In the pre-Internet world, buyers relied
on traditional media companies to fill their information needs.
With today's technologies, that is no longer true. In fact,
you can be the media:
- You can deliver tangible benefits to prospects
and customers by providing relevant content that helps
provide solutions to some of the toughest problems they are
facing.
-
- You don't have to be a big, powerful brand
with a huge budget and global reach to incorporate these
strategies. In fact, startups, small- and medium-size companies,
associations, and non-profit groups are all benefiting from
rethinking how they market their products and services.
Six Reasons Why You Need to Begin
Today
1. A change in
buyer attitudes toward the "credibility" of content. Today's buyers
look everywhere for essential content in order to make smart buying
decisions. Therefore, they need marketing
content that makes them smarter and more
knowledgeable. Businesses that provide that content will win.
Whereas in the past, customers were wary about information that
didn't come from a traditional media source, today's savvy buyers
can sniff out the good content from the bad, and don't mind if the
information they engage in comes from a business.
2. Traditional
media sources can't be counted on to assist you in reaching your
customers. Because today's buyers are more in control over the
content they choose to read, traditional media sources are losing
reach. In fact, you may have better information about your
customers and prospects right in your own database - including
their all-important e-mail addresses - than any media company
trying to sell you traditional marketing solutions.
3. Shrinking media
company budgets reduce content quality. Continued cutbacks in
editorial staff and circulation size have created a void - a void
that non-traditional content creators can fill.
Traditional media is suffering because the business models have
changed, not because there is less information needed in the world.
Actually, buyers need more information than ever. If the New
York Times, your local business section, or your industry
trade magazine isn't going to provide it, who will? You!
4. Selling to your
customers is becoming more challenging. The more informed the
consumer or buyer is, the more difficult it is to sell them. A
better approach is to provide relevant content that
positions your company as a trusted source. You begin as a source
of information and continue as a source of products and services.
Your thought leadership in print and online positions your
company as the obvious source of solutions. As you become
increasingly customer-centric, you will develop an increasingly
loyal and lucrative base of repeat customers.
5. Because
technology is both cheap and easy to use, even small companies can
deliver great content solutions to a targeted customer base.
Today's technology enables companies of all sizes to create all
kinds of sophisticated online publications - such as websites,
digital magazines, and eNewsletters - and manage huge amounts of
data relating to current and future customers both simply and
inexpensively. In fact, with focus, creativity, and a little
outside help, even the smallest companies can do a better job of
providing targeted content to their best customers
than some billion-dollar competitors.
6. Businesses have
now learned how to create great editorial content.
The key to a successful content marketing strategy is, you guessed
it, great content. Not just any content. Great content. Buyers know
the difference between great content and a blatant sales pitch with
no inherent value. In the past, buyers received great content from
the media company giants. Today, they can and should be receiving
it from you. Even if you do not have internal editorial talent,
plenty of brilliant editors, reporters, publishers, and agencies
will be happy to put their talents to work on behalf of your
company.
Toolbox Links
Everyone Is a Publisher (and why this really matters)
Search
Engine Marketing for Publishers
10 Reasons
Brands Should Think Like Publishers
