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We make marketing delightfully uncomplicated so that our partners gain improved clarity, direction, and peace of mind.
What is marketing? It seems like a simple question.
While some may believe that marketing is mostly comprised of ads that help companies sell products or services, the truth is that it’s more complex than what it appears to be on the surface. Marketing utilizes many different tools and builds upon various perspectives of expertise in order to help companies achieve success.
Throughout our What is Marketing? mini series, we’re diving into the four major components of marketing and how they all work together to form one cohesively powerful marketing strategy.
In this first section, we’re discussing how content creation plays an integral part in the marketing infrastructure. Let's dive in!
First, to understand how content impacts a marketing strategy, it’s important to know exactly what content is.
In actuality, “content marketing,” or “inbound marketing,” is nothing but a fancy buzzword that has gained traction over the years. At its core, though, content marketing is the art of using communicative tools as a means to engage with customers.
The exciting part about content marketing is that it entails a wide range of possibilities. Content marketing can technically fall within the realm of any of these categories:
As you can see, there are many different ways content can be used to engage with all walks of life, and this list only touches the surface of what brands can do with the digital resources that are available to them.
Content is a way for brands to gift their knowledge, creativity and mission to their customers. It empowers them to create materials that will resonate with their audience – that are useful to their most endearing fans.
Once a company has resolved to adopt a content marketing strategy, there are three main “intentions” of creation that should be considered. These are as follows…
Content designed with the intent to convert is the most popularly recognized form of marketing. These are typically ads (commercials, blogs, landing pages, videos, social posts, etc.) that highlight a brand’s products and/or services. Furthermore, content with the intent to convert will try to highlight why a brand’s products/services are necessary to their customers’ lives.
On the flipside, content designed with the intent to educate exists for two main reasons: to showcase a brand’s knowledge/expertise in its field and to provide useful value to its customers and/or audience. Since these pieces of content are typically unbranded, the company’s name will not be directly mentioned, even though these materials are hosted on the company’s website and shared through its social media channels.
Content designed with mixed intentions provides a carefully crafted blend of the two tactics mentioned above. Commonly, the first ¾ of these pieces will be executed with the intent to educate while the final ¼ is where a brand can advertise how its expertise fits into the information presented in the former portion. This way, a brand can effectively discuss a concern in their field of work and offer up a solution that their company can provide to customers.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this series, content creation is only one piece of the larger puzzle that is marketing. Next week, we will discuss how a brand can maximize its crafted content by weaving it directly into a powerful social media strategy.
To ensure you have access to part two of our What is Marketing? series, bookmark Seafoam’s official blog, The Anchor, or save this link into your favorite RSS reader. Thanks for stopping by!
Seafoam Media is a full-service digital marketing consulting firm based in St. Louis, MO. We expand on the traditional best practices of marketing while delving into the deep end of SEO, web development, content creation and social media — all of which mesh to form a cohesive marketing strategy that helps our clients get discovered online and build everlasting relationships with their customers.
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