The 4Ps of Content Marketing
With a back-to-basics approach, software companies can leverage the latest content marketing opportunities in order to better connect with their constituencies.
By Ambal Balakrishnan, ClickDocuments
May 27, 2009
The Content Revolution is here. Publishing and distribution have been democratized. Content - whether produced by enterprises or individuals - is being published and distributed in dozens of forms for multiple platforms. The unforeseen growth of channels, forums and new media outlets has caused content distribution to become highly fragmented.
For software companies, the rules of marketing have changed, once again. Yes, the new content tools and vehicles are very cool. However, marketers shouldn't be too quick to jump on the latest new media bandwagon. Developing a successful content marketing strategy involves going back to marketing's basics and mapping the new tools and content types appropriately.
The Content Marketing Era
Management guru Peter Drucker wrote about Information Revolutions in his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century." According to Drucker, the first printers of the Gutenberg Press were 15th-century technologists not unlike the digital technologists of today. Once the technology of printing leveled the playing field, the wealth shifted from the technologists to the content providers.
The same power shift is going on today. Software companies can leverage content marketing to power is shifting to content providers today. Drucker also rightly predicted that the questions in the next information revolution would be "What is the meaning of information, and what is its purpose?"
Wikipedia defines "content marketing" as an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. In contrast to traditional marketing methods that aim to increase sales or awareness through interruption techniques, content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action.
Every digital marketer is being told to develop blogs, wikis, podcasts, webcasts, YouTube videos, and other new vehicles to market their content. Managers are under high pressure to develop and publish content quickly in order to reach customer and prospects. Unfortunately, very few marketers have stopped to ask the following basic questions:
Adopting a Content Marketing Strategy
The new "digital world" of content marketing is very different from traditional content marketing. High quality, compelling content is the one of the important routes to finding potential customers. More and more marketers are moving away from traditional marketing vehicles such as advertisements and towards an integrated content marketing strategy to get their message across.
Marketing 101 taught the "4 Ps of Traditional Marketing" - Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Do these fundamental pillars still hold for all types of marketing? Certainly not. Let us take a look at the "4 Ps of Content Marketing:" Purpose, Plan, Persuade and Presentation.
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For software companies, the rules of marketing have changed, once again. Yes, the new content tools and vehicles are very cool. However, marketers shouldn't be too quick to jump on the latest new media bandwagon. Developing a successful content marketing strategy involves going back to marketing's basics and mapping the new tools and content types appropriately.
The Content Marketing Era
Management guru Peter Drucker wrote about Information Revolutions in his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century." According to Drucker, the first printers of the Gutenberg Press were 15th-century technologists not unlike the digital technologists of today. Once the technology of printing leveled the playing field, the wealth shifted from the technologists to the content providers.
The same power shift is going on today. Software companies can leverage content marketing to power is shifting to content providers today. Drucker also rightly predicted that the questions in the next information revolution would be "What is the meaning of information, and what is its purpose?"
Wikipedia defines "content marketing" as an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. In contrast to traditional marketing methods that aim to increase sales or awareness through interruption techniques, content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action.
Every digital marketer is being told to develop blogs, wikis, podcasts, webcasts, YouTube videos, and other new vehicles to market their content. Managers are under high pressure to develop and publish content quickly in order to reach customer and prospects. Unfortunately, very few marketers have stopped to ask the following basic questions:
- Why? What purpose does this content serve?
- How does this content fit in with the overall marketing strategy?
- How does marketing change with social media?
- What can content marketing do for the business?
- How can prospects and customers be better reached by providing valuable content?
Adopting a Content Marketing Strategy
The new "digital world" of content marketing is very different from traditional content marketing. High quality, compelling content is the one of the important routes to finding potential customers. More and more marketers are moving away from traditional marketing vehicles such as advertisements and towards an integrated content marketing strategy to get their message across.
Marketing 101 taught the "4 Ps of Traditional Marketing" - Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Do these fundamental pillars still hold for all types of marketing? Certainly not. Let us take a look at the "4 Ps of Content Marketing:" Purpose, Plan, Persuade and Presentation.
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