You’ve probably noticed by now that consumers are not responding as they once did to traditional marketing strategies and techniques.
They fast forward through commercials, ignore banner ads on websites, and are skeptical of – if not downright put off by – any overt attempt by a company to “win their business” or even get their attention.
So what’s a business to do? How are you supposed to attract new prospects and customers if you can’t market to people anymore (at least, not in the way you used to)?
You may have heard us say this before, but it bears repeating, so we’ll say it again:
You have to give your community, and the world at large, something of value, for free, on a consistent and regular basis, before you ever ask for a thing.
And, by the way, if you do it right, you won’t actually have to ask for anything. Your prospects will choose to do business with you of their own free will, not just because they like what you have to offer, but because they have come to trust you. They will come to trust that you aren’t going to blindside them with unwelcome sales pitches, or incessantly beat them over the head about how great your product/service/company is. They will know from experience that you’re there to help them, and provide them with information and insights they can use to improve their lives or careers. You will have built an actual relationship with them; one that’s built on trust, generosity, and honesty.
This is why content marketing is so darned important.
What is content marketing, exactly? You’ve heard the term, but what does it really mean? The best definition we’ve found is this one, from Joe Pulizzi: Content marketing is “the marketing and business process for 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”.
Content marketing isn’t just the way of the future. It’s one of the most important things you can do right now to get more from your email marketing efforts.
With that said, for the next several weeks, we’ve dedicated the Net Atlantic blog to going beyond the inbox. We’re going to help you improve the results you get from your email marketing campaigns by adding content marketing to the mix. We’ll cover how to write a great blog post, how to come up with blog topic ideas, creating a content marketing strategy and editorial calendar, getting the most out of social media, and more.
Stay tuned!
Email Marketing Blog 