{"id":22787,"date":"2016-12-07T12:29:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T18:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.crowdspring.com\/?p=22787"},"modified":"2022-05-06T18:28:59","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T23:28:59","slug":"content-marketing-unicorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/content-marketing-unicorns\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Create Content Marketing Unicorns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"unicorn-crowdspring-blog\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Image Source: Lisa Brewster<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Some marketers and companies do a phenomenal job building and executing their content marketing strategies<\/a>. But the vast majority of marketers and companies, especially in B2B, continue to struggle with content marketing.<\/p>\n

What’s the problem?<\/p>\n

There isn’t one clear answer that explains why most companies do a poor job with content marketing.<\/p>\n

Some companies do a poor job executing cross-channel marketing strategies. In a recent survey<\/a> by Econsultancy and Adobe, only 14% of marketers reported that their organizations executed integrated campaigns across various marketing channels.<\/p>\n

Other companies rely too much on a disparate mix of technologies that often don’t talk to each other. Did you know that there are nearly 4,000 marketing technology companies<\/a> delivering services to marketers? (there were only 150 in 2011).<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, I believe most marketers and companies fail with content marketing because they focus on “content” and ignore “marketing.”<\/p>\n

Think about it for a moment. Why are you or your company creating and sharing content? As I wrote previously<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Content marketing refers to creating information (content) that has value to others. The creator of the content ultimately wants to sell a product or service to prospective buyers<\/a> who benefit from the content, but the goal of content marketing is rarely to sell directly. Instead, the goal of content marketing is to encourage people to read and perhaps engage with the content, and to begin developing a relationship with the person or entity that created that content.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most content marketers measure “engagement” as a re-tweet or a like. But successful content marketing must go beyond simple vanity metrics. For content marketing to succeed, it must help a company develop a relationship with a prospective customer. And for that to happen, content must create an emotional reaction in the prospective customer that more closely connects the prospective customer to your brand.<\/p>\n

Many content marketers simply don’t understand this. Great content marketing is not about curating other people’s stuff. Larry Kim<\/a>, CEO of WordStream<\/a> explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Content marketers are wonderful people, but they tend to overestimate the originality of their ideas. I try to break out of the \u201cindustry\u201d bubble and originate new research as opposed to just curating other people\u2019s stuff. I don\u2019t waste time publishing my findings if the results are along the lines of the status quo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you want to develop a relationship with people who read and engage with your content, then the “marketing” part of “content marketing” deserves as much of your focus as “content”.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, great marketing has one common element that transcends languages and cultures. Marketing is storytelling. Great marketing is about phenomenal stories.<\/p>\n

Stories help shape beliefs and also help people remember the things you want them to remember. Authentic and compelling stories help build a brand.<\/p>\n

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