Make Knowledge Your Loss Leader

You talk to lots of people in business.  There are those who talk about what they do and those who talk about what they know.  I know which, as a rule, I find more interesting.

Discussing topics that enable you to share knowledge is normal social and business etiquette, allowing you to engage with other people and making you more memorable to them.  And yet, so many companies focus their online presence on the ‘About Us’ and ‘Products’ or ‘Projects’ sections of their website, without even considering that potential customers are likely to linger for longer and read more if they’re gaining knowledge as well as accessing information.

Content marketing has quickly become a byword for posting as much content online as possible. But the online world is full of content, much of it carefully managed to pop up on search engine listings, and huge swathes of it is dull, badly edited and not of much interest to anyone. The point of content marketing is not to develop tonnes of content to boost your SEO; it is to share knowledge, demonstrate your expertise and develop the trust of your potential customers. After all, SEO might take traffic to your website but only engaging content will keep visitors there or encourage them to return.

It’s something that goes against the grain for many.  After generations of safeguarding intellectual property and making selling all about the product, the world of content marketing is challenging you to think differently about knowledge and see knowledge sharing as a loss leader that can help you access the bigger prize.

So what elements might a content marketing programme include?

·    Technical, ‘how to’, topical comment or market insight articles on your website

·    Blogs

·    Social media

·    Regular news updates/RSS feeds

·    Links to useful sites/articles

Content marketing can be some or all of these things and it’s better do some of them well than to try and do them all with insufficient time, resources or skills. Your programme needs to be sustained and meaningful with topical comment and a fast response to comments and feedback. It’s a commitment to keeping your online content fresh and appetising – just like the fruit and veg that entices you in to the local greengrocer.