Content marketing. Good content creates satisfaction.
Content marketing here. Content marketing there. Everyone is talking about content marketing. But are they all talking about the same thing? As a very practical matter, content is about two things: content and marketing. Content itself has two different meanings; namely, content and satisfaction. Connected with marketing, which is the consistent orientation of the entire company to the needs of the market, content marketing can be very easily explained. The job of content marketing is to offer content in such a way that it meets market needs and satisfies the target groups addressed in each case. This is true also and especially in B2B markets. The source and design can have many facets. Good content can inform or excite or entertain or awaken or touch. This is exactly where the work at the branding agency starts, as always, following the basic principle of analysis, creating a concept, implementation, and control. Content marketing is iterative and continual, has a master plan, and is accompanied by campaigns.
In order to act purposefully, the long-term goals must be clear: Build the brand, build trust, build customer loyalty, improve reputation, create community, increase the ability to be found online, have regularly returning visitors, increase closing rates…. In content marketing these are all tasks needing long periods of time, not a few weeks or months. Short-term sub-goals are within reach, in the density of information or in reaching new target groups through a topic. The customer lifecyle plays an important role and influences content delivery.
The content marketing strategy and media and channel mix are derived from the long-term and short-term content marketing goals. Conception and planning are an increasingly complex task in which the media gaps between the online and offline worlds must also be taken into account. The key points are to be fixed in networked editorial calendars (schedules). The brand agency is concerned with the effective combination of tools from social media, email marketing, SEO, PR (public relations), and sales. In order to further differentiate itself from the competition, B2B content marketing ideally serves customers according to their information and interaction requirements at the various customer touchpoints during the customer lifecycle. Content marketing in the area of employer branding naturally involves applicants, employees and staff members, and former employees.
For us as a branding agency, content monitoring is always a part of successful content marketing. From the beginning. With ongoing status quo analyses, you know what is being talked about relative to your own B2B brand and which platforms and topics are current and newsworthy. Specific monitoring tends to focus on specific search terms. Collecting data is one thing, but it has to be exploited. This is the only way that the achievement of objectives, the success of campaigns, and the commitment to social media are continuously questioned and optimized.
Often the internal resistance is high against all outgoing information that could possibly also make the competition smart. We have had this experience time and time again at the branding agency. Of course, it used to be somewhat more difficult to reach the customer magazine, customer mailing, or the technical product data of competitors. But it was, is, and will not be impossible in the future to deny the competition access to one’s own content. The fundamental trend cannot be stopped: The mentality of sharing knowledge and content is becoming increasingly important. And those who share it are more successful in the long run.