New For Old

"Content marketing" is something you may well have come across. I see the phrase bandied about all the time - I even use it myself - but in reality it's just a term that describes something that is second nature to all marketers: campaigns start and end with content.

So what's "content"? It could be the idea for an advertisement, developed in to the full thing; maybe it's a brochure about your firm; there's the money-off vouchers; or it could be an article written to discuss the merits of a solution to a problem, which happens to be the solution exemplified by your product.

Marketers use content to engage people in some form of transaction or conversation. By taking the first step of not binning your flyer, your prospective customer is now consciously aware of your company/brand/product and is one step closer to making a purchase. We just need her to take the next steps.

So is "Content marketing" new? No. We've made some changes over the years over the routes by which someone receives your content, but the basic idea is still the same - give something useful and/or valuable to your potential customer in return for their attention.