The Need for Useful (not just clever) Content Marketing

I’m sure you’ve all probably read the definition of content marketing from the Content Marketing Institute:

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.

Sounds simple enough, but it’s only effective when your content is useful.

Useful content marketing includes the creation of videos, blogs, articles, etc. that answer questions keeping your clearly defined target audience up at night. Sure, it’s fine to do a worst-case scenario post or a fun poke at something pop culture (that relates to your industry) every once in a while, but your audience is looking for answers – and you have them.

Google’s Hummingbird update wants you to get serious about answering questions in your content. According to Jim Yu at Search Engine Land, the update to the search engine’s algorithms are more user-focused – just like your content needs to be.

In his article on how SEO changed forever in 2013, he points out how we can make use of questions in our content. Here’s a list of tips inspired by his comments:

• Focus on topics instead of keywords.
• Plan your content around the questions it answers.
• Hire real writers and SEOs separately. Writers focus on clarity and audience. SEOs focus on optimization. Look for specialists versus generalists. It gives you an edge and saves money in the long-term with great content and maximum optimization.

Similar to this Raymond James commercial about the cautious hat maker, it’s all about providing content that stands the test of usefulness. In the commercial, the tall hats were fashionable and fadish. They didn’t serve much of a purpose, and people came back to the hat maker who made useful hats. Your readers want useful, not trendy.

So, what are your next steps in useful content? Are you ready to learn more about how useful content will help you make better connections with your audience? Get in touch with us to discuss your unique situation.