Content marketing is the process of producing useful, informative content to help attract and retain customers and position your business as a trusted resource.
The important point here is ‘useful, informative content’ – i.e. not dressed up sales literature. The content that you create (in whatever format) should be interesting, educational, helpful or entertaining in its own right.
And ‘in its own right’ means without you.
So here’s the acid test: if you can remove all reference to you and your business, and the content you’ve created is still useful, you win.
If not, it’s sales literature. (And having both is fine – just don’t mix them up.)
Imagine it’s your birthday.
You’re just about to turn ten years old and have spent the last 2 months pestering your parents for a shiny new bike.
You know exactly the kind you want. It’s red. It’s got cool ‘go faster’ handle bars. It’s exactly the same as the one all your friends have been riding around since their birthdays.
The big day finally rolls around and your parents present you with a huge box. It looks great, it’s got tons of wrapping paper and the kind of expertly tied bow that you only ever see in the movies.
Needless to say, you’re pretty excited.
So you dive in, rip off the paper, discard the bow and stand back, ready to admire your gorgeous, envy-enducing, red bike.
Except, there isn’t one.
No shiny new bike. No go faster handle bars. Not even a hint of ‘new bike smell’. Nothing. Just a beautifully decorated box with a shiny bow.
Life sucks.
All Packaging No Content
OK, so you’ve probably got the analogy already. Gorgeous wrapping is great but what we’re really after is what’s inside the box, content.
We’ve all had the experience of looking for information about a product, service or company, only to find a beautifully presented website – with bugger all content.
Great design and slick functionality can help create or solidify a brand image, but unless you’re selling design services, it’s all just wrapping for what should be the focus – your content.
