Content Marketing: Be the Boss
“Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.”
-Bruce Springsteen
The Boss, as Bruce Springsteen is known, has been doing it for a long time. In this case, he was discussing his route to acclaim and stardom - his first major success came in the mid-’70’s after over a decade of consistent efforts with different bands, as a solo performer, signed, and unsigned. Nearly 10 years passed between his critically acclaimed albums, Born to Run and Born in the USA. He’s been a prolific creator for the last 50+ years, being nominated and winning a number of awards in the last decade. He’s still performing at the top of his field.
Consistency of thought and purpose.
Most business owners understand that consistency is the key to sustaining and growing their business. Whether you run a restaurant, a construction company, an accounting firm, or a digital marketing agency, you know that you will not make it unless you are consistent with your processes, procedures, and outcomes.
When it comes to marketing, the topic of consistency is not as sexy as devising glamorous ads or brainstorming clever marketing slogans. Creating clever material is validating. However, when it comes to communicating with your customer base, consistency in marketing is the key to success.
Consider how the biggest players in marketing do it. Pepsi and Coke. Starbucks and McDonald’s. Amazon and Microsoft. They are ubiquitous and always top of mind.
Most businesses and organizations will never approach the amount of money these brands spend on creating and distributing media and marketing content. However, we can all learn from what they do, and find ways to leverage limited resources.
We can see that these organizations are consistently creating and distributing content and therefore maintain a constant conversation with the public. These organizations are able to connect with customers who sit at every level of the buyer experience cycle.
Compare it to music like that of the Boss. You may have started consuming his content in the 70s, or maybe in the early 90s, or perhaps more recently. Regardless you and most people you know have heard his music in multiple settings and across various mediums.
This is the classic “marketing rule of 7" in action. It suggests that ‘a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you.’ It is likely you’ve heard Bruce Springsteen’s music at least 7 times in your life.
It is unlikely that you have a good sense of where individual members of the public stand in the buying process with regard to your business.
However, using the analogy of Bruce Springsteen, you can surmise that consistent output, which considers the interests of the audience and caters to those interests, will result in a favorable outcome: a new customer.
What we can also learn from the Boss is that the surest way to lure new attention to your brand is to consistently provide content that is interesting, amusing, and/or otherwise engaging.
In the world of small business digital marketing, this is known as “content marketing.” It’s subtle. It’s subversive. And customers love it.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is the creation and distribution of content with the intention of building relationships with your customers. It is different than “direct” advertising.
Direct advertising takes the form of broadcast and radio commercials, print advertisements, email advertisement campaigns, direct mail, flyer or sales letters, promoted or paid advertising on social media, or pre-roll ads on youtube and other video platforms.
Content marketing falls into what can be classified as indirect advertising, which includes news articles and press, sponsorships, useful blog posts, social media pages, social media influencers, product placements, word-of-mouth, referrals, or online reviews.
Basically, where direct marketing tells a consumer “this is what we sell, you should buy it,” indirect marketing cues your potential customer by showcasing social proof (reviews and testimonials), allowing them to learn about your company and what it does, showcases examples of other people using your product (influencers), or otherwise educates or entertains.
All of this is a very roundabout way of getting consumers interested in what your company does. Because we live in an era of unprecedented consumer choice, we as advertisers are exploring and using a variety of channels, which in turn is triggering more and more interactions with customers as they seek to meet their needs.
Content marketing creates clusters of interactions across channels that make a single interaction less important than the cumulative experience. In addition, the customer journey often spans all elements of a company - everything from buying a product, to actually using it, having issues with a product that require resolution, or simply making the decision to use a service or product for the first time. This whole process happens digitally, in real time.
“Content marketing has become central to digital marketing strategy. ”
— Scott Brinker, searchengineland.com
“Content marketing has become central to digital marketing strategy. Its objective is simple: create genuinely useful or entertaining content for many specific niches of your target audience... not to overly promote your business, but to build rapport and brand equity - and give it away for free.”