by Rachel Parker

As a hip, savvy, in-the-know kind of marketer (You are, aren’t you? Ok, good.), you’ve probably run across the term “content marketing” pretty often over the last year or so.

So, what is this content marketing, and why should you care?

The best definition of content marketing I’ve read comes from Joe Pulizzi in his must-have book Get Content, Get Customers (co-authored by Newt Barrett):

Oh. That’s it? Yep, that’s it. And it’s something smart marketers have already been doing for a long, long time.

That tear-off recipe you got from the chocolate chips display at the grocery store? That’s content marketing.

The health magazine your insurance provider sends you once a quarter? Content marketing.

That back-to-school checklist they hand out every August at your local office supply store? Uh-huh. Content marketing.

So if content marketing has been around forever, why is it suddenly such a big deal?

The first reason is the decline in the effectiveness of traditional marketing methods. Advertising has been around for nearly 100 years, and these days, quite frankly, we’re just not that into it. By now we’ve seen and heard every slick, glitzy, high-production-value trick in the book, and we’ve had it up to here with the manipulation. No, to attract, engage, and close the deal with today’s customer, you can’t rely on the old dog-and-pony show. Give them real content that’s useful, entertaining—or, ideally, both—and you just might have a customer for life.

The second reason is the rise of the Internet. We go to the Web for everything from job listings to in-depth medical information to videos of cats riding tricycles. Sometimes our mission involves a long, tedious, drawn-out search—but when we find what we’re looking for, we’re happy. Really, really happy. And the person or company who delivered this holy grail into our anxious little hands earns a special place in that corner of memory where we store VIIPs (Very Important Information Providers).

Here’s where things get dicey: the “content” in “content marketing” has to come from you. You can outsource the final product to a content specialist, but the meat of it has to come from you and the people you work with. Your expertise, your perspective, your way of doing things.

It’s not as complicated as you might think. Set aside some time to do some brainstorming about the kind of information people turn to you for:

• What are the most frequently asked questions you get from customers (and I'm talking about actual frequently asked questions—not the ones on your website's FAQ page)?
• What subjects have you been asked to speak on … or could speak on if someone asked you? 
• What topics come up at the professional networking events you attend?

If your imagination needs a little jogging, then jog on over to LinkedIn Answers or Quora, and do a search for keywords related to your industry. Find out what kinds of questions are being asked and see if you can build some content around your answers.

The ways and means you have of delivering quality content to your network is limited only by your imagination. Here’s a list to get you started:

• How-to blog posts
• Quick tips posted on Facebook or Twitter
• Articles on your website (like the one you’re reading right now  )
• White papers
• E-books
• YouTube Videos
• Webinars
• Podcasts
• Downloadable tools like checklists and diagrams

And don’t forget to repurpose as you go. That blog post could be expanded into a white paper and then presented in a webinar that you promote via a teaser on YouTube and summarize in a podcast, and so on and so on.

What holds a lot of people back from content marketing is the fear that once you share your expertise with customers, they won’t need you anymore. Actually, the opposite is true.

With traditional marketing, you tell customers you know your stuff. With content marketing, you show them.

Useful, usable content proves to current and prospective customers that you have the know-how to get the job done by putting your expertise out there in black and white. It creates a positive association in customers’ minds between your company and the product or service you provide … so when they need an expert, they’ll know just who to call.

And remember that just knowing how you do what you do doesn’t mean customers will be (1) able or (2) willing to bypass you and do it themselves.

That’s the spirit! You can start by checking out a few of my favorite resources:

• Resonance's very own Content Marketing Podcast on iTunes
• Get Content Get Customers: Turn Prospects into Buyers with Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett
• Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business, by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman
• Content Marketing Institute (tremendous super-blog put together by Joe Pulizzi)
• Content Marketing Made Simple (blog by Interact Media)

And of course, feel free to email me (or tweet me) if there’s anything I can help you with.

I can, because I know a lot about this stuff. My content says so

A self-described "marketing nerd," Rachel Parker, Owner and Chief Content Strategist of Resonance, works with businesses of all sizes to help them meet the challenge of connecting with today's hard-to-reach customer. 

Rachel has made Resonance the "one stop shop" for companies looking to get more out of their content marketing efforts. She's also a sought-after speaker and has presented to many of Houston's major business and marketing organizations. Contact Rachel about speaking to your group or business.