Content Marketing

Joe Pulizzi of Junta42, one of the foremost experts on content marketing , recently published the 2010 Content Marketing Spending Survey. Based on a survey of 259 marketing professionals, Junta42 found that content marketing spending will comprise 33% of the average marketing budget, up from 29% in 2008.

Content marketing is not necessarily a new concept.  It’s been around for decades, using names like thought leadership marketing, branded content or custom publishing.  It is, however, hotter than ever – primarily because traditional “interruption marketing” is no longer as effective as it once was.

Content marketing is a marketing technique that stands on three pillars:

• Creating unique, valuable and relevant content for a particular target audience
• Distributing that content to that target audience in an organized and systematic manner, in order to…
• Encourage members of the target audience to read, think about and act on the content
  

Content Marketing Strategy & Planning

Like any other facet of your marketing plan, content marketing requires a comprehensive evaluation and planning phase.  During this stage, we typically address the following:

• Refinement of core messaging
• Definition of buyer and influencer personas
• Audit of existing content assets
• Creation of content roadmap and editorial calendar
• Identification of distribution methods and channels
  

Content Creation & Distribution

Of course, once you've created a content marketing strategy, the real heavy lifting begins.  During this stage, we participate in the creation, distribution and marketing of content assets like:

• Website pages
• Blog posts
• Case studies
• White papers
• Webinar content
• Videos
• eBooks
• Email newsletters
• Press releases