In Brief…
You want to engage your customers and attract new ones.
But you are tired of traditional advertising because you feel like you never know what you are buying,
And there’s never much real proof you actually got anything out of it.
If you start using content marketing to engage your customers,
Things suddenly become clear… You pay for content by the word or the episode, and then you flow that content out to your customers, and potential customers.
You know where your money has gone, and you own the results.
I develop content for content marketing in the AEC world. There are other content developers but there are not many who are familiar with AEC businesses. I’ve worked in the industry. I interview people who have quality information to share and who don’t mind sharing it. They end up in an article or podcast and AEC businesses, and those selling to them, use that content on websites, e-newsletters, blogs and any other venue they choose. Your customers, potential customers, partners, and vendors read and listen to this content and think highly of you for offering it, instead of being perturbed at you for interrupting them.
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The Long Version:
You know, we’re all getting a bit weary of advertising. It isn’t so much the messages advertisers are sending our way, as it is the frequency and the continued attempts to push it on us.
I’m not in the market for a new truck but I bet I see or hear 10 ads a day for new trucks. Sometimes I like to sit on the couch and watch TV. Who doesn’t. It isn’t healthy to work all the time, and TV offers some entertainment that breaks up the long stints at work. But now, for every ten minutes of programming there is almost three minutes of advertising. And, once again it is advertising for things I am not in the market for. Not only am I not in the market for them but I don’t think I’ll ever be in the market for most of them.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about these ads is that they interrupt the program I am enjoying. So, right off the bat I’m not really very receptive to them. And then, to add misery to irritation, they are advertising something I’m not interested in buying. Is it just me, or does this seem to be really, annoyingly inefficient?
But it’s not just happening in television. Listen to radio and you find yourself getting two songs followed by five ads. How about magazines? Not as interruptive because you are more in control, but still, the article gets continued on the next page and you are left to search for it through a maze of ads that are offering nothing you want to buy.
And I’m not letting the Web off the hook either. Even if you turn on the pop-up blocker you are still going to have to wade through advertising that is not targeted, but rather thrown at you, as if you are a funnel waiting for content.
You want to engage your customers and attract new ones,
But let’s look at it from the advertisers perspective. Here you are an architect, or an engineer, a contractor, or any one of a boatload of companies that has products and services architects, engineers and contractors want and need, and you want to get the word out about your company and the things it does and how great it does those things. So, what do you do? If you are following the advice of advertising gurus you are putting together some advertisements at significant cost to you. Then, you are turning the ad people loose to find the places where your ads ought to run in order to make sure they get in front of the people you want to see them. Again, at a significant cost to you.
But you are tired of traditional advertising.
So what happens? The ads go to TV, magazines, newspapers, Web sites and radio stations where they are randomly thrown out there in the hopes that someone who needs what you sell will not only see or hear them, but will then also remember who you are, what you sell, and how to get in touch with you. And, you hope all of those good things happen, even though you have just interrupted them.
You feel like you never know what you are buying,
Oh sure, maybe if you are a drug company, or a maker of soft drink, you will be able to get into the psyche of countless consumers and the next time they think prescription or soda they will think of your name. But for those in the AEC industries it just doesn’t seem like this is a very good plan.
And there’s never much proof you actually got anything out of it.
But now there’s an old idea coming back around about how to make your AEC product or service known to people without resorting to interruptive advertising. It’s called content marketing. And it hinges on a fairy simple concept. Give people information that is valuable to them (because let’s face it, we live in an information age) and they will remember your generosity when, and if, they need your product or service.
If you start using content marketing to engage your customers and potential customers,
You know where your money has gone, and you own the results.
There is a key part to that phrase – “when and If.” Because “when” they do need your product or service they will remember you because you gave them something they needed, but “if” they never need it they won’t have been offended by you. No impression at all, is always more positive than a negative impression. And since you haven’t interrupted them, there’s no impression.
Things suddenly become crystal clear… You pay for content by the word or the episode and then you flow that content out to your customers, and potential customers
Am I suggesting you throw out all your current advertising initiatives and focus solely on content marketing? Not at all, although you’d probably find your ad budget would shrink tremendously and you’d be interacting with more people who really are potential customers, eventually. But rather, this should become a portion of your advertising efforts. And if practiced by setting measurable expectations, then you will gain more new clients than simply throwing ads at people.
If you want to get perspectives from people other than me, look at what others who spend their time in the advertising trenches have to say about content marketing.
Seamus Walsh, co-founder VAZT Global, Inc. provides a very concise description of how content marketing works for you.
Newt Barrett, founder of Voyager Media, Inc., shares statistics and perspectives about the growth of content marketing.
Paul Conley, owner Paul Conley Consulting, made this prediction for 2010 on Jason Fell’s Forecast: 2010 post on Folio:
“The middle tier will be most notable for its absence of middle men! No aspect of publishing is better positioned for growth in 2010 than content marketing—as marketers continue to learn they can get better results if they produce their own content.”
Adam Singer at FutureBuzz, pulls out all the stops as he tells us where people get content marketing all wrong.
Gerd Leonhard, futurist and author at Technology Futurist, describes the next five years as content, media, marketing and advertising converge.
I develop content for content marketing in the AEC world. There are other content developers but there are not many who are familiar with AEC businesses. I’ve worked in the industry. I interview people who have quality information to share and who don’t mind sharing it. They end up in an article or podcast and AEC businesses like yours use that content on websites, e-newsletters, blogs and any other venue they choose. Your customers, potential customers, partners, and vendors read and listen to this content and think highly of you for offering it, instead of being perturbed at you for interrupting them.
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