Content is not KING

A few months back I participated in a marketing conference organised by a well known social media company. In attendance were senior marketing managers and Chief Marketing Officers from the tech companies. The theme for the evening was ‘Content is king’. Speeches, case studies and panel discussions were driving home one point, Content is King. The take away; every one of us must jump on the content bandwagon and start churning out point of view papers, blogs, videos, vines, case studies etc. Content in long form, short form, content in snack-able form etc. The content juggernaut has gained momentum. Today everyone’s marketing objectives and KRA’s include content generation and content marketing goals.

However, my experience with content marketing has been mixed, I don’t see it as the panacea for all marketing ills, much less King. To explain my point of view, lets take a step back and see the big picture of content and where it fits in the over all structure.

Content is any information or experience that is directed at a customer or end user. For the customer to be interested, content has to be useful and relevant.

Different customers have different needs and interests. A tech buyer is different from an electronics retailer. Further within each industry segment, there are differences based on the roles of individuals. CIOs, CFOs and CMOs have different objectives and hence content needs. At the final level of segmentation, the type of information a customer seeks is dependent on their stage in the buying cycle.

A CIO facing a problem is looking for information on similar problems and its solutions. Having identified a solution, he is probably looking for companies that offer that solution. Further along the buying cycle he is searching for information such as comparative studies, customer references etc. The next piece in the puzzle is the channel that funnels the content to the consumer. Choices here are plenty from traditional media like television and broadcasting to modern digital channels like email and social media.

Content is not new

Content is not new; it has always existed. Marketing departments have created brochures, solution descriptions, slides etc. for as long as marketing has existed. A useful way to view content is based on its intent and the problem it addresses. While come content is meant to entertain, others are meant to educate. Further along the buying cycle content may be used to convince and convert.

A useful way to view content is based on its intent and the problem it addresses.

This 2×2 matrix shows a selected cross section of content, as technology evolves newer forms will appear. Any form of content can be categorised into one of the four quadrants. In order to match the content to the customer situation, brands must maintain a repository of data for each of these quadrants. Content by itself is meaningless, it serves it’s intended purpose, only when it is directed at the target customer. Channels are the means by which tailored content reaches the customer.

Channel revolution- One way to Bidirectional

While content has been basking in the glory, the foundations on which content marketing is built has had little air time. In my opinion channels are the real unsung heroes of modern marketing. Older mediums like TV, Radio, Billboards were essentially one way channels. TV commercials operate in the fire and forget mode. There is no real time data or long term analytics. These channels are not very conducive for customer engagement and dialogue.

Modern channels like email, blogs and social media are bidirectional channels, they promote customer engagement and dialogue. Real time data capabilities of these channels allows brands to respond immediately to customer actions. It is this change in the communication channel that has pushed content to the fore front.

Inbound marketing

Bidirectional channels have opened up an interesting way to serve content to customers, the ability to serve in response to a customer interest. In the past marketers segmented customers and bombarded them with content without any regard for the their  intent (Learn, Buy, None) or their stage in the buying cycle (AIDA). There are many frameworks for mapping the customer buying cycle. One of the popular ones is AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action).

Inbound marketing is about pulling customers to your brand and engaging them by providing useful high quality content. This seems to be most sensible way to market content in a world where customers loath unsolicited emails, cold calls and the like.

Inbound marketing is about pulling customers to your brand and engaging them by providing useful high quality content. This seems to be most sensible way to market content in a world where customers loath unsolicited emails, cold calls and the like.

Content is an important element in inbound marketing , but the uncrowned king here is the channel that brings customers to your content. Search Engines like google and Bing are largely responsible for the success of inbound marketing. Search engines track, curate and rank content ready to be served to the customer looking for information.

Research suggests that most people don’t scroll beyond the first few links on the google search results. Where does that leave the rest ? A few years back this was alright, since the amount of good content was limited and anything beyond the first few results were meaningless.

However in today’s content rich world I often find gems in the second or even third pages. Too much good content and too little space. Inbound marketing works for now, but this channel too is getting cluttered and marketers are working ever harder for visibility.

Channel is King and clutter is the enemy

As we have seen in the previous two sections, content is really not new. Sure content is important and a few new forms like Infographics and Vines have made it more interesting. The real unsung hero though is the channel that has made conversations & customer engagement possible, it is the channel that has made inbound marketing possible.

Content stands out when we start with the customer and  their pain points , work our way through the channels they frequent and finally tailor the content to fit both the channel and the customer needs.

