From the course: OMCA™ Certification for Digital Marketers Test Prep

Defining content marketing and the benefits

From the course: OMCA™ Certification for Digital Marketers Test Prep

Start my 1-month free trial Buy for my team

Defining content marketing and the benefits

“

- Content marketing isn't about creating a video that will go viral or a post that will get likes. It's bigger than that. Content marketing uses all of the disciplines covered in the OMCA exam for a strategic purpose. Content marketing is not about creating posts or articles that get more likes and rank well as an end goal. Rather, the end goal is generating more business. Social posts, blog articles, YouTube videos, email, they'll all work together in content marketing to reach potential customers, engage and educate existing customers, and develop loyalty and referrals from your best customers. The first step in content marketing is making sure the marketing team understands the company's business objectives. Content marketing starts at a high level and is the result of an organizational approach to marketing that starts with the business goals. In other words, there is a larger purpose to simply using Facebook. It asks what type of content works best on Facebook and how it should be best used with other channels to further the big picture strategy. The second step is developing the content strategy to market. In most cases, the content is designed to answer questions and solve problems for both prospect and customer at every stage. Marketing teams research the content that is needed and searched for about their product. It then guides everyone in the company in telling the same story. The benefits of aligning marketing content to business goals are clear. First, an organization has direction in developing content. Second, there is a consistency in the theme and purpose of the content. Third, content is planned and scheduled according to an editorial calendar. Fourth, content is modified for distribution across appropriate channels. And finally, the purpose is to drive business. So it is measured in terms of return on investment based on increased sales or leads. Now let's talk about how content marketing relates to different disciplines like SEO and social media marketing. Content marketing is related to search engine optimization, since it guides the content being produced specifically for that channel. Search is typically how people find websites and the SEO strategy is focused on gaining visitors through increasing rankings. Content marketing is similar to social media marketing, since it uses social media channels to distribute content to specialized audiences. Content marketing uses social media as a broadcast or distribution channel to extend the reach of content and draw prospects to the website. However, content marketing is different from search and social. Search and social are channels used to distribute content and attract visitors. They're the mechanisms of how it happens. Content marketing is the big picture of why each channel will be used. Instead of focusing on a single discipline, content marketing aligns a company's marketing communications to the company's business objectives, that is producing and distributing content with a specific goal of sales or lead generation.

Contents