A core goal of content marketing is to build engaged audiences through the information and experiences they value. It goes beyond just optimizing a single click or purchase path, to generating loyalty. If you want to deliver relationship-building experiences with the right content delivered at the right moment to the right person, you need the right data. In this article, I explore how data can be used to create content that deepens customer relationships — rather than just optimizing a single transaction.Continue Reading

It’s becoming increasingly clear that pure brand-to-visitor content marketing cannot be sustained over the long term. Not only does the yearly exponential increase in online content have the potential to exceed consumer demand, but among all the competition for attention, companies are finding that they have to work harder, and spend more, just to keep their existing audience tuned in — let alone grow their ranks. And, as Mark Schaefer’s “Economics of Content” model revealed, the cost benefits of creating attention-grabbing articles, videos, podcasts, and other materials are simply not in marketers’ favor.

To see any return on investment, your content marketing strategy must build social engagement and social capital. You create this social capital when your community contributes content that allows other members to derive benefit from it, lifting your brand engagement in the process.Continue Reading