Content Creation vs. Content Marketing

If you believe that content creation and content marketing are the same thing, you are making a common, but costly, mistake. While content creation is an important part of content marketing, it is still just one part of the content marketing equation.

A great content writer is a wonderful asset. However, no matter how well your content is written, if it does not speak to your target audience, it won’t matter. Further, if it isn’t distributed properly, your target audience won’t be able to find it.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a content marketer is to expect your content to magically produce results without an overall content marketing strategy. Since great content can’t be created in a vacuum, here are some things you need to consider:

1. What do you want to achieve with your content?
2. How will you measure whether or not you have achieved that goal?
3. Who is your target audience?
4. What type of content is your target audience most likely to respond to?
5. What are the most effective ways to distribute your content so that your target audience will see it?

If your content marketing strategy is not working the way you had hoped then you will have to consider all of these things again. Sometimes you will only need to tweak one or two things. In other cases, you will have to completely overhaul your content marketing strategy.

By the same token, even if your content marketing strategy is right on target, that strategy will fall flat if your content is subpar. Your content must draw the reader in and make them want to learn more.

If you are unsure exactly what constitutes outstanding content, whether it be blogs, podcasts, video or any other type of content, here are the most important qualities of outstanding content:

• It connects, educates and inspires its audience
• It uses thought-provoking headlines, striking photos and/or interesting graphics to grab attention
• It is original
• It is consistent with your brand

Useful, original and well-crafted content is essential to your content marketing strategy. Equally important, however, is knowing how to get that content noticed by the people you want to see it, namely new business leads!