If you follow this blog regularly, you know I talk a lot about “content marketing.” Last week I was at a conference learning all about “inbound marketing.” Which begs the question: Are content marketing and inbound marketing different? Or are they interchangeable terms for the same thing? It depends on whom you ask.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a method of introducing your brand to people by creating targeted content that answers your customer’s basic questions and needs and then sharing that content far and wide.
Recently I heard a perfect description for content marketing: it’s marketing with a magnet, not a sledgehammer. Here’s what that means:
In traditional (outbound) marketing, you PUSH your product or service. You spend your time and money buying ads, buying email lists, cold calling, etc.
With content (inbound marketing), you PULL people toward you. You focus on creating educational content that pulls people toward your website where they can learn more about what you sell on their own accord.
Why is content marketing better than traditional marketing?
The reason for the shift from traditional marketing to content marketing is simple. We’re sick and tired of being marketed to – and we’re really good at blocking out ads.
Think about all the ways you exclude advertising from your life. You fast-forward through commercial breaks on your DVR, block pop-ups on the Internet, listen to ad-free streaming music instead of local radio. Heck, you probably don’t even have a home phone that a telemarketer could reach you on.
Now think about how you typically seek information. You get on your phone or your tablet or your computer and you type in a phrase. If you’re like many people, you often use a question format like “how do I … ?” It doesn’t really matter who answers the question, as long as they provide information that is accurate and useful.
How content marketing works
Content marketing is more than just posting a blog every few weeks. It requires a plan – and quite a bit of effort. But that effort is worth it! Great things can happen when you create and deliver content that will appeal to precisely the right people (your buyer personas) in the right places (channels) at just the right times (lifecycle stages).
This visual shows you the phases of content marketing:
Over the next few months, we’ll use this blog to explore many of the items on this graphic. What should you blog about? What makes a good landing page or form? How do workflows work? There’s a lot to learn, so we’ll break it down into reasonable chunks.
So, is content marketing the same as inbound marketing?
Thanks for sticking around long enough to get to the answer. Ask 10 modern marketing professionals and you’ll probably get 10 different answers. Personally, I think they’re the same – and I prefer the term content marketing because the terminology is simpler. If pressed, I’ll tell you that content marketing is the tactical implementation and inbound marketing is the philosophy behind those tactics.
But the bottom line is simple: It doesn’t matter what you call it. What matters is that it works!
- Andy
Andy Teipen is the director of business development at OSD and a regular blog contributor. Reach Andy by email at andy@outsidesource.com or by phone at 317-842-4853.
