Content Strategy and Content Marketing — Friends or Foes?
There are two terms which are floating around me for the past two years. With this post, I want to grasp them and try to define what they mean to me: Content Strategy and Content Marketing.
First, let’s make something clear: Content Strategy and Content Marketing are related, but not the same. They are relatives, some would say: mother and daughter, brother and sister. Others would counter: distant cousins, divorced couples. I want to start with the focus on what Content Strategy and Content Marketing got in common.
Content, User, Brand — That’s what connects Content Strategy and Content Marketing
#1 The Content
Okay, that one was obvious. Nevertheless, both disciplines focus on good content. Good content is:
- Relevant: It has a clear goal and a target group it wants to reach.
- Engaging: It is meets the needs of the target groups. Therefore, it is convincing and makes the user want to act on it. Ever heard about storytelling and the hero’s journey?
- Reusable: Well structured and intelligent content is reusable. And it also helps the user to understand, what we want to say.
#2 The User
The users are the main focus of our work. We want to understand them, know what they want and need to engage with our content. Or, in other words:
“Your customers don’t care about you, your products, or your services. They care about themselves.” — Joe Pulizzi
#3 The Brand
Now, of course we do not only need to fulfil the needs of our customers but also those of the brands. What are our short-term or long-term goals? How do we want to be seen? How do we communicate? And: how does good content help in each step?
The differences between Content Strategy and Content Marketing
Content Marketing
If we only look at the surface, one could think that the main purpose of Content Marketing is selling. Sure, every company wants to monetize its services or products. Success is then measured with KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). To enable success, a good Content Marketing Person will try to deliver the right content at the right time throughout the buyers’ journey.
So while deciding wether or not to buy a product, a user would need content that lays out the specifics and benefits or a product. As soon as the purchase is done, “How-To”-content becomes important. After all, customers want their problems (if they have any with your product) fixed. Fast.
But is that it? No! Content Marketing wants more: The most important goal of a Content Marketing Person should be to start steady communication and interaction, thus building a relationship with the customer. He or she shall go through those journeys:
Visitor → Lead → Customer → Fan
… and the main focus is, as always: content. At the right time, for the right people ...
“Content Marketing is the Marketing and business process for creating and distributing content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience — with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” — Joe Pulizzi
Content Strategy
Now, as just mentioned, Content Strategy also focuses on content. But in a very different way than Content Marketing. Content Strategy does not PRODUCE content. It rather acts as the backbone of the content, it gives content a plan, a goal, a focus. Or:
“Content Strategy guides planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content.” — Christina Halvorson
Content Strategists are no copywriters. They focus on establishing repeatable systems and structures for the content. And that is the main difference to Content Marketing.
I personally love the picture Doris Eichmeier and Klaus Eck draw to explain the relationship between these two disciplines: Content Strategy and Content Marketing are like a snail with a rainbow-shell. The snail itself is Content Strategy: It gives directions and purpose. The shell is Content Marketing: It makes content interesting and gives it to the right people in the right time.
OR:
Content Strategy is the basis
and Content Marketing acts on it.
Content Marketing and Content Strategy in a nutshell
Finally, let’s sum it all up. To me, the two disciplines have much in common:
#1 The Content
#2 The User
#3 The Brand
But there are also things that separate Content Strategy from Content Marketing:
- strategy vs tactics
- long term vs. short(er) term
- planning vs. acting
- define the market vs. react to the market
In the end, I have to admit, that I will never become a Content Marketing Person. Right now, I do Public Relations, in my past I was a Journalist and in the future I am planning to become a Content Strategist. Nevertheless, I can learn at lot by educating myself on Content Marketing. E. g. I never put so much focus on KPIs. But as I did it once I realized how much those can help to measure my success and become more accountable.
Content Strategy and Content Marketing are no foes. Maybe, they are not friends yet — but related disciplines that can benefit from each other.
Related Posts:
Sources:
Bloomstein, M. (2012). Content Strategy at Work: Real-world Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project. Waltham, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Eck, K., & Eichmeier, D. (2014). Die Content-Revolution im Unternehmen: Neue Perspektiven durch Content-Marketing und -Strategie. Freiburg München: Haufe Lexware.
Halvorson, K., & Rach, M. (2012). Content Strategy for the Web (Second). New Riders.
Pulizzi, J. (2013). Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less. McGraw-Hill Education.
