Why should you care about content marketing?

Think it’s just for selling things?

NO!

Think people will just take your ideas and run, no need to actually talk to you, work with you?

Unlikely.  And if so, they weren’t “your kind of people” to begin with. And if they really like your ideas, they'll come back for more.

Figure it's only for companies – big or small – that sell actual things to people?

Nope.  Service oriented businesses use it. IT and Software-as-a-service companies use it. Financial services, consultants, banks and insurance companies are in the content game.

Nonprofits on the national and local level are climbing on the CM wagon.

So what is content marketing really about then ?

People. Relationships.

It’s about creating and supporting relationships. About building engagement, building trust and building credibility. About supporting the needs of your ideal target audience.

It’s about helping a customer who is trying to compare options or make a smart decision between similar services, features on a product or local businesses.

Smart content helps make smart decisions.

It’s about answering the questions people ask when typing into a search engine. You want to be the answer to their research, right?

It’s about helping voters make informed decisions.

It’s about giving resources and information to help library patrons advocate to their town councils, county supervisors, state representatives and Governors about gaining funding. To bring back services, add resources or staff, or to support  increased demand on services.

It’s about social causes informing their donors where their money is going.  Creating and sharing case studies, videos, interviews and examples of real people, with real lives, affected and changed by your donations.

It’s about helping that customer stay engaged with your brand and learn about new services, new programs or upcoming events. If they really like what they get from you, they feel helped and valued. Then they’re more likely to turn into vocal advocates for your organization or brand.

It’s about giving freely, generously of your skills, knowledge and expertise. And knowing that that isn’t the same as ‘giving away the store for free’ – because knowing is ‘only half the battle’.  People still have to apply that knowledge. That takes time, effort and experience. Only you can really show them, teach them and lead them on that path. The ideas by themselves probably won’t be enough, and they’ll come back for more.

So content marketing really IS for everyone

It doesn’t matter if you’re a big business selling shoes to consumers, a blender company selling to smoothie and yogurt shops, a small business selling research services to other businesses, a local nonprofit saving animals, or a public library helping entrepreneurs – you can all create content that your audience benefits from.

If your audience benefits, YOU benefit.

Content builds trust, credibility, authority.  After you build relationships, that eventually converts into dollars. There isn’t an organization out there that can’t benefit from that!