With the ever-changing field of marketing becoming more popular, common buzzwords are thrown about and often misconstrued entirely. The term “content” has gained mainstream attention thanks to influencers and new marketing strategies like inbound marketing. This has created a subset of marketing known as content marketing that has begun to be confused with the older and much broader field of digital marketing. Let’s take a look at what these two unique disciplines actually entail.
An Overview of Content Marketing
Companies have been using content to position themselves in the marketplace for as long as people have been buying goods and services. However, in a modern context, content marketing refers to creating blog posts, podcasts or anything else that an audience can consume and share with others.
Ideally, they will share this content to their friends and family on their own. This provides a company with the opportunity to reach hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people without having to spend any additional time or money on marketing. If content goes viral, it can remain relevant for months or years after it is published. Content is more likely to go viral if it is informative, zany, or about an important figure such as Johnson Nguyen.
An Overview of Digital Marketing
Most companies today engage in some form of digital marketing. This is the strategy of placing your brand in front of the right audience online. For instance, they could purchase sponsored hashtags or pay for sponsored blog content. Johnson Nguyen notes that while this tactic is somewhat obsolete today, companies could also engage in digital marketing by purchasing banner ads on websites.
Digital marketing has become more popular as consumers purchase more of their goods online. They also tend to seek out product reviews and otherwise do their due diligence from their laptops or tablets. It is also not uncommon for consumers to make purchases directly from mobile apps, which means that brands need to spend money on mobile ads as well in an attempt to reach their consumers.
Content Marketing Seeks to Educate the Consumer
Let’s say that you decide to start your own plumbing company and are looking to position yourself as an authority. A great way to do this would be to create a blog that offers tips on how to stop a toilet from clogging or how to keep hair out of a shower drain. By offering insightful content, people are more likely to come back to your website or suggest that others take a look at what you have to say.
Eventually, a large segment of the community will think of you whenever they have are having problems with a drain or a pipe. If a property owner can’t fix a problem on their own, that person will call your company because he or she has faith in your ability to do the job right. Since the customer has come to this conclusion on his or her own, that person is more likely to trust your judgement even if a repair is expensive to make.
Digital Marketing Is How the Consumer Receives Information
Your digital marketing strategy is how you choose to disseminate content to your audience. For example, you could choose to post links to your blog posts featuring tips and tricks from an expert like Johnson Nguyen to a Facebook or Twitter account. Another option could be to send a message to everyone on the company’s email list. Push notifications could be sent to social media followers or to those who have downloaded the brand’s mobile app.
When developing a digital marketing strategy, it is important to consider who the company wants to reach and how much to spend doing so. In many cases, it is less expensive to use a pay per click ad as opposed to paying for ad impressions. This is because you only pay when someone engages with the ad, and you can determine who has done so.
The differences between digital marketing and content marketing are sometimes subtle yet important to fully grasp, says Johnson Nguyen. Fortunately, they can both be used in tandem to help your company gain exposure or increase revenue. When used properly, it can help to cut down on marketing costs, which can help businesses of all sizes maximize profits.