What kind of content marketing business are you in?
Posted by Greg Elwell on Tue, Jul 13, 2010
Today, I received my usual daily, Seth Godin blog post via email titled: Two kinds of schooling. The two types:
Type 1. You can take a class where you learn technique, facts and procedures.
Type 2. You can take a class where you learn to see, learn to lead and learn to solve interesting problems.
Godin's post got me thinking about being a content producer. If you're in the B2B lead generation game you're in the content business. More specifically, you're in the content marketing business.
In case you missed it, I wrote about the significance of producing content and its correlation to lead generation in the post: B2B Lead Generation: Setting Content Marketing Goals. Basically, to recap: the more content you produce drives more traffic, links, SEO authority and leads. And, it's important therefore to set goals around the most important content related metrics, like the number of Google indexed pages, keyword rankings and blog posts.
That's all well and good, but after reading Godin's post on the two kinds of schooling, I realized theres more to it than just creating buckets of content. Just as there's a difference in the kind of results you'll get from the types of schooling you receive, there's also a big difference in the kind of engagement you'll get from the types of content you publish.
Remarkable & Relevant Content
When you first start zeroing in on the kind of content you should be marketing the concepts of remarkable and relevant content come readily to mind. But I think this doesn't quite go far enough. As in the two different types of schooling, you could be cranking out remarkable and relevant content but it may still not have the impact on lead generation you're looking for. For this reason I believe we must examine two kinds of remarkable and relevant content.
The Tale of Two Kinds of Content Mindsets
It seems to me to be a lot about positioning. Where you're coming from. What's your content producing mindset? There's two types as I see it:
1. Commodity based content. This is fact-based content. It's focused on heralding the virtues, features and benefits of products and services. There's nothing wrong with commodity based content. It's needed. It may even be remarkable and relevant. I mean what would we do without all the Dummies books? It's all very proper and valid and true and compliant with known laws, principles and scientific fact. But, the issue with this kind of content is it's dry. It doesn't connect with the readers problem. It doesn't really stir any emotional response or opinion. You could get it from just about anywhere. From it, you don't get any sense of the content producer's heart, soul or persona. It's just kind of vanilla - anyone could have written it. Maybe useful, but more often than not it fails to connect at a level we humans need.
2. Thought leadership content. This is getting inside the head of your reader type content. It comes from an understanding of your buyer personas' needs, problems and the ideas and solutions they seek. It tells a story, differentiates, goes against the flow, stirs reactions, stimulates fresh thinking, nurtures consideration and helps drive action.
It's illustrated by the approach Marcus Sheridan of River Pools and Spas takes on his company blog. Sheridan, who set out "to become the thought leader in the in-ground swimming pool industry through content creation and distribution," via his blog and social media engagement, frequently answers common questions his typical customers ask. For example, he recently shared his ideas on 11 Ways to Enhance the Look of Your Backyard Swimming Pool Oasis. So, if you were in the market to have an in-ground swimming pool installed in your backyard, wouldn't you want to know (beyond the specs and facts) how to integrate it with your surroundings and create a really great experience? Marcus thinks so, and he consistently produces this type of content to his market.
You may not be in the swimming pool, B2C space, but the principles of connecting with your audience through thought leadership is the same for B2B companies. In a recent Economics Intelligence Unit study reported by Marketo.com (Why Thought Leadership Rules the B2B World), 56% of B2B marketing executives stated "Positioning our company as a thought leader" as their top objective.
Focus your content pages and blog on helping others to see your vision, passion and ideas for solving their problems in creative ways. Go beyond the facts. Put your content marketing and editorial calendar together with a thought-leadership objective. Doing so may just get us hooked on you: subscribing to your blog, linking to your content, advocating your stuff on social media sites, and yes, signing up for your offers and trusting you with our business.
What ways have you found to generate thought-leadership content?