Marketing strategies continue to evolve and many businesses are trying to implement new strategic methods. One of the biggest decisions is whether to use content marketing, inbound marketing or both. Where it may be that these two marketing techniques are used interchangeably, they are two separate strategies with definitive differences. Each technique has its benefits and drawbacks and must be considered as to its place within a business. To make the determination, businesses must understand the core definitions of each marketing strategy as well as the differences between each of these marketing techniques in order to make an informed decision as to which marketing will best benefit their business.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is creating content which potential clients will find attractive. This encourages the potential client to share the information and to make informative decisions about your product or services based upon such information. Content marketing is directed at a specific target audience meaning that the content will not be appropriate or relevant for everyone that stumbles upon it. Being so, the content needs to be more sophisticated / detailed than that of the common marketing campaign as you are trying to build your clientèle from providing such information.
For example: A roofing material provider may distribute an article on why it is best to use certain technique when nailing a 3 tab asphalt shingle. Of course, the video will expound briefly on why their 3 tab shingle is the best choice when implementing the method, but the overall content will not be a sales pitch, but an informative video on the technique. Someone that does not roof would probably have no interest in the topic. However, to a roofer the content is relevant.
It can be understood that the content has to have an appeal to the customer. Where traditional marketing techniques present the product in the best light, content marketing aims to drive the potential customer to your product without “shoving a product down their throat”.
What is inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is a bit broader in scope than content marketing. Where content marketing is quality driven, inbound marketing is quantity driven. Specifically, inbound marketing maximizes the exposure of content through blogs, social media, newsletter, EBooks, YouTube, viemo, etc. The goal of doing so is to create content that is shared by the largest amount of potential customers.
Which is better?
For building your SEO globally, inbound marketing should be used. If you view content marketing as a sophisticated rifle and inbound marketing as a shotgun, you can see why. With inbound marketing your target audience is spread out. You hit more with it. True, you want to have content that has some merit and you want to ensure that you drive clients to your site, but the overall goal is not really to get customers as it is to boost ratings and increase your status.
If you want to increase your sales and build customer loyalty, then content marketing is the more adequate solution. You are singling out or targeting a specific niche in the market. True, you are less likely to see the backlinking and the SEO that you would see from inbound marketing, but the quality of your customer base will be greater as you are orienting your marketing to those which are already interested in your product.
Of course, integrating both marketing strategies is the best method for ensuring that you have a well-balanced SEO. Inbound marketing can be used to get the larger crowd interested in a business’s product and content oriented material can help to ensure that you get the clientèle which you want. Going back to the roofing example: The inbound marketing could be a twitter or Facebook post showing how to lay shingles on a roof. The content marketing can be a descriptive video showing the benefits of your shingle over another.
Considerations
In order to have effective marketing several techniques need to be implemented. Much like an investment portfolio, you do not want to have all of your marketing funds and attention allocated to one area. Neither should you have your marketing so diverse that there is no definitive target market.
It is advised that you use the services of a professional SEO and marketing team in order to best drive traffic to your site, increase your sales, and improve your ranking.
Should you decide to provide the inbound and content marketing on your own ensure that your content is relevant and that you are not creating a SPAM campaign. Over using links or posting the same duplicate content on various social media sites will have Google and other search engine’s algorithms label the content as duplicated/irrelevant or SPAM content. When possible, link your marketing with organic generated content to boost your SEO and encourage consumer engagement. By doing so your marketing will see vast improvements and your potential client base will be maximized.
