Having just wrapped up my exit from the agency I founded 12 years ago and moved into the consulting world, I’ve had a little time for reflection recently. As I was recalling some of the clients I’ve worked with over the 25 odd years since I set up my first agency, and how marketing has changed so dramatically in so many ways, and yet in others, nothing’s really changed at all.
Firstly, for younger readers (let’s face it, that’s virtually everyone) lets just set the scene. Yes, we did have colour televisions back then. And no, trains weren’t all steam powered. But, here’s a shocker for you – we used to design on a computer which had an 800MB (that’s MB not GB) hard drive and 16MB of RAM. Then we’d save our work onto a 1.44MB floppy disk and send it via courier to a reprographic studio where they would produce a set of negatives. They would be sent back to us so we could clip the four colour separations to a light box and check the alignment was correct. Then another courier would arrive to deliver them to the printer (or newspaper/magazine in the case of an advert).
There was no such thing as digital marketing – no SEO, PPC, social media etc. – so you could be forgiven for thinking that everything is now totally and utterly different. And in some ways, of course, you’d be right. The Internet, social media and a million different marketing technology solutions have revolutionised the way we do things.
Our ability to track what we do, and use data to measure results and optimise performance, is probably the biggest shift from when I started.
But in other ways – i.e. the fundamental principles of marketing – things really never change. And I think that, as marketers in a digital age, we sometimes need reminding of the basics. We’re very quick to jump on new and shiny things but, occasionally, we’re just as quick to forget the fundamentals.
Ignoring my pet subject of ‘content marketing’ and when it was invented – I’m pretty sure people have been doing it for a very long time before digital came along – here are a few quick examples to get you thinking…
It’s not rocket science… break down your audience into segments or personas and understand what makes them tick. Identify the right messages for each target group, and present it to that audience via a channel they actually use at the best time.
Back in the days before digital, how did we put together a marketing strategy? Well here’s what we didn’t do… start with a list of popular magazines, newspapers, radio and TV stations, throw in some outdoor advertising close to busy roads, and scatter the budget evenly between them (please tell me that’s not how you did it!).
But essentially that’s exactly what some companies do with the digital channels that are available today. Just because we have more ‘cool stuff’ available to us, doesn’t mean we have to use it all!
I visited a potential new client a while back, and the MD asked me, “You’ve had a look at our social media – can you tell us why our Facebook page isn’t performing well?” To which I replied, “Only if you can tell me why you have a Facebook page in the first place!”
The advancement of technology is relentless. But, again, just because they’ve built it, doesn’t mean you have to find a way to use it! Over the years I’ve witnessed a repeating theme of companies embracing new technology because they saw something cool, got over excited and didn’t properly evaluate their actual requirements, and what benefit they would derive from the tech.
In other words, they didn’t have a requirement and then go out and find the technology that would help them achieve their goals. Instead they reverse engineered ways they could use the technology they’d been blinded by. In many instances this resulted in them tying up time and money delivering ‘nice to have’ functions at the expense of ‘must have’ functions.
Back in the day, I had clients wanting a website at a time when literally none of their target audience would have had access to the Internet, but they didn’t have the budget to advertise in a newspaper supplement that would be read by several hundred thousand of their exact targets.
I’ve met several companies recently who have signed up to one of the all-singing, all-dancing inbound marketing software solutions or social media planning/scheduling tools at substantial cost to their business, only to realise that the platform relies on content to feed the entire process – something they’d overlooked completely – so they find themselves grinding to a halt.
One of my first clients owned a massive multi-storey department store in a pretty dodgy part of town which sold everything under the sun, from furniture to clothes and any other random job lots he’d picked up from the back of a lorry, I suspect.
Yet he was determined that his advertising presented a different image . His ads set an expectation of something closer to Harrods than Poundland. His definition of marketing was basically a technique he could use to con people into visiting his store who would never, ever normally shop there.
Because of this he was attracting customers, but totally the wrong type. Footfall wasn’t converting into sales – possibly because they were too busy trying to keep one eye on their cars to make sure they were still parked outside and had all four wheels intact.
Today is no different. Marketers have never been under so much pressure to deliver numbers: traffic to the website, more likes or followers on social media, and so on. There are so many tricks and techniques for getting those numbers, but traffic for traffic’s sake can actually do more harm than good.
At a time when authenticity (especially in the context of social and influencer marketing) is on everyone’s lips, it’s never been more important to understand your brand, and what it actually is, rather than what you’d like it to be, and carefully match your communications to your audience. You’ve worked so hard to get them to interact in some way with you – don’t let them down.
