Content is King But What Does That Mean?

Everything we consume, outside of actual food, is content. The shows you binge-watch Saturday morning, the book you read while laying cozy under the covers and the videos you watch on social media are all content. 

What is Content Marketing? 

Before we can claim content is king or queen, we first need to identify what content marketing is. Content marketing is a digital marketing tactic using informative and engaging written, visual or multimedia content, to convey a brand as a thought leader and a solution to the consumer’s pain points or desired outcomes. The best content marketing is tailored to a specific audience who has shown an interest in an industry, product or service.  

When you think about legacy advertising, it was predominantly centralized to television, radio or outdoor displays (billboards, posters, etc.). The problem with these antiquated advertising content initiatives is they are not targeted to the intended audience. 

For example, Reese’s might pay for a television commercial to showcase their new peanut butter snack, but they are paying for an entire region to view the ad, without knowing that a percentage of those viewers will never be interested in their product because they have a peanut allergy.  

While Hershey’s, the parent company that produces Reese’s, generates billions in revenue, might not care about the lack of targeted advertising, medium-sized growth companies or those with a keen focus on advertising return on investment (ROI) sure do. This is precisely why digital content marketing circulation is just as important, if not more, than the creation of the content itself.  

Why is Content King?

When speaking with digital marketers, you might have heard them say ‘content is king’, but what does that reference mean? Some will say it’s an overused phrase from a Bill Gates Essay in 1996, popularized by digital marketers, those who create the content. Of course, there’s a vested interest by marketers in content, but the results speak for themselves. The beauty of content is that it has compounding potential.

Is content king? Yes, but it's the type of content that appeals to, and converts your audience that's most important. A targeted blog post lives on as an evergreen piece for years to come and as long as the substance of the content remains relevant, the content should offer continued conversion success.

Whether you’re a global software company, a senior care center or an online marketplace, you are in constant competition for customers and potential leads’ attention. Content marketing positions you where a prospective customer is and most importantly when they are potentially interested. Content allows you to relate directly to your audience and potentially attribute the answer to their most pressing questions. 

 Unfortunately, marketing is a never-ending battle for eyeballs. Canadian researchers confirmed that humans now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. If nothing is occupying our immediate attention, the majority (70% according to the study) of us will reach for our mobile device to fill the time. 

 As marketers, we have no choice but to appeal to the needs of the masses. Sometimes, having a contrarian view is the best solution, but when it comes to marketing, it’s a numbers game. To be successful in content marketing, you need to appeal to the masses in the most cost-effective way possible. Content like blog posts and white papers live online 24/7, so even when you shut down for the night or holiday, your content is there on your website for viewers to consume. 

Content that Leads to Conversions 

Content like blog posts and landing pages draw-in and educate your audience, but it’s a holistic process to convert. Conversions require multiple touch points (blog post, email drip campaigns, webinars, etc.) from both digital marketing and sales, with some studies suggesting it takes 7-8 touch points to convert a single lead.

That said, if you are hitting a 2-3% conversion rate on incoming website traffic, the greater your website traffic, the greater the opportunity for more conversions and ultimately, more deals and revenue. That said, we must point out that not all traffic is created equal. Let us repeat that, not all traffic is created equal. 

Just because you increase traffic, doesn’t mean you will increase conversions. Traffic by nature can come from a variety of sources, which you should be tracking in your marketing analytics tools (i.e. Google Analytics). You want high-impact traffic that is correlated to your industry or interested in your solution, with a propensity to potentially convert. Therefore, you want to see a direct correlation between traffic and conversion growth. 

Content is the cornerstone of digital marketing, and thus content leads the path to discovery. Google searches for a solution, YouTube video overviews and LinkedIn networks and groups are all digital paths for leads to find and engage with your brand as they wish.  

Great Marketing Doesn’t Feel like Marketing

Allow us to blur the lines between marketing and advertising to help drive home an essential point. Everyone is familiar with advertising interruptions that take you away from the climax of the television episode, rivalry game or YouTube instructional cooking video. 

It’s abrupt and can even be jarring, leaving you frustrated and offering little patience to consider the product or service advertised. How dare they interfere with your entertainment or educational exercise at the least opportune moment. 

Advertising is inevitable. From television to social networks like LinkedIn or Facebook, advertisers fuel these platforms’ ability to deliver direct content. Since advertising isn’t going away anytime soon (if ever), how do we engage audiences with advertising they actually care about?

Imagine one of the many streaming services offering your favorite show you like to watch with your partner, spouse or friends. Although these streaming platforms offer commercial-free shows and movies, they need to find a solution to generate revenue. 

Paying $9.99 or $14.99 per month simply isn’t enough to cover the expenses of the streaming software and movie production. Consider Netflix’s award-winning Martin Scorsese, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro movie ‘The Irishman’. The estimated budget to produce this movie was an astounding $160 million. Even with 200+ million subscribers, Netflix would need additional funding to continue making blockbuster movies and binge-worthy original content. 

So how do they generate additional revenue? Enter product advertising. 

When you see a Netflix character sipping a cold, refreshing beverage, you better believe that label is carefully placed for the camera to focus on long enough for you to identify and process the brand. It’s a clever advertising strategy that tactically integrates the product in the content (the show), without taking the audience away from the show of interest. No frustrations, no dramatic voiceovers, no cheesy jingles. 

The point is, great content marketing is essentially advertising that doesn’t feel like advertising. Content like this blog post, an informative white paper or product video demo delivered to the viewer without intrusion, when they are seeking it, making it the king to help generate interest, leads and potential revenue for your business. 

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