By John Lavey | Hammock President and COO
Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute and author of the book Content Inc., recently paid a visit to Nashville. Pulizzi offered great insights for marketers, particularly those who are looking to launch content marketing efforts for their companies.
More than 100 healthcare marketers were in attendance. Here are seven points Pulizzi made that we at Hammock subscribe to wholeheartedly.
- Successful content marketing starts with a mission—not with a list of tools such as a blog or Twitter account or even a vague goal such as “I want to be a thought leader.”
- If you have 18 different personas you are trying to reach, then create 18 blogs. Don’t attempt to make one content marketing strategy work for multiple business objectives.
- Provide information that no one else can—or provide better information than others. There is so much sameness in what people do, so work on standing out.
- Content marketing is a long-term commitment. It can take months, even years, to establish the importance and trust that makes for a successful campaign.
- Be an expert in something, whether that’s an important niche topic covered by few, the cultivation of a podcast with exclusive access to industry leaders, or the recognized source of recurring research and analysis. Use your unique and valuable expertise to help your customers reach their goals.
- Bake social media into content marketing, just like you would search engine marketing and paid media.
- Using content marketing to support search engine marketing is backward. Content marketing, whether it’s blogging about your products or creating branded media, is the centerpiece of digital marketing. SEO and social media should support it, not the other way around.
Bottom Line for Marketers: Be strategic in your approach to content marketing. Be prepared to invest time and resources to be successful. And remember that content is the dog; social and SEO are the tail.
Image Credit | iStock
About Hammock Healthcare Idea Email | This post is part of Hammock’s award-winning Idea Email series. Idea Emails are sent every other week and share one insightful marketing idea. Idea Email comes in two flavors: Original and Healthcare. To subscribe to the original Idea Email (general marketing ideas), click here . To subscribe to the Healthcare Idea Email (healthcare marketing ideas), click here.