Content is Not a Campaign! (Here’s Why)

More and more businesses are realizing the importance of content in digital marketing and in maintaining a strong online brand.  This has led many of them to pursue creating great content as a way to build their company’s web presence. But not every business owner or communications professional is satisfied with the results of their content marketing efforts, and part of the problem is that they’re still treating content like a campaign.  This means they’re treating content strictly as a way to meet the company’s goals, when the content also needs to be targeted toward a specific audience and viewed as useful or valuable to that audience as well, not just to the business. Campaigns are a short-term way for the business to drive more revenue; content is for the customer and builds a long-term relationship with the brand. Here are three reasons why content is not a campaign.

Content is the Fuel that Makes Campaigns Effective

There are many types of marketing campaigns: social media campaigns, SEO campaigns, pay-per-click campaigns, lead generation campaigns etc. One thing that all these different types of campaigns have in common is content. Without content, an SEO campaign couldn’t exist because you need content in order for your website to be indexed and for your pages to be ranked in the results. Without content, there’s nothing for you to post on social media. Without content, your lead generation campaign has nothing to lure new prospects into your funnel.

None of your marketing campaigns can happen, or be compelling to your targeting audience, without content that addresses their needs and interests. Content isn’t a campaign because, while every marketing campaign needs content, content can’t only be focused on your company’s needs and goals.  Otherwise no one in the market will be interested in your message.  You need to deliver content to build trust in your audience, so that when they do see your campaigns they believe in your business enough to become a customer.

Content Shouldn’t Be Treated as a One-Off Marketing Tactic

Ultimately, content is about building a relationship with your prospects and customers by addressing their problems and concerns, so it needs to be delivered to your target audience on a consistent basis and not as a one-off tactic. When content is thought of as a one-time marketing event, and you only create content when you and your business need or have something to say, you’re once again being selfish and only thinking about your company’s needs and not your audience.  Remember, your customers and prospects don’t care much about you and your business, they care about their own problems and needs, so you have to create content that is relevant to them and not just your business — and that means releasing a constant stream of content and not only talking when it’s beneficial to you.

Great Content Keeps Customer Attention Day In and Day Out

Unlike a campaign, where you can successfully create one for a short period of time and then stop, creating one piece of content and then stopping isn’t effective because no matter what it eventually outlives its usefulness and no longer helps your brand’s online credibility.  Depending on the topic, it could actually become outdated rather quickly in some cases.

A single piece of content “expires” when any of a number of things happen: The majority of your audience sees it and it stops getting exposure. The information stops being up-to-date after a period of time. The topic is no longer popular or interesting to your following. And more.  On the other hand, campaigns are designed to capture attention for a short period of time, which means it’s okay for them to take a one-and-done approach.

Another important point is that businesses aim to be top-of-mind for their customers, and to have their attention day in and day out.  In order to achieve this objective, that means companies need to do things to continually keep that attention. Content is one of the best ways to accomplish this, but it needs to be delivered in a constant stream to be effective.  This is the opposite of campaigns, which are designed to aggressively capture new customers for a short period of time and then stop until the next one is launched.

When developing your company’s content, what can your business do to ensure that it meets the needs of customers? Let us know in the comments!