Just hear me out. One emerging practice (content strategy) + one tactic (content marketing) = I’m not really sure.
Content Marketing: “Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty.” –from the Content Marketing Wikipedia page created 25 February 2008
Content Strategy: “Content strategy has been growing as a practice within the industry of web development since the late 1990s. It is recognized as a field in user experience design but has also drawn interest from practitioners in adjacent communities such as content management, business analysis and technical communication.” –from the Content Strategy Wikipedia page created 08 April 2009
Then a funny thing happened about a year ago—the terms got squished together to form “Content Marketing Strategy.” I’m not sure how this happened or even what it means but it’s out there and to some people it means something.
In my opinion, “Content Marketing Strategy” is vacuous—there is no such thing. There is content marketing and there is content strategy. Or, to rollback a round of buzzwords, there is integrated marketing and there is UX Design. Either way, one is a tactic and one is a practice. I’m not shining a light on one to keep another one in the dark, but rather here to say that we all agree content is important. That includes IAs, ixDs, coders, graphic designers, and copywriters. It’s what we do about knowing content is important that counts. How we solve client’s problems is what matters.
Volume and repetition matter
The solution I hear most often from content marketing is “make more content, gain more trust.” From content strategy, it’s “content should drive all other practices.” Increasingly, you will find many articles that use the terms interchangeably, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing; primarily for the client who now has to deal with ever-finer slices of practitioner specialties and more difficult integration/PM issues.
I recently met with a friend of a friend about a website he was launching. His business was a data-based content creation & strategy play with all the requisite buzzwords in place, along with poor design, clunky marketing speak and a mish-mash of “content marketing” and “content strategy” definitions. I was at loss. Here was a very smart guy with good intentions going out into the market with one puzzle piece. The whole event felt like dropping your car off at a mechanic who asks you for a ride because his car doesn’t run.
Perhaps you don’t build trust?
Building trust goes way beyond the creation of content. (And yes, I’m guilty of oversimplifying its importance.) I’m slowing starting to realize that you can’t set out to build trust. When you do, it implies that you are building it in order to leverage it later—and that feels a little dirty. Trust has so many facets to it and is so subjective that I find it hard to believe there is a one size fits all solution that works. So if Content Marketing Strategy can live on the web, then I’m petitioning for Trust Strategy.
Perhaps content ________ isn’t about building anything but rather is just a requirement like air in your tires, ink in your pen and quality in your product/service.
A great user experience respects both the content and the reader (see Readability). A great user experience cares that labels fit inside buttons and ensures that “thanks for coming” takes precedence across all fields of practice from the first click to the last.
—Ian
June 9th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Hi Ian, I don’t think they’re merging, but they’re definitely being confused. I think part of this is that although Kristina wrote about Content Strategy for the Web, it’s been shortened to CS – content strategy. Put those two words together in front of any marketer, and they are likely to think content marketing (witness the recent article — very good, btw — http://bit.ly/ikd4Tm). Plus, effective content marketing does require strategy: it’s not just a bunch of tactics thrown together.
I’m struggling with this confusion myself, and wrote a post you might find interesting: http://bit.ly/k48Svl. Check out the comments, it seems many of us are thinking about the same things.
June 9th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Great article Ian. It’s probably the biggest questioned I get asked; “What is the difference between content marketing and content strategy?”
Fortunately (unfortunately) content strategy has gained traction in marketplace because of its targeting of web content, which is notoriously bulbous and hard to read. Coupled with Marketing’s grapple on the website as their primary messaging tool, then you can see the inevitable conflict.
However, I see content strategy as much bigger than just the web site. Company’s content problems go way beyond the website. You have training collateral, RFPs, technical doc and call center scripts (to name a few). For now, content strategy is synonymous with the web, but what you are going to see in a couple years a movement into other core areas of a business.
All this means we still have a ton of work to do.
Great article.
