Gobble Gobble: 3 Reasons to Be Thankful for Content Marketing

November 26, 2013

turkey-cartoonIn honor of this week’s Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to share three reasons why I think everyone should be thankful for content marketing. So, as you are eating your fill of turkey and cranberry sauce this week, give these three points some consideration. As it turns out, you don’t have to be a content marketer to appreciate and be thankful for what content marketing has done to make things better for all of us content consumers.

1) Thanks for Making It About Us and Not About You

It wasn’t that long ago that companies thought that the key to successful marketing was telling you just how great they are and why you should choose them for their outstanding products and services. It was an era of chest pounding and, as a result, customers really weren’t getting the kind of attention they deserved.

Fortunately, that’s no longer the case (at least for companies with smart content marketers). These days an increasing number of companies are taking the time to understand who their customers are and what they really care about, and their content often reflects that understanding making it far more effective. As a result, instead of getting flooded with a bunch of random content, people are increasingly receiving (and discovering) stuff that’s tailored specifically for them. As someone who’s tired of getting overwhelmed by all of the content out there that doesn’t have anything to do with me, that’s definitely something to be thankful for!

2) Thanks for Creating Content that’s Actually Useful!

Screen Shot 2013-11-25 at 4.24.55 PMOne of the great things about content marketing is that people are realizing that to be successful, they need to provide useful information to their target audience that helps them solve whatever problems they may be facing. If your content isn’t useful, people aren’t going to consume it and share it with others. It’s just that simple.

One of my favorite examples of useful content is called Sit or Squat, which I heard about from Mitch Joel. It’s a simple app that allows you to use your phone to navigate your way to the nearest public restrooms. How handy is that? And, how clever, too, considering that the app was created by the folks at Charmin toilet paper. If you use the app, chances are that when you’ll choose Charmin the next time you’re at the grocery story.

3) Thanks for Entertaining Us

To stand out, content marketers are also going out of their way to make really clever, funny, content that captures our attention. Cue the explosion of witty videos and clever cartoons. One of my favorite examples is a video from DollarShaveClub.com.

I love this piece of content because it’s really entertaining and yet also makes me want to buy their product. I guess I’m not alone considering it been viewed over 12 million times on YouTube.

So, what’s the bottom line? Be thankful for content marketing this Thanksgiving, because it really has made things better for everyone!

 

Content Marketing Director

<strong>Kevin Cain</strong> is the Content Marketing Director for <a href="http://www.bluechipcommunication.com.au/">BlueChip Communication</a>, Australia's leading financial services communication firm. Before joining BlueChip, Kevin was the Director of Content Strategy for OpenView.