Is Content Marketing Meant to Drive Awareness or Sales?

Great question, but I’ve got a counter question.

Would you invest in a long-term marketing strategy that DIDN’T drive sales?

I hope not.

What’s the point of thousands of people simply knowing about your brand and never buying, or opening a conversation with you about potentially buying from you?

GREAT CONTENT DRIVES SALES. IF IT DOESN’T, IT’S NOT DOING ITS JOB. 

Great content also takes time to get recognised as great content. Five articles or three videos are a great start, but your tipping point comes much, much farther into the game.

And when you’re at that tipping point, you are an absolutely intimidating brand for your competitors because you haven’t just advertised, you’ve built a legacy – a universe that belongs to you and your brand.

Fretting over Format?

Don’t.

Written content, videos, audio content, each have a specific sphere of influence.

To begin with, you can most definitely pick the one format that comes easiest to you and do a spectacular job with it.

But in the long run, a truly sustainable content strategy builds its roots across each one of those mediums.

There’s a reason why global brands invest multi-million dollars into a written blog, a YouTube channel and have a six-person social media team for Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. There’s a reason they also then go on to introduce a podcast series into the mix.

The greatest marketing strategies reach far and wide, across channels, formats and mediums. Because people consume content differently.

Think about it: Can you actually pick a full, true representation of your target audience and say that ALL of them listen to podcasts, or that NONE of them read?

It's unlikely.

Some people read, some people watch videos, some people listen to podcasts.

(In a following post, I’m going to share the pros and cons of these formats and talk about the characteristics of great content in each of the formats)  

For instance, for those that believe audiences don’t like reading anymore, the truth is: I can skim a well-structured 1000-word article in 15 seconds, but I can’t skim a 6-minute video in 15 seconds. If I only had 15 seconds to run a quick search, which one am I going to pick?

Let’s say I need to prep for a last-minute presentation and need something that I can consume on my 30-minute run today.

What format do you need to hit me with so you answer my questions, satiate my need for information and fit into my day? You got a podcast? Yep, give it to me.

With content, you need to be thinking: Ultimately, I need this person I am reaching to want to want to consume my content again, someday buy from me, refer me on to someone who will buy for me or all of the above.

To make that happen, you need to create content that can be consumed with the least possible resistance.

If it means that you read your written articles out loud into your phone and make an ‘Audio Log’ out of each article, then so be it.

Think through your digital pieces – who are you trying to reach or serve, when and to what result?  

If you have clarity on that part, it’s going to be hard for you to consistency create good quality content that doesn’t drive sales.

Lockdown mode? Now is a great time to think about content marketing, revamping your website copy or some of those other important things that needed time they never get in your usual busy, back-to-back calendar. Give them some time and energy – you won’t regret it!

Content-related conversations excite me, so please, please, if you need some content marketing or digital messaging advice, leave me a comment here. Let’s make a better, more informative and responsible Internet together, one piece of content at a time.