The unmistakable emergence of content marketing is demonstrating that traditional marketing strategies — once the immovable pillars of big business — are quickly becoming obsolete.
While this is a major cause of alarm for the big players in traditional advertising and marketing, the turmoil caused by the changing marketing landscape is perhaps the greatest opportunity for brands in both the business-to-business (B2B) and the business-to-consumer (B2C) markets.
Interruption marketing — incessant advertising messages that disrupt people in the process of enjoying print, radio, TV, and even Internet content — has always been annoying to people because it tries to take their attention away from the content they really want to engage with.
But with the advent of the Internet, people discovered they could tune out these
interruptions and have more control over the content they consume. Companies now realize that they need to find a new way to market to their prospects. They see content marketing as a viable avenue to engage customers and deepen relationships with them.
However content marketing isn’t an overnight phenomenon. It’s been slowly gaining momentum over the last few years, ultimately reaching a critical mass that can no longer be ignored or brushed aside.
Here are a handful of drivers that are causing organizations to shift their marketing efforts and resources from interruption marketing to content marketing.
1. Buyers have changed their attitudes toward traditional media and content credibility.
Today’s Internet-savvy consumers look everywhere for essential content that will enable them to make smart buying decisions. And as long as they get their answers, today’s buyers don’t care where the content comes from.
Small information providers have as much chance to influence buyers as the established media giants, for as long as the information they provide is of high quality and usefulness to the audience.
2. Traditional advertising is growing more and more unreliable in reaching audiences and eliciting their response.
Publishing companies used to draw strength from their unique ability to deliver target demographics for a wide range of definable markets. But trends show that traditional vehicles are losing audiences, and are less helpful in getting your message to your target markets.
3. Decreasing advertising budgets adversely affect the quality of marketing content.
B2B and B2C media companies are experiencing a downturn where decreasing advertising revenues necessitate cuts in editorial staff, editorial pages, and in the circulation size of their publications.
Bad news for traditional media, but a significant opportunity for non-traditional content creators to fill the void
4. Selling to customers is getting more difficult.
Consumers are more informed, and so it’s more difficult to sell to them. The old-school strategies are giving way to content marketing where companies engage in an interactive dialogue with prospects.
5. Great content is no longer monopolized by big companies.
Some years ago, only big companies could afford to produce great marketing content. Technology has given companies of all sizes the following advantages:
- The ability to create sophisticated online publications such as Web sites, digital magazines, and e-newsletters
- The ability to manage huge amounts of data relating to current and future customers
- The ability to do both of these simply and inexpensively
6. Businesses are forced to produce great content in order to be credible.
Buyers can now tell the difference between great content and an empty sales pitch.
Corporations address this issue by establishing editorial standards to govern their content marketing initiatives.
These standards may even exceed those of some traditional publishing companies
