More and more, online marketers are talking about content marketing in terms different than they were a few years ago. Before Google Panda, you hardly heard the term “content marketing.” You heard about social media marketing and search engine optimization, or search engine marketing.
Content marketing is a little difficult to define. Some people lump SEO and social media marketing together into a broader class that they call “content marketing.” Other marketers include other marketing tactics beyond the Big Two – such as e-mail marketing, video marketing, and viral marketing. What matters isn’t so much how you define it, but what you do with it however you define it.
An interesting report published by The Content Marketing Institute concludes that B2B marketers who are most effective at content marketing have a documented content marketing strategy in place. This is very important because if you want to succeed at anything, then it helps to have a plan. Students of success tell you that you should have your goals in writing. Essentially, that’s what a plan is anyway.
It’s not really a strategy unless you can show that you have documented and charted your path from Point A to Success.
Content marketing is in an ever state of flux. It is constantly changing. Two years from now there will a totally different understanding of what it means than what we believe today. That doesn’t diminish its value. On the contrary, it enhances its value.
If you want to succeed at content marketing, then I encourage you to develop a strategy. Write it down. Know where you are going and you are more likely to end up there.