts of any marketing blog will show you the changing names of what is effectively the same approach to marketing with a shiny new name (or in some cases a shiny old name re-invented for the world of digital).
Case in point: a few years back the PR industry in the UK was rocked by the previously unforeseen revelation that all PR professionals should learn SEO, lest their very world be ripped from under their feet by the unstoppable onslaught of online marketing. This was largely driven by a trend among SEO professionals to present themselves as ‘Online PR Consultants’ and PR professionals as blind fools because they didn’t immediately throw away their hard-won relationships for links in every news article they published.
Needless to say, the world of PR weathered this storm admirably, and the world of SEO calmed down enough to understand that it can in fact peacefully co-exist with these ‘traditional’ people without assimilating them like a marketing version of The Thing.
Now it’s all about content marketing with a recent ADMA study bemoaning the tragedy that marketers are struggling to fit content marketing into the traditional marketing business model.
The reason traditional marketers might struggle to fit this newfangled craziness into their typical marketing mix is because they are probably already doing it, but the right way around. That is, having an amazing idea first, then thinking about the medium and promotion (or ‘content’ if you prefer) afterward.
A lot of people come into digital marketing from backgrounds far removed from most traditional marketers; computer science, maths, development, philosophy… As the online marketing industry matures, these people are realising that to be taken seriously by people in the offline world, they must learn the habits of the offline world and speak in its language.
Unfortunately, like an overzealous schoolboy on his first date, the online marketing industry at large tends to rush in and fumble around with things before it fully understands them, with very mixed results. Like those first dates, an odd few turn out to be a defining moment, the majority are forgettable, and some are horrific.
The SEO industry in particular has garnered a bad reputation for taking something it loves and slowly strangling all the life out of it before moving on to the next fun thing. (See web directories, article websites, infographics and, most recently, guest blogging.)
If your digital marketing agency has a bit more experience, it will probably be talking to you about how to leverage your current content online as well as offline, get more for your money from all your agencies and educate your marketing team to ensure digital is an integral part of your current marketing mix.
Do we speak to our clients about content marketing? Yes we do, but we discuss it in a tangible context. To understand how to make ‘content marketing’ work, you need to understand your client. It is not a bolt-on standalone thing, but a product of proper engagement with wider marketing strategy to make digital an integral part of any campaign.
Take a store-based health campaign for example, intended to drive increased footfall to franchise locations across Australia. The content marketing element of this campaign may be as simple as some well-placed calls to journalists to get some online coverage on health magazine websites (as well as in print), or as complex as creating a companion health plan application to build longer-term engagement with those customers.
Content is a natural product of these ideas – people write articles, they publish results, they share on social networks.
You don’t need to add the words ‘Content Marketing’ into a smug filled new line item in your marketing plan; you just need to ensure you make the most of the content you are already producing online, as well as offline.
Ultimately, taking a measured approach to new techniques, rather than immediately jumping on every passing bandwagon, will yield much greater rewards. As The King once crooned, “only fools rush in”.
- Stuart Turner is SEO manager at digital agency M
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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There is so much hyperventilating about Content Marketing being the latest “bright new shiny thing” when it has been around a long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q5Tt5JSRsOc#!
It has now become so blatant that it is often no more than awkward forced product placement in many different guises.
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Disclaimer: I work for Curated Content – a data-driven content marketing agency.
I found this a really interesting post and an excellent example of content marketing in practice:
1. Mumbrella is provided with free and engaging content in the form of a guest blog post bringing thought leadership to the topic of content marketing.
2. As a producer of the content, Stuart Turner increases his own reputation as a thought leader / subject matter expert
3. Stuart gets placement of an inbound link to his own agency on a widely trafficked website
4. Potential new clients will read this piece of content, and hopefully, click through to Digital Agency M and take a look at the site.
5. Ideally, Digital M would be tracking this user’s online footprint on their site and this data will inform Digital M what the user is interested in regarding their service offering.
6. This user could become a quality lead for Digital M. And if that lead converts to a paying customer who had never heard of Digital M until they read Stuart’s guest blog on Mumbrella, then we could assume that is an example of the effectiveness of content marketing, couldn’t we?
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With no content there is no communication.. so, in a field where the message and the medium have shaped our jobs for decades, it is hard to believe that we can look at the content in isolation of the rest of the activity and limit it to the digital world.
I think however that the term ‘content marketing’ is positive for the overall industry: with all brands having the ability to communicate with consumers without the traditional intermediaries, we have to think differently about brand stories and the traditional operation silos, with the potential for each company to be a Ben&Jerry’s on steroids.
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Don’t forget “native” advertising, otherwise known as content marketing and previously known as a plain old fashioned advertorial.
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Thanks for the comments evryone. Of course I’ll never reveal my true motives but I hope you enjoyed reading.
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Cath’s template for Stuart’s content is going into my toolkit. Thanks both.
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Great post and opinion Stuart. It was only at the end that I appreciated that it was written by an SEO professional. Really refreshing to hear this balanced opinion from an insider.
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Well put Stuart.
Traditional marketing theory is slowly evolving, but the core of it is basically the same.
The tools of executing the strategy have evolved significantly over time due to technological advancements (e.g. SEO is big today and was non existent 10-15 years ago).
Our industry tends to try and create buzz words to complicate what is a relatively simple concept to stroke it’s own ego.
Nothing beats targeting a market segment with a great product, delivering great service and a ensuring that two way communication is as easy as possible.
In theory it’s simple, in practice you have to spend the time and do your research, implement systems/processes and communicate effectively to break through the clutter!
Nothing beats good old fashioned hard work to create and maintain a ‘genuine’ following of your product/service.
With regards to ‘content marketing’ , the top-line strategy will set the tone for all content through all mediums…this is not new, I think Kotler was amongst the first to describe this concept.
As for Stuarts motivations, well, he is conveying his brand of marketing and that may appeal to a segment. Hopefully from this blog he attracts like minded clients/partners and has planted the seed to an idea. Lead acquisition is the ultimate outcome. We all know that.
Have a great day guys.
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Interesting comments! I appreciate your thoughts on the subject and I’m glad I managed to step outside the SEO box successfully.
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Thank you for a sensible article about content marketing, devoid of babble, jargon and mystique. It painted content marketing accurately for what it is – an evolution of marketing principles into the (admittedly) shiny digital world.
Business to business marketing, in particular, has been engaged in “content marketing” for lead generation and brand reputation building for decades. Digital has just added a whole new set of tools to the kit, and it does require smart, adaptive marketers and agencies to make the most of it. But after all, as marketers, aren’t we meant to be some of those very people whose key role is to foster innovation and ever more effective ways of doing things. Right?
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