B2B customers are likely to frequent LinkedIn while a company selling to teenagers is likely to find it’s audience on Facebook. Research your customers to find the channels they frequent. Don’t spray and pray , it is both ineffective and time consuming.

Tailoring the format, design and length of content for a particular channel is another important area. Content that is created for SlideShare is very different from the one that is created for blogs. This is an area where I find many content creators making a faux pas . I’ve come across blogs and infographics, that  are literally a copy paste of slide sets. Avoid taking these short cuts. By all means repurpose content , but do so with care. Ensure that your rewrite and redesign to match the content to the channel.

I’ve come across blogs and infographics, that  are literally a copy paste of slide sets. Avoid taking these short cuts. By all means repurpose content , but do so with care. Ensure that your rewrite and redesign to match the content to the channel.

A section on channels will not be complete without a mention of search engines. This is a very important channel and it has been researched to death. You will find all manner of blogs and books with strategies to game the search engine. From keyword strategies to link building. A word of caution here, write for the individual, the customer and not for the search engine spider. Search engines are getting smarter and they will always reward a site that customers find useful. Besides, customers are both rational and emotional while search engines cannot detect emotion. Emotion helps you connect with your customer.

For all its importance in the content marketing chain, channels have their flaws too. They tend to become over crowded and cluttered over time. Clutter is the single biggest challenge that marketers face today. It was clutter that pushed direct mailers to email marketing.

It was clutter that pushed direct mailers to email marketing. Now Spams and Unsolicited email clutter has pushed marketers into newer channels like InMail from LinkedIn. Over time as more brands rush in, Inmail will also become a cluttered channel.

Channels tend to have a life cycle of their own. When they begin life there are few customers adopting it but as they become popular more customer flock to them, marketers follow with their advertisements. Over time as more brands follow customers to these channels clutter increases until it becomes hard to gain visibility. How do we over come clutter and make our content more visible ?

Understand the lifecycle of channels, time your entry to maximise exposure before other brands rush in and increase clutter.

Overcoming the clutter conundrum

Channels play an important role in marketing, they are as important as content if not more. However, channels have a drawback, they become cluttered over time. It is easier for one beautiful rose to stand out in an empty flower bed, than for an equally beautiful rose to get noticed among a bed of roses. In my opinion the following three approaches will help you stay one step ahead of the curve.

1. Get there early:– Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Search Engines are all relatively new channels compared to the Television , Radio and Bill boards. Look over the horizon and you will find a new generation of content channels like Instagram, Snap Chat, Tumblr and many more whose names are yet to become popular. Some will succeed and many will fail. But as marketers we must keep a close eye and experiment with every new channel. This will give you a head start and prepare you for the day they gain popularity.
2. Get Creative: New uncluttered and popular channels are the best case scenario. The reality is that we have to slug it out in a cluttered channel with other brands. One way to get noticed to get creative with Headlines and Pictures. I often fall for the cheesy ‘See what happens next…’ tagline. As a B2B marketer I don’t recommend that you go down the cheesy tagline path, but strive to make your conservative headlines more interesting. Like ‘3 Steps to a Content Marketing Plan’ rather than say ‘Content Marketing Plan’
3. Spend some money: One of my bosses once told me that a brand’s marketing budget is inversely proportional to the smartness of marketing people they employ. There is some truth to it. And there in lies the lure of content marketing. In a simple world without competitors and clutter, having good content is enough to get the attention of customers. But reality is far from it, channels are limited, clutter is common and there is no dearth of good content on the internet. Money can certainly tilt the balance in your favour. Sponsoring an update on twitter , paid twitter trends, paid Inmail from LinkedIn are all examples of a small amounts of money getting you that extra visibility.

Another option is to chose a channel with high entry barrier. Sponsoring sporting events like FIFA, Wimbledon and US PGA Golf are some examples. B2B companies with deep pockets like Accenture have used this channel very effectively against their more conservative competitors.

Conclusion

In the quest for the hearts & minds of customers content delivery channels are more important than the content itself. Innovations in channels (like search engines) are largely responsible for the new wave of marketing strategies like inbound marketing.  Channels like social media have made it possible for brands to engage customers, have conversations and track them in real time. The real unsung hero, the true king of modern marketing is the Channel and not the Content. Thinking in terms of channels and customers will help you develop better content. Design content for the channel. Rewrite and redesign don’t copy paste from one channel to another.

Please write to let me know your experiences in content marketing. Do you think our bias for content is at the expense of the other two dimensions, Customers and Channels ?

This was first published in my blog.  https://marketingnleadership.com/2015/07/19/content-is-not-king/