Content Marketing Isn’t Content Strategy (And How to Correct It)

by Selena Waite (Narayanasamy)  |  Published 12:27 PM, Tue November 19, 2013

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Two of the most common buzz-phrases that I hear being used interchangeably are “content marketing” and “content strategy.” As a brand or business owner looking to reach their intended audience, it’s important to understand the difference between the two, and how to plan an effective strategy. Also remember that while these phrases have gained popularity over the past few years, they’ve always been an integral part of SEO and online marketing as a whole. The tactic itself isn’t new, but the execution has evolved.

I recently ran a survey to get a feel for what others think about the two phrases, and fortunately, there were very little respondents who believed that content marketing and content strategy are the same thing. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough respondents to really pull a pattern from (outside of the time spent on content strategy), so hopefully that can be shared at a later date.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the act of marketing content that’s already been created, whether that’s branded assets, marketing collateral, unique article content, videos, etc. Generally, this wasn’t created with the thought of actually having it gain traction outside of the typical brand channels it would be promoted on.
Content marketing is the, “I have this piece of collateral. Now what do I do with it? How do I share it with everyone? Where can I put this?”

What is Content Strategy?

Content strategy is the brains behind the marketing. I like to think of content marketing as a vehicle, and strategy as the engine. Sure, you can roll a car down the road if the engine fails, but without the engine, you’re going to have a tough time directing and controlling where you want to go. It’s ballroom dancing in a room full of others doing the hokey pokey, and when correctly orchestrated, it’s a beautiful thing.
Content strategy is the, “I’m planning on creating assets to specifically achieve different goals for my brand and reach a targeted audience online. How can I put a strong plan into motion from idea creation to execution?”
To simplify it, the difference is that Content Marketing is often ad hoc and one-off. Content Strategy outlines a pretty strong plan from A to B with clear goals defined and accurate ways to measure in place. It’s also based off current and past data trends.
Without going into much detail (because this would probably make an extremely intricate post in the future) here are a few things to consider when you’re looking to build a true content strategy vs. simply marketing your existing content.

Who, What, Where, When and Why

The WHO

Understand your personas- If you’re spending any kind of dollars on marketing, you have to understand your different personas. While personas are nothing new in marketing, and money may go into research for brand collateral and traditional advertising, like radio and television, the online landscape can open up the door for new ones.

• Who are you targeting, and on what channels? Each channel may very, so it’s very important to have at least a rough estimation of who the target audience(s) are prior to creating one idea.
• Online personas can certainly be tied back to traditional personas, but how you reach them and grab their attention will be different.
• Where do they “hang out?” Will you find them on certain social channels? Are they engaged with and following certain publications? What are they and how do you start getting your messaging there? Do you have evangelists to help you?

The WHAT

Ideation is a topic in and of itself. The “what” really focuses on what your topics are going to be, and how you’re going to aggregate the data needed to decide upon those topics.
Full Campaigns - “Content” has a tendency to be thought of as a one-off thing, but if you’re creating a strategy, you should start considering the pre and post collateral that you’ll be sharing to prime the campaign and give it legs. Each piece should be the thread that holds the fabric together, and each piece is crawlable and indexable.
What’s the ideal form? There are so, SO many forms of content that can be created. Content isn’t limited to strictly posts. It can really be anything from white papers, to surveys, to PDFs, to e-books, to interactive pieces, to on-site collateral.
Mine your past content - This can be any form of collateral that’s out there and it’s not restricted to articles. Review content from the past year and pull metrics on how they’re being shared socially, what kind of on-page engagement they’re getting, and the backlink generation to them. Then go through, start sorting the content types, and identify which types tend to resonate and reach the audience more than others. You may instantly think that videos bring in more viewers and convert better, but the numbers may surprise you. Let data help you in creating your strategy.
Mine your on-site “search” queries - This really depends on whether you’ve had this setup for quite some time, but Google Analytics has the ability for you to setup and track on-site search to track what current (or potential) users are searching for on your site. This can be a goldmine for digging up topic or content ideas that can provide value.
Mine third party sources - There are so, SO many places and techniques for finding inspiration from places outside of the norm. Using tools like Bottlenose, Buzzsumo, Social Mention and Meshfire (currently in beta) can help you monitor and track specific topic conversations and find where (and with whom) those conversations are taking place. There are also tools like Google Trends to view current and old trending data.
General Communities: Communities like Quora (a personal fave of mine for researching), Reddit, and Good.is can help you put your finger on the pulse of things people are talking about right now.
Niche Communities - When I used to put together strategy for very specific niches, I would often start researching in forums specific to that industry or group of people for ideas on topics that the client could help contribute or clarify on.
Customer Support - Yes, there can also be valuable information found here that can help tailor certain content strategies. Make friends with your customer support team and use their data to your advantage.

