By Janet Fouts, CLICK Contributor
NEW YORK—It cracks me up when a client calls and asks me about "this new content marketing thing." Honestly, we're so hung up on buzzwords these days we can't see the forest for the trees!
I came across this infographic (History of Content Marketing) that perfectly explains it. Geez, can anything that dates back to 4200 B.C. be called 'new'?
And what about John Deere coming up with a customer-focused magazine in 1895? Brilliant. They thought to themselves "How can we talk to our customers in larger numbers and keep in the front of their minds?", or at least that's what I imagine they were thinking. (I'm old, but not THAT old...)
The real question is, how did we get away from this? When did we stop listening to what our customers want and delivering information for the sole reason of informing our market and establishing our place in their hearts?
The truth is some companies never did. John Deere's
The Furrow gets well over a million views per month (per
Compete.com) and now has a beautiful iPad app to boot. It must be working, don't you think?
Let's get back to the roots of marketing. Talking to customers and speaking their language. Showing that we get what they want and walking the talk. Providing information that defines us as leaders in our field and demonstrating that by producing content which speaks to the people we want to be connected to and encourages them to share it.
Let's see less advertising and more conversations.
Janet Fouts is a social media coach who helps individuals and corporations figure out how to use social media as part of their outreach and marketing program. She's a frequent speaker at conferences, conducts workshops, training sessions and webinars around social media and online marketing and has authored three books on social media, "Social Media Success," "#Socialmedia PR tweet," and "#Socialmedia Nonprofit tweet."
TatuDigital is a full service inbound marketing agency, co-founded by Fouts.
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