Content Marketing should provide valuable information to your market at large and to prospects at each stage of the buying process. Ideally, your content is easily discovered, naturally making you and your content a resource.
But how do people find your content? Is it through search and peer recommendations (which are increasingly connected), or will they only find it in their inbox?
Five Signs of Illusion
Here are the signs your content marketing may be an illusion, it is really just email marketing:
- Your “best content” is content you licensed or purchased, not created.
- You measure your content marketing success on registrations, not sharing and consumption.
- You believe your audience won’t share content.
- Your social media pilot is about making your email more social.
- Email is the primary driver of content consumption.
Too many companies are stuck in this rut, and because of it, email is filled with content promotions today.
Almost invariably, it is content that I would not consider sharing and would not expect someone else to share with me. Much of it looks like a product pitch, full of promotional product-benefit language.
Almost as common is analyst content, offered by a marketer. Yes, the content might be valuable, but it doesn’t improve the position of the company offering it. That is, unless they are really an email marketer and using it to capture another email address.
Marketers that approach content marketing this way optimize promotions, not content. They realize content cannot be blamed for a lack of registrations because no one choosing to register or bail has actually seen the content. This content marketing is about promotion, not content.
Lead generation is valuable, but content marketing can deliver so much more. If you are serious about the benefits of content marketing, it may be time to reassess your activity.
Your Turn
Do I have it backwards, is content really just about the registration and email? If you do content marketing, what is your goal and how are you measuring it? Comment below or share your reaction with me on Twitter.
