Wasn't content always king?

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Word of mouth. Books. Newspapers. Magazines. Radio. TV. Internet.

Content is the common denominator among all media.

It was, is, and always will be king.

Until recently, it was a "seller's market" as far as the content was concerned.

Thanks to the Web, the power has now swung to the consumer.

The invention continues to:

• disrupt the world of marketing in ways unimaginable in the not-too-distant past, and
• chip away at the mass-market monolith, the mainstay of the so-called Old Economy.

​ This has resulted in the:

• ongoing distribution of consumers into niche markets, and
• growing exodus of consumers to e-commerce and—increasingly—m-commerce.

​
It has forced marketers to rethink the way they do business and their decisions regarding media and media platforms.

How marketers communicate with consumers is also undergoing a transformation.

The Web is as powerful as it is because it incorporates all the media that have come before it (Web Copywriting 2.0, Nick Usborne).

On the Web, you can not only consume content by reading it, watching it and listening to it you can even participate in its creation.

Marketing using content is all the rage today.

But like all marketing tactics, it can never be any better than the strategy powering it.

If content is king, it's only because strategy is the kingmaker.

But . . .

. . . there’s something even more important than your content marketing strategy.

Documenting it.

This ensures:

• everyone’s on the same page,
• campaign decisions hinge on a cost-benefit analysis, and
• a paper trail, which can be used to inform future campaigns.

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One popular way to bring your content marketing strategy to life is by using the S.M.A.R.T. method:

Make sure your content marketing goals are:

Specific

“Who are we talking to? Why should they bother listening to us? What do we want our content marketing campaign to achieve?”

Measurable

“How will we know if our content marketing campaign is doing what we expect it to do? What are the criteria that we will be using to measure campaign success? What sort of testing will we be using and how often?”

Attainable

“Can our content marketing campaign actually help us achieve our Web marketing goals? Have we set an impossible or unreasonable task for ourselves?”

Relevant

“Does our content marketing campaign make sense from a business point of view? Are we merely reacting when we should be responding? In the first place, will our campaign add value to the life of our prospect?”

Timely

“Is everyone clear about the campaign’s timeline? Have we established a reasonable end date for the campaign?”

Although content marketing democratises the ability of marketers to influence buying decisions, marketing fundamentals will always matter.

Like positioning your product/service for success, and understanding your consumers and the business you are actually in.