June 10th, 2011 at 1:49 am
You’re on to something. I’d tend to say that content marketing is a tactical execution of a content strategy. Theoretically you could also have “content education” and “content customer support”. What’s ironic is that we never stick content in front of terms like “education” and “customer support” because everyone assumes that the content is already an integral part of them. This implies, therefore, that up until recently there was no “content” in marketing. In other words, marketing was empty/vacuous.
But this doesn’t make sense, because all marketing contains content, right? So what is missing? Value, IMHO. The content of marketing was notorious for being offer/product-centered. What’s changing is that we’re starting to think about the customer. Like you said “How we solve client’s problems is what matters.” In other words, how do we use content to deliver value for the customer through marketing (just as content strategy is how we deliver value through content). The underlying fundamental trend in this whole content thing is the shift towards delivering value instead of just delivering a message or an offer.
June 10th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Well, this is interesting…I’d seen this post mentioned in the content strategy Google group yesterday, but I didn’t have time to read it until this morning. And last night, the Nashville Content Strategy Meetup had a GREAT discussion about our frustrations with the term “content strategy” — largely centering on the word content.
I need to put my thoughts on it into a blog post…too long to ramble on here. But my quickish take is, content strategy and content marketing are NOT the same, but it’s a lot easier to define what content marketing is. More shortly on my blog –
June 10th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Very interesting observation and discussion. I’ve been guilty myself of conflating the 2 concepts. But when I sit down and really think about it, I see content strategy as the more-established term that began with planning website content, when websites were more static entities. The more recent content marketing concept has grown up around online marketing, where the focus is dynamic content that involves blogging, social media and content both on and off a single website.
Thanks for getting me thinking on this!
June 13th, 2011 at 9:03 am
Digital disciplines are evolving and defining themselves. “Content marketing strategy” is a little long-winded, but no more vacuous than the names of many other related practices, IMO.
Language’s imprecision continues to vex. Some people object violently to the phrase “content marketing”–and even “content.” (See Garrison Keillor’s comments: http://bit.ly/mDegtn)
When I first heard the word “content strategist” a couple of years ago, it felt like a Eureka Moment. Finally. Someone is describing what I do.
Soon after, I learned that this emerging discipline encompasses far more than strategically planned content creation. It includes auditing, analyzing and categorizing existing content, CMS expertise, metadata strategy, governance, etc.–specialized stuff I don’t (currently) do.
But I think “content marketing strategist” is a pretty good description of someone who produces content that helps move customers/donors/patients/employees along the conversion/sales/donation/learning continuum while strengthening and supporting business/sales/organizational goals and assuring content is consistently branded and integrated with existing content tools and campaigns.
Beats the hell out of “copywriter.”
On a side note, like Matthew Grocki, I see content strategy embracing more than digital content. Holistic content strategy includes all of an organization’s content: collateral, direct mail, advertising, training materials, instructional manuals, internal communications, strategic plans and annual reports along with the digital content stew.
A lot of businesses and NGOs use both digital and print content. Way more print than you’d imagine. Why ignore it, pretend digital and print have no relationship or that print isn’t significant enough to be included in content strategy?
June 13th, 2011 at 9:28 am
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June 13th, 2011 at 9:57 am
Matthew,
I agree 100% that content strategy is bigger than the web site. Unfortunately I find much of the talk starts and stops there – and it shouldn’t. The question yet to be answered is, “is this a budgetary constraint or an experience constraint?”
Looking forward.
-Ian
June 13th, 2011 at 10:03 am
Rich,
I like your point about “content _______” and I agree with the concept of value. Fundamentally I find it hard to conceptualize “marketing” preceding “strategy.” When you say, “how do we use content to deliver value for the customer through marketing (just as content strategy is how we deliver value through content).” It’s the value (and quality) of the “how” that I want to explore and qualify.
-Ian
June 13th, 2011 at 10:04 am
I’m with you that they aren’t they same. But what are they and how do they and/or should they work together?
-Ian
June 14th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
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