Recommendations and reviews weren’t invented for the Internet. Testimonials have always been powerful in marketing. Before the Internet, if you needed a plumber, or the roof fixing, what did you do? You may have used a directory like Yellow Pages, but you’d probably also ask around. Has a neighbour, friend or family member used someone that they can recommend? Building in testimonials and proactively driving recommendations and referrals has always been one of the first things I’ve tried to introduce into my clients’ marketing material.
Back in 1994 we engaged a well-known cricketer to be a brand ambassador for a client. He turned up at events, and we produced a range of marketing material which featured him and the client’s product in ways that felt less like an advert and more educational. We leveraged his large fan base and trusted position to introduce our client’s product to a wider audience and make it instantly credible by association. Sound familiar?
Another buzzword hijacked by digital/content marketing in recent years is ‘storytelling’. I read an article last week in a reputable marketing publication, which started with this sentence: ‘Brand storytelling is gaining momentum in the marketing world, and with good reason.’
The same article then went on to define brand storytelling as: “Using a narrative to connect your brand to customers, with a focus on linking what you stand for to the values you share with your customers.”
Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that marketing principle isn’t just starting to ‘gain momentum’ in 2018!
So, a quarter of a century on, has marketing itself actually changed, or do we just have new and evolving tools available to us?
And do they always help us to do our jobs better, or are they sometimes a distraction that stop us doing the simple things well?
It’s one of my pet hates (not ANOTHER one, I hear you cry!).
You download a white paper or e-book expecting to benefit from a valuable guide on a topic you’re interested in. The first couple of paragraphs whet your appetite nicely for all you’re about to learn. And then, by paragraph three, the feeble attempt at hiding the company’s sales pitch is shamelessly dropped. Instead of learning about the topic you were interested in, you may as well be reading a sales brochure!
Why is it that so many B2B marketers still confuse product marketing with content marketing?
Content Marketing – what it isn’t…
The most common reason for getting it wrong is the inability to switch off the part of our brain that’s been hardwired to talk about our company, and sell, sell, sell!
Traditional marketing messages
What’s wrong with this approach?
If we’re not careful, we lose everything that’s so powerful about content marketing by simply doing traditional marketing but through new ‘shiny’ channels.
B2B marketers who get it right understand the difference between these two fundamentally different types of marketing, what their objectives are and how to use them in the right way.
Content Marketing – what it is…
“Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute
Content marketing is the process of producing and promoting content that has genuine value to our audience, without overtly pushing a product or service on them – content that benefits them on a day-to-day basis and reflects positively on our company as the source of this information.
“Advertising interrupts what people are trying to read, watch or share. Content marketing attempts to be what people read, watch and share.”
There’s a well-known saying that ‘people like to buy from companies they know, like and trust.’ We can throw money at traditional marketing with no guarantees that our audience will trust us or like us. Providing quality, relevant, engaging content on a regular basis, however, helps us build long-term relationships, rather than just bombarding people with sales messages. This makes them far more receptive to marketing messages when we do present them, or they may even come looking for us when the time is right.
So we should aim to produce content that will educate, entertain, inform and influence.
Applying the principles of storytelling (forgive the shocking use of marketing jargon) can actually help. What do I mean?
Storytelling is the oldest form of imparting knowledge and much of how we look at what we like to call facts is influenced by stories and how we interpret them.
Stories make important messages easier to communicate…
So what’s the formula?
Think about it. Every good fairy tale has three acts. And don’t try to claim you can’t remember back that far because I know you’ve seen Frozen or Toy Story at least five times!
1) Set the scene and introduce the characters
2) Something bad happens and a quest follows
3) The happy ending
So, the structure of your content could look something like this:
1) Set the scene; who is this article for and how will they benefit from reading it?
2) Talk knowledgeably about the challenges and pain points that are keeping them awake at night. This also shows empathy, which is a likeable quality.
3) Give away some practical tips the reader could take away and apply, without using your product or service. Sharing your knowledge freely builds your credibility, trust and like-ability.
4) Provide your own unique insight, based on your own experience and anecdotal evidence without overtly pushing a sales message – you don’t need to as you’ve already got a receptive ear
Product Marketing
Hubspot defines product marketing as ‘the process of bringing a product to market. This includes deciding the product’s positioning and messaging, launching the product and ensuring salespeople and customers understand it. Product marketing aims to drive the demand and usage of the product.’
The content required to support this function includes everything from core messaging and the product descriptions on your website, to your sales decks, product data sheets and customer case studies.
