Introduction to Content Marketing

What is Content Marketing?

In general, Content Marketing is a marketing technique which involves creating and spreading contents valuable from the point of view of recipients of the content, aimed at drawing attention and thus engaging a community gathered around a particular target group. Content is what users want to read, learn about, watch or experience. From the perspective of business, content is important information presented on a website, in an application or by means of other available channels of digital presentation, which have the mission of communicating. Nowadays content marketing is not just a desirable thing, it’s a must-have. Moreover, it is necessary to create up-to-date content.

Naturally, this cannot be regular content, but it has to be reliable, high-quality content. On top of that it has to be valuable enough to provide the recipient with benefits that can satisfy his needs and expectations in course of interaction. An important aspect of content marketing is also the target group, which is supposed to receive the content of the message. This in turn creates the necessity to create and later distribute such information that will introduce the recipient into the brand, product or service area, which is the subject of the message. The strategy of customer engagement marketing is nothing new. However, its relentless development and the growing importance of Internet platforms 2.0 mean that the strategy has reached the top of the list of most popular strategies in the branch. Customer engagement marketing is nothing else but a transi-tion from one direction campaigns (relations) to a strategy based on a dialogue with the client.

As opposed to traditional and in practice, often invasive strategies, which corner the recipient, customer engagement marketing defines, identifies real, specific needs of customers. By assumption it also encourages the consumer to interaction, to real, active participation in the development of its brand, product or service.
Rebecca Lieb writes in her book titled “Content Marketing” the term appeared in 2001. By that moment nobody had heard of or used this term. Earlier, the branch used numerous terms in order to characterize actions surrounding brand creation, such as: custom publishing, custom media, customer media, customer publishing, member media, private media, branded content, corporate media, corporate publishing, corporate journalism or branded media. Content marketing in its assumptions isn’t based solely on persuasive actions targeted at a chosen group of recipients and its exceptional character to a large extent is mostly about providing the recipient with particular arguments and possibilities of benefits.

Very often, content marketing is defined as the art of communicating with consumers, because dialogue uncovers their needs and provides particular solutions. Moreover, content marketing is a strategy in which marketers focus their attention not only on the purchasing cycle itself, but also, to the same extent, on the cycle of sales. In their actions they have to take into consideration many aspects associated with the correct implementation of strategy, such as: client service, reputation management, building brand awareness, positioning and public relations in the web, gaining potential clients and looking after the client. Propagation of content. Distribution Channels. The basic place of communication in content marketing is the Internet. Internet is the medium thanks to which we can deliver marketing messages in an effective, fast and friendly way” Marketers’ interest in the Internet comes from its international coverage, technical and personal interaction, multimedia capacity and constantly growing number of users.

Internet gives the possibility to differentiate services, products and marketing communication. It also facilitates contact with a selected group of people with similar interests. Internet, infuencing the senses and purchasing decisions and at the same giving the opportunity to reach a defined (among others, according to geographic location, demographic data) group of recipients combines the advantages of television and the press. Companies that want to maintain their competitive edge have no other choice, but to follow the changes brought about by the Internet. However, it is necessary to emphasize here that companies can achieve success on the market when they are able to correctly combine traditional activities with new opportunities provided by the development of contemporary means of communication, including the development of the Internet. The potential hidden in this tool was recognized already 13 years ago by the creators of the prophetic Cluetrain Manifesto. In 1999 a set of 95 theses was created by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger.

A good reason for the utilization of the web in many marketing areas are not only its characteristics, but also changes in consumer behaviour expressed by the size of convictions, diversity of lifestyles, searching for individual identity. The manifesto of Martin Luter and the word “cluetrain” comes from the following quote: The clue train stopped there four times a day for ten years and they never took delivery. The most important theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto:1. Markets are conversations.2. Markets consist of human beings and not of demographic sectors.3.Conversations between human beings sound human and are conducted with human voice.

It is necessary to remember here that the content working for a company and which is meaningful for users is not a commodity. Exerting friendly and efficient influence on purchasing decisions by providing clients with particular, high-quality information is in many cases stronger than traditional advertising. Large groups of recipients are already tired with traditional advertising and don’t react to it. Information is power and the place where clients look for information is the Internet. Delivering valuable and credible information may become a basis of every business – this is what companies running activities in the web learned already a long time ago.

The greater activity on company’s website, on its blog, its Facebook or Twitter profiles and on other planes of online communication, we boost the coverage of marketing communication. If we add to this printed publications, conferences or seminars, it becomes clear how much content marketing can boost the coverage of a company’s marketing communication. Internet websites, e-books, social media, blogs… the list of potential digital marketing channels for content is huge and the growing number of technological innovations creates new ways for both normal people and sellers to create, present and disseminate content.

Each of these ways has its advantages and disadvantages, various entry barriers, dierently directed potential of the recipient and oers various benets, depending on the needs of a concentrated target group. The only way to get to know which of these roads is the right one is not experimenting or random choice, but basing activities on this direction by defining targets, strategies and needs. Failures are nothing to be afraid of, as long as conclusions are drawn from them. Some initiatives work better than others. Some may let us down.

However, it is necessary to always keep an open, creative mind and not abandon the search for the appropriate channels for distribution of content. User, recipient of content, Human in his desire to satisfy his needs acts in an independent way, not regulated by external forces. As a unit forming a certain group, he strives to achieve such goal and is looking for means to satisfy his needs. Content marketing enables real commitment of the target group and creating an authentic, honest relation with the group, based on trust and partnership. This is the only branch of marketing, in which the message, which is commercial in form, has such a strong potential that it makes target consumers look actively for this message.Nowadays tools such as blogs or social message boards allow access to the contents they generate on a global scale. Recipients of content are looking for the message they are interested in and which stimu-lates them to take particular action.