Content Marketing: Does what it says on the tin!

‘Content Marketing’ is still the phrase of the minute as we enter 2014, given the amount of articles, blogs and other content (sorry, couldn’t resist : ) we’ve come across in the past couple of months on this very subject.

Most of these concur with our belief that good, well written, original content which tells a story is key to a successful marketing & PR campaign. And that this should then be used as appropriate across all channels – from website & SEO campaigns, to monthly newsletter mail outs, to media relations activity.

However, unless we’re missing something, isn’t this just good old-fashioned strategic marketing that many of the best in the West have been doing since the millennium?!

Long gone are the days where the PR agency would get one brief and the ad agency ‘suits’ another , with both teams working in silo and all things digital remaining a grey area somewhere in between the two.

Good communications & marketing campaigns have always been built around developing a central story or narrative for a business, which will appeal to customers and engage them to buy its products or services.

Developing this story in to palatable content which is suitable to the audience and marketing channel in question is where the real skill comes in to it and what will sort the winners from the losers when it comes to agencies keen to cash in on the ‘content marketing’ boom.