Attention Kmart Shoppers: Content Marketing Is NOT A Thing.
Sometimes I feel like our whole industry has gone mad… and then I realize it’s me. But this is not one of those times.
For the past couple years the topic of “content development’ and “content marketing” has become a very popular buzzword that is snowballing downhill and growing to cartoonish proportions.
So before it is too late, I would like to explain to the world that content marketing is not a thing. It is an end result of other things. It is what ensues from specific and strategic marketing pursuits. But it is most definitely not a thing.
Imagine telling your significant other that you need some groceries. “Please get us some groceries immediately,” you say. And 35 minutes later he or she returns from the store with three combs, a pear and two cans of baked beans.
Now imagine telling your marketing department or your PR agency that you need some content. “We need to generate some content immediately,” you say. And 3.5 weeks later they return with two news releases, two videos and a blog post.
In the words of Forrest Gump, stupid is as stupid does. Content development, like grocery shopping, is the byproduct of something else. Neither are strategies in and of themselves. If you need – and therefore purchase – food and milk and garbage bags, then these things end up being your groceries. Likewise, if you need – and therefore produce – news releases and videos and brochures, then these things end up being your content.
So here’s the bottom line: Content development and marketing is not a strategy. It is not a thing that you can do… it’s a thing you end up with after you do the things you are supposed to do.
Please don’t get sucked into the stupidity of buzzword marketing. And please, never tell anyone you need content… it’s just embarrassing.
Kaitlin McCready
Posted at 08:42h, 28 MarchThank you for starting this conversation. I’ve considered starting a blog just so I could start a “content marketing isn’t a thing” manifesto!
That said, I think this idea needs to be taken a step further. My biggest problem with the principle of content marketing is that it misses the whole discussion about what you’re trying to accomplish. To me, you don’t NEED a news release or a video – but you do NEED to decide that there’s confusion in the market about what your product does or that the people you thought would buy your product aren’t hitting your website, etc. And only then can you build a plan to solve that problem with the right messaging, and of course, content.
I also think part of the problem is a language gap between people who are trained communicators and those who are marketers. Communicators (putting myself in this group) generally think about content marketing as a way to generate meaningful conversation in a way that helps a potential buyer in the process to think differently about something related to the company/product/market and therefore shorten the sales cycle. The marketers I know consider content marketing as a way to continue doing traditional marketing but with a twist – instead of making an impression, the goal is to get the buyer to take an action that moves them along the sales cycle. The difference is a matter of the communicators thinking about how they can provide value to a potential buyer and create a conversation/relationship, whereas (I think) marketers still consider it a volume game – throw enough stuff (content) out and something will eventually stick. Not so different than the Mad Men days – just replacing large ad buys with a downloadable pack of whitepapers.
Jim Sweeney
Posted at 15:41h, 28 MarchKaitlin, this is a really interesting idea. How far back should you draw the bow? The process of marketing should always start with a discussion and subsequent documentation of goals, opportunities and challenges related to your product or service. This means you MUST talk about your target audiences and what they know and don’t know and how they do or would use your product and even how they do or might learn about your product and where they would go to trial it and purchase it. There is so much you need to consider, investigate and confirm before you DO anything. I like your thinking. If you start the blog, please let me know; I’d like to sign up as your first follower.