I think the term Content Marketing has definately become the latest buzzword of the last 6 months or so. Used and abused by digital marketers and consultants it is this season's "social media", "web2.0" or "information superhighway" and it will stay dominant until 'Semantic Web' or some other equally fancy term hits the digital mainstream soon enough.
Note: The only contender for it's crown of hype right now is 'big data'.
I think I've previously given the subject a fairly good coverage on this blog. I've written up a good explanation of what Content Marketing is & isn't, given examples of when it's crap, described how to optimise it and even gone into detail on how to measure it. However, when I also look back at posts on this blog from several years ago, I find I've covered the subject, but I've just not called it by that specific term.
From optimising press releases for social media in August 2010, through to considerations for making your content more portable in April 2008 (my, that does seem a long time ago).
So I'm going to make a bold statement.
I'm definately not getting into Content Marketing because it's now the latest and greatest thing to be into...
.... as it seems I've already been into Content Marketing for almost half a decade.
6 comments:
A lot of Magazine publishers will probably agree with you.
The best new hot phrases build by making the familiar strange. It's a fashion-like process: it helps when you discover a skill that you've had for years and haven't found much interest becomes the hot topic!
Eddie, I agree. Content Marketing may be a relatively new term for a much older practice. I actually produced a presentation about this back in November saying its a 'new / old' discipline.
Stephen: Thanks for commenting.
Yes, new industry terms are a sort of fashion that come in and out of vogue over time (IMHO: the only thing that dates something more than a catchy phrase is the date - e.g. 'Windows 95')
It is therefore reassuring to find a new terminology, understand what it means and then realise that it's what you've been doing.
This issue comes when new people into the discipline make the same old mistakes without learning what went on before.
Hayden
Hayden,
This got me thinking as I was involved in my last company being rebranded as a Content Marketing agency. They were/are an Association of Publishing Agencies member. So I went to the APA website to read their thoughts and guess what... they are now the CMA, guess what the CM stands for.
APA rebrand as CMA http://www.the-cma.com/news/apa-rebrands-to-the-cma
Yes, the term does seem to be spreading across the industry.
If I was setting up a new agency right now... I'd create a content marketing agency that combined the creation of assets optimised for digital marketing (SEO) with a data analysis component.
:-)
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