Dave Stevens, CMO at EY and keynote speaker at our upcoming conference, explains why he believes all marketing is content marketing.
Why do you believe ‘all marketing is content marketing’?
All marketers are learning how to do marketing again via new channels. The channels we are using demand new ways of presenting our ideas. But we’re still doing marketing. That’s why the definitions of ‘content marketing’ that we now use are ones that would have been used to describe ‘marketing’ itself 20 years ago. Writer, Mikal Belicove defines ‘content marketing’ as ‘the creation and publication of original content – including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos – for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.’ Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, describes it as ‘story-telling by brands to attract and retain customers.’ In that sense ‘all marketing is content marketing.’
How/why is content marketing misunderstood?
In two ways. First, by creating a new term in ‘content marketing’, marketers risk seeing the process of content creation and execution in new technology channels as something different from the rest of what we do. Marketing content via old or new channels starts in the same place: with the business strategy and an understanding of your business’s place in the market.
Second, by creating a new term, we also risk hyping the new channels up too much. Most senior decision makers in business are still pre-millennials who don’t use new technology.
How can you prove content marketing ROI?
Most of the commentators on the subject of ‘content marketing’ will tell you to focus on increases in followers via social media, website visitors, and so on. Nonsense! This is just the sort of thing that gives marketing a bad reputation in the B2B space. These sorts of outputs mean nothing to the business. Rather, ROI from content marketing is the same as for old marketing. What is the number of leads related to your content? What is the number of opportunities motivated by your content that lead to sales? True: it is tough to get behind these metrics, but it’s no tougher than for the low-tech channels.
How can marketers ensure their brand’s content reaches their prospects?
Marketers need to apply the same principles for presenting their content in the new-tech age as for low-tech. So they must not lose sight of the needs of their specific target audience. They must think about the stage their audience is at in the buying cycle: new tech traditionally targets an audience earlier when awareness is more prominent than action. And they must make sure their company’s voice comes across in the story, style, and approach of what they say.
Looking ahead, how do you think content will change in the next year?
So far the revolution has largely affected the words organisations use via these new channels. Expect more focus on pictures and videos as we look to exploit Vine, Pinterest and so on more professionally. And as pre-millennials take power in the boardroom, we can expect content budgets to increase as a proportion of the total marketing budget. But I fear marketing budgets overall will remain depressed for some time yet.
Dave Stevens will be discussing the history of content marketing at our upcoming B2B Marketing Conference, ‘The Content Avalanche’. The event offers a tour-de-force in content marketing excellence. Marketing leaders will share insights, outline best practices and offer actionable advice. Plus, the event offers a rare opportunity to network and share ideas with over 200 B2B marketers.
Book your ticket today by visiting b2bmarketing/conference or calling: 0207 269 6590
