Businesses today need more than just a website that catalogues their products and services. You need content that will encourage visitors to come to your site and take action, and you also need a content marketing strategy to improve the visibility of this content. Aside from using content marketing to guide people to your landing page, you will need to drive them to specific actions on your website, which is where a content strategy comes into place.
If you are looking into content marketing you will also need a content strategy. Now, many people assume that content marketing and a content strategy are one and the same, but there are important differences to consider. Content marketing and a content strategy do complement one another perfectly, and you do need one to have the other. Feeling a bit confused? In this article, we break down the differences between content marketing and content strategy.
What Is Content Marketing?
If you are new to the world of digital marketing, the terminology can sound confusing. In simple terms, content marketing can be understood as a form of marketing which focuses on creating, publishing, and distributing content to an online audience with the goal of attracting customers. Content can be text-, image-, or video-based and refers specifically to digitally created content.
One of the most popular and effective methods of content marketing is inbound marketing. Inbound marketing can be thought of as creating experiences that are valuable for both people and your business by attracting people to your website using relevant content.
It is a more dynamic and interactive experience when compared to other forms of marketing. Think about it like this: rather than watching their favourite television show and seeing an advertisement for a fast-food brand during a commercial break, digital consumers are searching the internet for this specific fast-food brand and are actively looking for content.
There are many different types of content marketing, some of which we discuss below:
- Blog Posts: Simply put, a blog post is an informative piece of writing that is published on a blog page on your company’s website. For a blog you will focus on one or two keywords as this will help to improve your SEO (search engine optimisation) and will boost the chances of this blog appearing in search results.
- Videos: Content marketing does not only consist of written article but can also include visual content. Videos are becoming more and more popular with consumers, making them a vital component of any content marketing strategy. Videos use keywords in their descriptions and titles to improve SEO and online visibility.
- Infographics: Visual content is just as important as written content, but combining the two as an infographic can bring about powerful brand interactions. Infographics can be shared across social media platforms and on other websites for improved backlinking.
- Whitepapers: A whitepaper is a more informative and educational form of content marketing, in that, it addresses more complex matters and presents your company’s philosophy or viewpoint on the matter. Whitepapers usually take the forms of in-depth reports and case studies.
What Is Content Strategy?
Now that you understand a little more about what content marketing is, you can dive into learning more about content strategy and what it entails. Content strategy is the foundation for successful content marketing. It is the map which guides the journey of your content and lays out where, when, and most importantly, why your content will be shared.
A content strategy answers the question of why the content is being created. It helps to determine the goal of your content, such as writing a blog post to grow the size of your email newsletter list or creating an infographic about a product to drive purchases of the product. It also helps you to define who your target audience is when you create the content.
Your content strategy will analyse the major pain points of your audience, why they might be reading your content, and how your product or service can improve their life. Not having a content strategy would be like writing the world’s most beautiful letter…and addressing it to no one. This is where a content strategy can come in handy.
You Can’t Have One Without The Other
Creating content without having a strategy in place might lead to your content marketing efforts falling a bit flat. A content strategy helps to set the metrics you will measure to ascertain your campaign’s success, who will be writing your content, and where it will be shared. Writing blogs and creating videos will only take you so far without a plan.
If you need help you either your content marketing strategy or creating content, speak to the NetMechanic team today to find out how we can help you.