Content Marketing: 3 Things Before You Begin.

One: Forget About Your Brand, Nobody Cares.

Yes, you have shiny brand objectives. 

But this isn't about you.

Content marketing is one of the most customer-centric activities your organisation can undertake. It defines why you do what you do. So, instead of focusing on the brand objectives, focus on your customers' objectives. It will always lead to better content.

And if it's the right content for your audience, it will align to the brand objectives anyway.

Two: Empathize With and Listen To Your Audience

Remember that this is a two-way communication channel. More often than not, I see organisations putting good content out there, but not bothering to sustain the conversation. Instead they focus on the next piece of content.

Responding and conversing with your readers is just as, if not more, important than the content itself. Make the most of this chance and learn what your customers really want. 

Three: If They Don't Trust You, Results Will Take Time.

For organisations that have an issue with image, or are in an industry struggling with trust (like banks), there is a long road to recovery. Content marketing is a step in the right direction. However, expect backlashes and negativity when you first begin.

Worse still, you may even get a disengaged audience. This is where being patient and continually churning out good content and following up on any responses, will build credit.

Remember, this isn't a touchdown. This is the 5 yard pass that gets you to first down.

The Perfect Storm of Digital Mediocrity

This is the situation that most organisations are finding themselves in. Let me re-phrase that. This is the situation that most organisations that are behind the curve find themselves in.

In the old world, the product teams were the decision makers. The big kahunas. They owned the vision, the features, the data, and channel implementation strategy. Marketing's job was to be the creative force behind content and execute that vision on the channels. And Digital was a footnote.

In the new world, Digital sales are overtaking physical sales. Customers are researching and making their decisions with the use of social media. Digital marketing and digital products bring delivery costs to zero which means more time has to be spent on the experience rather than the sale.

In this new digital landscape, there is a tremendous overlap between what Products, Digital and Marketing do.

All three believe they own the digital experience. 

All three believe they own the customer contact strategy. 

All three believe they own the packaging of the message. 

And that creates inconsistent customer engagement.

Any organisation stuck in this loop has to define the boundaries for digital media. And that can be done by defining categories of "work":

By defining where parts of your customer journey fall in the above, an organisation can start tackling the confusion and create consistent customer treatment. I look forward to your feedback and hearing if your organisation has found a way to remove the noise.