Content Marketing Definition

Content marketing is the publication of material designed to promote a brand, usually through a more oblique and subtle approach than that of traditional push advertising. Content marketing is most effective when it provides the consumer with accurate and unbiased information, the publisher with additional content and the advertiser with a larger audience and ultimately, a stronger brand.

On the internet, content marketing campaigns involve publishing custom content on specific destination sites the target audience respects and visits often. During the campaign, the advertiser creates custom content that is tightly aligned with the publisher’s website and editorial mission. The goal is to provide prospective customers with an integrated user experience (UX) that encourages engagement and interest in the brand. The challenge is to ensure the content is topically relevant and meets the audience’s needs. If the content is simply a thinly veiled sales-pitch, it risks turning the buyer off.

Content marketing can be delivered through a variety of media, including television and magazines, and take a lot of different forms, including articles, infographics, videos and online games. The strategy may be referred to by several different names, including infomercial, sponsored content or native advertising. Whatever the label, content marketing is often integrated in such a way that it doesn’t stand out from other material served by the host.

Although native advertising might not look like marketing, the content should explicitly state that it was provided by the advertiser. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines for all advertising emphasizes transparency and includes stipulations that advertising claims must be truthful and supported by evidence. The more content marketing is similar in format and topic to the publisher’s editorial content, the more important a disclosure is, in order to prevent deception.

Joe Pulizzi explains how large enterprise organizations implement content marketing: