CONTENT IS NO LONGER KING.
Some years back, In January of 1996 Bill Gates wrote an essay and captioned it "content is king".
It blew up, and today, it is a popular cliche in marketing. Marketers have laid emphasis and made references to this popular cliche.
Their argument is usually that content is the only way to connect with customers.
But, what if they were wrong?
With the recent influx of Content that has outnumbered it's demand, do you still think content is king?
Let me show you what I mean.
THE PROBLEM WITH CONTENT
Every single day, we generate over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. From this number, about 1.5 quintillion bytes is content created by humans.
Does this ring a bell?
Let's talk a little about economics.
In economics, we know that when supply outweighs demand, price and value drops right?
So, how does this relate to "content is king"
I'll tell you in a moment.
Follow me closely.
The greatest misconception some marketers and content creators have about content is the illusion that the production of more content will produce more results.
So, on almost every marketing blog you read, you're told to produce more and more content.
The result is usually a feeling of frustration from lack of conversion and engagement.
Truthfully, content alone cannot meet the recent marketing demands.
However, Something else can. Permit me to show you.
WHO IS THE NEW KING?
Sorry to disappoint you, but marketing has no new king.
We(marketers) should understand that marketing has gone past the monarchy era where content was king.
Now, what we have is what I'd love to call the marketing ecosystem.
This new ecosystem will be more about the experiences we create for our target audience and less about the content.
This is because content is everywhere and can be gotten from anyone/brand, but experiences are rare and peculiar.
Permit me to show you the tools with which marketers, individuals, brands and businesses can create these experiences.
THE 5 C'S OF THE MARKETING ECOSYSTEM
- Customer
- Content
- Context
- Cost
- Community.
1. Customers
In the marketing ecosystem, this is the first tool, if not the most important tool.
Through comprehensive data, we must get a clear picture of who our messages and experiences are meant for.
In this new marketing dispensation, our focus must drift from the content to the customer.
Customer experience will be the new pioneer.
If you can ultimately capture the attention of your customers, and offer them the kind of experiences no one else can, then, you would have succeeded in making your business an unstoppable force.
To prove this point, I'd like to show you the opinions of great brands about customers.
Jeff bezos: "The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company"
Elon musk: Tesla's goal is to "maximise the area under the curve of customer happiness."
Lindsay Pattison (Chief Client Officer WPP): "Our role is to provide clients with access to the best and breadth of WPP expertise, and deliver transformative business results for the world’s leading brands"
Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook: "Serving more people, increasing your customer base and making them more deeply engaged is by itself good business.”
James Quincey (Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola):
“Building a portfolio of consumer-centric brands requires shifting focus from what the company wants to sell to what consumers want to buy"
2. Content
Content might have lost its kingship, but it is still relevant in the marketing ecosystem.
However, for content to succeed, it mustn't be just about the customer or just about the brand. A successful content must be built around the point where the needs of the customers and the brand agrees.
I call it "the sweet spot".
3. Context
A marketing ecosystem without context is bound to strike the wrong chords, create the wrong emotions or even destroy a brand.
While we can't control the circumstances that surround our audience when they interact with our marketing efforts, we can design a context that ensures that our marketing attracts the right perception.
This was the case with Pepsi's ad that was posted on YouTube, starring Kendall Jenner. That ad cost the brand because it left context out of its Marketing ecosystem.
4. Costs
Some marketers argue that the cheaper a product is, the more people are willing to buy. Others say that if a product is cheap, consumers will perceive it as inferior.
These two sets of marketers are correct. But here is what they forgot.
The kind of reaction your cost creates is dependent on who your customers are and what your product is.
In scientific advertising, Claude C Hopkins mentioned that; to Americans, cheapness is not a strong appeal. While this might be true, you can't say the same about Nigerians.
You get the point?
5. Community
This has to do with where we can find our target audience and how we can create visibility for our brand.
Let me explain.
If I sell insurance to business professionals, and I go to places like "only fans" to find them, then the likelihood of my marketing efforts to succeed is slim.
This might be due to two things:
- The population of business professionals on "only fans" is small.
- The psychology of business professionals when they visit "only fans" doesn’t support purchase of insurance.
You get the point?
Conclusion
Content Marketing efforts built around the 5C's of the marketing ecosystem is the way of the future.
Brands and businesses who are able to properly fuse the different aspects of the marketing ecosystem will achieve greater success than their counterparts.
P.S: Download my free guide with 5 proven Content prompts to turn your readers into buyers, and your content into potent money-makers that help boost your business fast even if you have zero writing experience.
