Back in 2014, Marketing Week featured an article with a heading cleverly designed to raise the hackles of us content marketers.
And no doubt to make us read it.
In ‘Content marketing is a meaningless buzzword that needs to buzz off’ the author highlighted how William Hill’s CEO was thoroughly cheesed off with the phrase that everyone who was anyone in marketing circles was using.
Is it time content marketing buzzed off?
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that content marketing was nothing more than a buzzword.
Incidentally from the same people who once told me that social media wasn’t an appropriate marketing channel for businesses.
*SmugFace*
A buzzword can be defined as a meaninglessly overused phrase connected with a specialised field that sounds important and is used primarily to impress laypersons.
Is content marketing really just another clever word used by us marketers to make ourselves sound smarter than we are?
Content marketing isn't going anywhere soon
What is true is that content marketing isn’t something new.
Doesn’t the fact that content marketing has been around for over 100 years and is gaining momentum prove its worth?
Content marketing may have been called something different throughout the decades, but its value has never been in doubt.
The real problem with content marketing is not what we call it but that there are still far too many people doing it badly. Content that is created without any idea who it is for and what they might want.
The fundamental rule in creating any piece of content, whether that’s a blog, an infographic, a video etc. should be to never forget who you are creating it for. To provide content that supports your values and engages those people you want to talk to.
So, as we navigate the evolving landscape of marketing, let’s not just focus on what we call it, but rather on ensuring that our content resonates authentically with our audience. Only then will our efforts stand as a testament to the true essence of effective content marketing.