You have probably heard of the term “Content Marketing.”  It is a relatively new form of marketing that allows a company to distribute branded content that is not simply a promotion or advertisement.  Content Marketing’s basis is simply to send information that is relevant to the interests of your target market.  The Content Marketing Institute, or CMI, gives this definition of content marketing:

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

Interestingly, according to a December 2012 Ad Age Study of over 600 Marketers, 77 percent of marketers who are using Content Marketing to acquire new customers have used print media as one of the ‘top vehicles of distribution’ for their content.  Social Media came in first place with 80 percent of Marketers claiming it was always used to distribute the content to their audience.

When asked if marketers planned to increase their use of Content Marketing strategy, 55 percent said in 2013 their Content Marketing budget would increase.  Content Marketing, combined with cross media distribution is proving to be a valuable way to reach and engage customers with your content.

The one drawback of Content Marketing that has been recorded is it’s hard to measure any meaningful Return on Investments — meaning once a consumer is engaged with your print message or YouTube video, it is hard to decipher if those people continue on to your website or looked further into doing business in some way with your brand.

Content Marketing has proven one thing — it is highly engaging and it allows you to add additional branded touch points between your audience and your marketing messages. Finally, the other avenues of distribution that the marketers in the study were using are as follows:

Blogs or digital articles (52%)

video (49%)

Live events (43%)

Targeted microsites (41%)

Branded entertainment (26%)

White papers (24%)

Webinars or virtual events (23%)

Have you used Content Marketing as a part of your cross media marketing communication strategy?  

Timothy Freeman

President

Print & Graphic Communications Association