In the realm of online business, content marketing is critical – referenced more frequently than ever before. However, in a haste to learn more about what content can do for their bottom line, businesses are mixing up terms and phrases, failing to differentiate between what equates as “content marketing”, and a lesser-known concept: “content strategy.”
In simple terms, a content strategy is the all-inclusive approach to content, whereas content marketing is a singular part of that complete picture. Understanding the difference between the two, as well as finding a way to link them in your daily business coordination, could be one of the best things you could do for your business, when you’re trying to succeed both online, and offline.
What is a Content Strategy?
In simple terms, your content strategy is your master-plan for using content throughout your business. This can involve the planning, development and management of the content that fills up your blog, describes your products, and explains your website. A comprehensive content strategy should provide the answers to any questions you might have regarding how to utilize content to the optimum level, including:
- Where the content is going to be published
- Why the content should be published
- When the content should be published
- Who you want to see the content
- What reaction you’re looking for
Those are just the broad-spectrum where, why, when, who and what questions of a fundamental content strategy. Once you’ve gotten those out of the way, you’ll need to explore further, asking yourself how your content will be organized, who’s going to write it, how often you’re going to publish it, and how your audience is going to find it.
A Content Strategy is a process that requires a lot of strategizing, planning and researching. However, if you put the effort in, you should be able to get more out of your content, by understanding how it can achieve your business goals.
What is Content Marketing?
So if all that describes a content strategy – what exactly is content marketing?
Basically, content marketing is the method that you use to attract and retain customers through the crafting and delivery of useful, relevant, and valuable content. Essentially, it is a carefully constructed combination of organic marketing and sales techniques rolled into a neat package. With content marketing, you select the ideal audiences that you want to pitch your business to, and once you’ve drawn them in, you continue working to drive them into profitable action with content that helps to shape their conversion behavior.
Content marketing can come in the form of:
- PPC
- SEO
- Blogs
- White papers
- Press Releases
- Social Media Posts
- Inbound Marketing
- Articles
In conclusion…
Pairing a strong content strategy with a good marketing strategy is one of the most beneficial tools that your business can access when maximizing consumer reach and brand awareness. Try to make sure that the foundation for your strategy is planned out before you contact your content copywriter and start delivering your expertly-written content.
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