Content is no longer the key to content marketing

Let’s face it – we are drowning in content. All of a sudden every company creates content to attract new buyers and these activities are only intensifying. Companies that invest in content marketing see the solution in increasing the quantity of created content, publishing content more often, repeating content and using additional communication channels. But does any of that really work?

I am certain that marketing has reached a phase where context is much more important than creating content. The success of content marketing will therefore depend on the skill of reaching consumers in the right context. Interesting content will never reach the consumers if we don’t know their context, because content without context will only bore them. Every story that reaches readers in the moment when they are not interested distances us from them. We might see it as collecting negative points – the more intense and uninteresting we are, the sooner we will be out of the game.

The fact is that you cannot succeed by providing bad content and having a boring writing style, but even good content combined with excellent language skills won’t necessarily lead to success. At least not in the way that was possible just a few years ago. Today’s efforts must be focused on providing the right content to the right reader at the right time. If content marketing is a tool for achieving the sales goals of the company, it is crucial to connect the created content to the buying rationalization of our buyers. What you want to hear depends on your state of mind in the given moment. The key to success is knowing the state of individual minds in a given moment, so you can serve the right content at the right moment in the way that the individual mind likes.

This means two things:

1. Create content for the entire customer journey (for all target groups and products)
   Your content must cover the entire customer journey of your buyers and not only the initial interest generation, which is built mostly around problems that the buyer is supposed to be solving. If you think this will reveal too much information to your competitors, you are wrong. Your competitors already know how you attract new customers, just as you know how they do it. If you’re hiding anything, you’ve only managed to hide it from your potential buyers.
2. Establish marketing automation
   There is no other way to get context or the state of the customer journey for individual customers than tracking their behavior on your digital backyard. That is unless they contact you personally, which is becoming more and more rare. It will be hard for you to influence anything when they have already formed a larger part of their purchase decision. Tracking the activity of individual readers by analyzing their digital breadcrumbs is necessary for determining their context. This will enable you to adapt and personalize their web experience. And to achieve both, you will need a well implemented marketing automation system along with great content.

I could probably write at least 10 more posts about sensibly implementing marketing automation, but if I cut to the point, it should:

• Enable individual tracking of customers through the customer journey (marketing funnel) and proactively collect their data.
• Personalize the digital experience of the potential customer with the provider (not only email communication, but the website as well).
• Qualify the leads from the position of sales potential (buyer readiness) and import their information into the CRM system where the sales team can process it.

A piece of advice for the end … Be careful with personalization. You may scare away your leads by showing them exactly how much you know about them. Only personalize up to a point that is useful to them – providing content that you believe might interest them.

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PS.
If you want to enrich your investment into creating content and make your content marketing more actionable, I would recommend you read these manuals:

If you don’t want to be alone on this journey, email me: [email protected].