The WHERE

First, decide whether you want placement on your own site, third party sites, or both. The most effective strategies are multi-tiered, so while you have branded collaterals on your site (especially if you’re looking to convert users to download or sign up for something) you can also create non-branded, subtle, interesting content with purpose that can be shared on a third party site.
Potential Targets: If you’re “marketing”, you may have limited channels or audience members that you’re reaching. Or, you may be completely targeting the wrong ones who can’t help extend your message to those that would find it valuable and possible convert. The strategy is all about finding publications or authors that have discussed your topic in the past, and potentially collaborating with them to create content that benefits both your company and their audience.
Potential Reach: Do they have a strong social following? Do their posts around your industry tend to have active engagement through comments or sharing?

• Mine your backlinks and mentions (or work with someone who can) to identify publishers who are already exposed to your brand.
• Align your personas with your potential targets, and find a hole in the current content that they’re publishing

Also remember context: If you’re building relationships and looking for publications to partner with and share your content, context is very important. The core focus of the publication should be directly related to your industry and the topic of your content. If you’re a design business, there really isn’t a benefit to posting on a website that focuses mainly on landscaping, regardless of whether they’ll let you contribute or not. Relevancy and quality definitely trumps irrelevance and quantity.

The WHEN

The 2 Quarter Plan - Personas may change, audiences may change, brand messaging may change, products may get released, etc. While you can (and should) plan a general, long-term strategy on topics to focus on, don’t be married to it. Production takes time for great content, and a strategy that’s created in great detail over the course of a year may be highly irrelevant by the time that quarter rolls around.
Plan loosely, but make your detailed strategy span a shorter period of time.
Create an Editorial Calendar - This could really be a discussion in and of itself, but an editorial calendar (either created by an outside agency that you’re working with, or by an internal team member should be put into place to document estimated dates to push out content (whatever the medium). For brands or businesses that are highly seasonable, these can help timeline out the individual items that make up a full campaign push 2-3 months before the intended holiday.
Again, quality and relevance trumps quantity. Don’t worry about creating content all the time with no purpose. Plan content that will encourage RSS signups, email signups, and a true audience.

The WHY

The “Why” can come from many directions. If you’re not the brand owner, you may have stakeholders (the C suite, marketing managers, etc.) that you’re responsible for reporting to. If you are the owner, you’ll have your own set of metrics that you’re judging success by. Understanding the “Why” and your initial goals are extremely important before you brainstorm even one idea.
Create Your Goals - Each persona should have a goal attached to them, and there should be a subsequent overall goal for each campaign. Are you looking to attract links? Are you looking to reach influencers in your space to spark discussions around your brand, but not necessarily concerned with links or attribution? Are you looking to convert audience members to users?
As for the groups you’re targeting:

• Are they a group that’s come in contact with your brand/business in the past and they have high potential to convert?
• Are they a group that’s had no exposure to your brand that you’re looking to introduce yourself to?
• Are they a group of influencers that can help spread your message to their own audience, which could result in potential eyeballs on your brand/business?

Your goals should really be the final glue that binds everything together. Remember that you’re going to need to have proper tracking and measurement in place in order to prove success to various stakeholders in the company, no matter how big or small. Identify them first and foremost, because these drive the strategy and the content you create.
Business and brands: Whether you’re creating a content strategy internally, or partnering with an agency/consultant for you, please remember the who, what, where, when and why. Content isn’t just a piece here, an article there, and a video some time later.
When asking a general question about how long strategists focused on content strategy (from data collection to the final strategy result) over 2 quarters, these were the following results. I asked respondents whether a strategy over this time period would take approximately 1-5 hours, 5-10 hours, 10-20 hours, 20+ hours, “I don’t freakin’ know, I just do it” or Other (some weren’t responsible for content strategy but wanted to weigh in on other questions). The responses are below:

The bottom line is that strategy takes time.
The best orchestrated content strategies come from deep data mining, consistency, and cohesiveness. They’re tough, they take a lot of time, and don’t produce results overnight. Make sure you’re aiming for certain goals and targets, and that you’re not just marketing content for the sake of creating noise.