Is Your Content Marketing Strategy Maturing with the Market?

All experienced marketers understand that every growth market  matures. To think the same would not be true for content marketing would  be folly. You might say, “Content marketing is still too new!” First  off, it’s not as new as you might think. Secondly, if you take into  consideration the speed at which digital marketing and social media have  been evolving, it stands to reason that its maturity rate will match  the evolution rate.

Content Marketing’s Early Days

The origins of content  marketing is relative to one’s definition of content marketing. Some  argue that content marketing began with cave paintings, while others  believe it began with the ability to disseminate mass communication  through the internet. That leaves an enormous span of time for those who  believe it began somewhere in between.

One thing is for certain –  brands have been telling stories for well over a century – from John  Deere’s launch of ‘The Furrow’ in 1885 in order to build relationships  by helping farmers improve their processes to Jello’s turn of the  century free recipe booklets. There is a common denominator to these  earliest content marketing strategies and today’s: Brands telling  stories to attract and connect with customers.  It is a strategy that  historically transformed some brands into modern household essentials.  And while brands, people, and publishing have changed, content marketing  is still transforming brands today.

3 Ways Content Marketing is Maturing

So,  if content marketing is not new, how has it endured as an effective  marketing tactic over periods of such enormous change? Through maturity.  As investment in content marketing  grows, it is being matched by more mature content strategies. Brands  that have embraced content marketing have stepped up their game in terms  of the planning, creative, technical, and assessment of content  marketing.

• Strategy & Planning: More and  more brands have articulated editorial missions, strategies, marketing  personas, and editorial calendars. Gone are the days when content  marketing was sporadically published in one or two places with assets  created on the fly.
• Execution: A more mature  content marketer knows the value of quality over quantity. Stock images  and lower quality graphics have made way for compelling, original  images, and videos paired with content that provides value to targeted  audiences in multiple stages of the buying cycle with a distribution  over paid, owned, free, and earned channels.
• Assessment & Refinement: Data is increasingly important, with tools  and technology to help organize and measure impact. The value and power  of calculating the ROI of content marketing is in how it informs the  next round of planning and strategizing.

Tips for the More Mature Content Marketer

As  more and more content is being created and served by an ever-increasing  number of brands globally, content marketers will continue to search  for the next new and fresh way to rise above the din:

• Find niches  that are still underserved. A larger percentage of a smaller universe  is sometimes greater than a small percentage of a large universe. In  addition, those niche audiences can be fiercely loyal. For an example  from traditional marketing, think about when Nyquil first launched.  There were several large brands dominating the cold market, but Nyquil  was able to grab significant marketing share by becoming the first  ‘nighttime’ cold medicine – a quite effective niche for them.
• Solidify  and adhere to what differentiates you from competitors. Distinguishing  yourself from competitors is what will help you create value.
• As  social networks become saturated, reach can decline. Look at paid  social media distribution in combination with building your organic  audience.
• Remain agile.

Always take lessons from  history to heart. John Deere’s ‘The Furrow’ taught us that selling is  often more about building relationships and loyalty than it is about  selling. These types of universal lessons can help brands stay relevant  as content marketing matures.