I attended a virtual Digital Marketing World conference sponsored by MarketingProfs this week. Wandering the virtual exhibit hall, I was struck by the variety and depth of content available from the vendors. The exhibit hall was as full of rich, informative content as the sessions themselves.
In most cases, vendors put aside or minimized their pure ‘product’ collateral like data sheets in favor of rich, informative, how-to types of contents (eBooks, case studies, best practices). I downloaded and read several of them, picking up some great suggestions and pointers. And in doing so I learned about those companies.
At least in the digital marketing space, businesses are ‘getting’ content marketing. They understand that they can create relationships with customers and prospects by providing content that is useful from the prospect’s perspective. They know they need different content for buyers at different stages, and can no longer simply shout about their product features and think that’s enough.
Which brings me to the key point—if you’re not doing content marketing yet, there’s a good chance that your competitors are. They are busy building trusted relationships with your prospects, perhaps even your customers. That’s not a good situation for your business.
The train is leaving the station and you need to be on board. Take a good look at what content you’re giving your prospects and customers. Map your content to your buyer personas and stages. Figure out where you’re missing content, and get busy. Because people are searching for meaningful information about your market online, and if you cannot provide it, someone else will.
Anne Janzer 