This is the right place for all the ‘me, me, me’ messages we mentioned earlier. It’s where we can delve into every relevant benefit and feature of our products, explaining what differentiates them from our competitors.
Sales Funnel: Top Versus Bottom
I’ve often heard it said that ‘content marketing is designed for top-of-the-funnel marketing activity, while product marketing comes into its own at the bottom of the funnel.’ I actually disagree slightly with that statement, as the lines aren’t quite that clear.
The bottom of the funnel is often described as the ‘nurture’ or ‘loyalty’ stage and that’s well and truly content marketing’s strong suit.
Equally, product marketing doesn’t stop once the product has gone to market. The process of marketing a product goes on well after its launch, making sure the right people are aware of the product, they know how to use it and that their needs are being met over the product’s entire lifecycle.
A good nurturing campaign will probably include elements of both content and product marketing, guiding prospects through their buying journey and beyond, developing loyal, long-term customers and advocates.
The conclusion
Cutting through the noise is probably the biggest challenge facing B2B marketing today. Mastering these two important types of content can have a huge impact, but only if we understand the difference between them and the right way to deploy them.
If you were to step into the world of content marketing for start-ups and scaleups, what would you see?
Probably quite a bit of mediocre content. Loads of blogs and not much else. And then there’s bunch of businesses that look like they’re trying WAY TOO HARD.
In short, it’s not a pretty picture.
And that’s completely understandable. After all, founders have got a lot on their plates – planning, funding, branding, accounting, training, profit margins. The list goes on. It’s easy to see why ‘create content marketing strategy’ might slip down the to-do list.
As every entrepreneur worth their salt knows – start-ups need customers and great people working for them. And one of the best ways to attract both is through amazing content (and a focused, flexible strategy driving it forward).
But obviously this is easier said than done. Some dive in in head first, but the results are often all action and no plan. All bark and no bite. Perhaps, all lime and no tequila. Anyway. You get the idea…
And the stats confirm it. According to one study by Ahrefs, 90.63% off content gets zero traffic from Google. Ouch.
Whatever way you look at it: that ain’t great odds. But it’s also far from the end of the story.
Content marketing offers huge benefits to start-ups and scaleups. When done well.
Compared to traditional PR channels, informative, customer-centric content is a more cost-effective, direct way to get the word out about your start-up.
Why content marketing is probably a great fit for your business
Content marketing is a particularly good fit for start-ups for scaleups. Here’s why a content marketing strategy leads to scalable, organic business growth.
1 Builds trust
The whole point of content marketing is to position yourself as a trusted authority and give customers the information they need to overcome challenges and solve problems. This is particularly important for young businesses that lack the heritage and track record of other, more established businesses. Over time, your content will earn trust and awareness – as long as you keep it consistent, relevant and thoughtful.
2 Creates a personal brand
Content marketing helps you differentiate your brand from the rest and cement it in the minds of your audience. By telling the story of the company’s founder, for instance, you are creating a personal brand and establishing greater validity to your newly-launched product or service. Often, the person behind the business has the experience and credibility needed to instil that all-important confidence in customers, and it’s easier to create an emotional connection on a personal level.
3 Boosts brand advocacy
Brand advocates are a powerful way to build brand awareness, so the sooner you build a following of advocates, the better. Acting as third-party messengers via social media and word-of-mouth, brand advocates do a lot of the hard work for you. A robust content marketing strategy can help you form this community – and hit the ground running.
4 Works alongside SEO
If you’re working on an SEO strategy, then relevant, quality content can help drive traffic and boost your SEO efforts. Search engine rankings are really important, and focusing on it as part of an overall content strategy can generate impressive results. But reaching those sought-after organic SEO results through human-first, highly-relevant content can take time. So get your skates on and start planning today.
5 Increases reach
Great content is a route to quicker wins on social media and paid campaigns. Having a strategy in place will help increase the reach of content, drive more targeted traffic to your website, whilst also creating an opportunity to capture data.
6 Builds your employer brand
Salary and perks can attract the best people, but company culture and values are just as important in the hiring process. Developing content that showcases the opportunities your start-up offers and tells the ‘why you should work here’ story will get your brand under the noses of your future rock star employees.
7 Keeps things authentic
Content is a great way to tell an authentic story. Enough said, really…
As a young company, you are perfectly equipped to lead the way in content marketing. More agile and able to make decisions and build strategy quickly, a focused, flexible strategy and clever implementation can help you stay ahead of the pack.
If you’d like some assistance producing a content plan based on facts, not guesswork, please get in touch for a free no obligation consultation.
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