Content Marketing is one of the many buzzwords that has become part of the language of inbound marketing in recent years. The Content Marketing Institute (a valuable information resource on the subject) defines it this way:
Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.
OK, that's all fine and well, but what does content marketing mean to the Modern MSP? Simply this: Compelling content is the cornerstone of any effective marketing campaign whether you are a marketing IT services and cloud or luxury automobiles or toothpaste. So before you invest any of your precious time, energy, resources or budget into marketing campaigns to build awareness and drive demand for your cloud solutions, get your mind totally around your content marketing strategy. Here is one way to go about it.
The “WHY, HOW and WHAT” of Content Marketing
If you haven’t read Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why, I highly recommend it. It is the clearest and most compelling framework for establishing a value proposition I have found. If you want a brief introduction to the concept, check out this video of Simon explaining his Start With Why concept. It’s an 18-minute video, but you can get the essence of his concept by viewing the segment from 2:00-5:50. I bring this up because Sinek’s approach for articulating your value proposition is also a great way to formulate a content marketing strategy to establish thought-leadership for your CSB business. Here’s the basic premise: Thought leaders don’t sell – they educate, inform and engage with prospective buyers. This is the essence of inbound marketing, a more powerful way to build awareness for your company and turn valuable prospects into satisfied, long-term buyers.
A Content Marketing Framework
Just follow Sinek’s simple 3-question framework for building your own content marketing strategy and your inbound marketing assets (website, blog and social media channels), your outbound marketing programs (webinars, email campaigns and telemarketing) and your sales enablement resources (presentations, tools and training) will provide a cohesive and compelling sales and marketing framework for attracting customers and building your business. Here is a block diagram I use to illustrate how a well-defined content marketing strategy can provide the foundation and the framework for an integrated solutions marketing engine (click to enlarge the image).
WHY does your audience care about your content?
Your content marketing strategy must address the end-goals of your audience so be sure to describe the amazing outcomes - business benefits and customer experiences - that can be realized by consuming your content. In the IT services and cloud world, amazing outcomes are in the form of organizational efficiencies and cost savings that result from a better way to deploy, manage and use technology. Customer experiences are the end-user and buyer benefits to be realized when your approach is followed, versus the alternatives. However, there is a subtle, but critically important distinction to keep in mind. Don’t slip into sales mode and use your marketing content as a veiled sales pitch. Compelling content is about thought leadership. Don’t pontificate about WHY your audience should do business with you. That’s just old-fashioned salesmanship - and this is not a venue for selling, it's about your vision. Thought leaders don’t need to sell. They educate, inform and engage their audience. Do this and you will establish trust and demonstrate leadership. If you are objective, authoritative and focused on the needs of the customer, buyers will find you, the sales process will have less friction and your sales team will experience a higher success rate.
HOW do you create amazing outcomes and experiences?
