Content has become one of those buzz wordy sounding things that it is trendy to bash, marketers can be very quick to channel their inner hipster in this way. Content marketing could be cast as crusty and old fashioned in the light of more technical, data driven ‘new age’ marketing techniques, but maybe all it needs is a bit of a polish. The reputation of content marketing has been dented, not because of it not ‘working’, but because a big chunk of the advertising industry has forgotten how to use it. You will have seen this in sponsored articles that are little more than text based adverts and sales features that look like they came straight from a brochure. To really work, content marketing has to be better than this. Content marketing now has to be useful; it has to be interesting, engaging or entertaining in some way. To cut through all the fluff pieces that usually sit under sponsored content banners good content marketing has to be…well… good. Content marketing should also not just be about words: video, photos and infographics all have a valuable part to play. Being ahead of the curve, we are transforming the way we create content marketing. Starting with a process of topic modelling, we are able to take a subject and research questions being asked online. Questions that start with ‘How do I…’ or ‘What is the best…’ can bring some interesting and useful answers. Good content marketing delivers expert answers to these questions and maybe even asks the questions in the first place. One of the things we have seen with our new content marketing approach is that it really does deliver results. It builds awareness, delivers visibility on search engines, it builds reputation and interaction on social channels and it really does deliver new customers. Done right content marketing is a really valuable, relevant and effective piece of the marketing puzzle.
