What Is Content Marketing?

Stop to think for a second of how you reach your audience. Face-to-face? Of course that interpersonal relationship between business and client is so important to most companies. Social media? Sure, most brands these days have a steady presence on social. Your website? In 2017, it’s hard to find a company that doesn’t have a website. But what about the content on that website? That’s where content marketing comes into play. Content marketing is a way of taking the search terms customers are using to find answers and providing content that will (hopefully) provide those answers. For example, think about a roofing company. A homeowner likely does not need a roofing specialist frequently enough to engage with them all year – no matter the platform. The roofing company probably doesn’t like that scenario, however. So they decide to frequently publish blogs on a variety of topics that their clients can benefit from. Blog post examples could include unique Christmas light ideas for your roof or quick ways to fix a leak on your roof. Both of those ideas would come from keyword research, and the keyword would be prominently featured in the title and content. But it doesn’t stop there. Keyword-related blogs and articles are perfect fits for social media and sharing. So not only is a company playing the long game with well-written, keyword-rich content consistently being added to its site, but it’s also content that may have a life on social – answering questions or providing entertainment for customers or potential customers. Content marketing has its challenges. Above all else, it’s time consuming. You have to put in the effort to do the keyword research, research the topic, write the blog (and do it well), post the blog and share on social. But the potential positive of helping a potential customer should make it time well spent.