02 May Types of Content Marketing
The following is an excerpt from my book, Media Matters: How to leverage the media to grow your business.
There are two basic forms of content marketing. Informative and entertainment. Most small businesses will find it easier to create informative content, but few venture out and create entertaining content.
Let’s discuss the entertaining content first to get your mind around what this looks like. When you think about Disney and Hallmark, those are examples of entertainment content marketing. Disney has long promoted their theme parks, movies, and merchandise through the creation of entertainment. Just last year they released a new movie Jungle Cruise, based on the popular theme park attraction of the same name. Hallmark has invested a lot of money into making Christmas movies because they want you thinking about Hallmark around the holidays.
Writing a script and producing a movie or made-for-TV drama and comedy is expensive and very hard to pull off. But you could create a reality TV show on a budget that is entertaining. The Gold & Silver Pawn Shop is located on the outskirts of Las Vegas. If you stop by you will recognize the family that owns and operates the store from the hit TV show Pawn Stars that aired on the History Channel and is now in syndication.
Editing is the key for reality TV shows. Newsflash, they really aren’t that real. To film people working all day in a pawn store would make for boring television. Just watch an episode of Big Brother After Dark as an example.
Entertainment content marking also takes a lot of time to produce. I watched an interview where Chip Gaines admitted his frustration with trying to keep up with the demands of recording the number-one cable TV show Fixer Upper for HGTV while also trying to raise a family and run a business.
An entertainment podcast is an easier and more affordable option. You can host a roundtable discussion of a topic that draws in your target demographic and use that content to promote your business.
Informative content is where you give free advice related to the products or services you offer. That is the key to content marketing: offering something of value. If all you do is talk about your business and how great you are, you are just producing what we in the business call an infomercial. Infomercials are just longform commercials selling a product. They work, but that is not content marketing.
You want to follow the 80/20 rule and have 80 percent of your content give free advice, tips, and information that can help someone.
You want to follow the 80/20 rule and have 80 percent of your content give free advice, tips, and information that can help someone. Then you can use the other 20 percent to remind your followers that you can help them with their needs. This book is a perfect example; if you read this book and follow the tips you will be successful. But I also remind you that our company can help you with all these services.
When my wife started her cookie business, she followed a woman online who created videos that showed some tips on how to decorate cookies more easily; practical tips that helped her perfect her craft for her new business. The same woman also sold cookie cutters in all shapes and sizes to make the perfect cookie. She knew her target demo was ladies who were looking to make an extra passive income, so she created informative content to market her company.
When we wanted to eat healthier, my wife found a woman online who created a brand called Skinnytaste. She pushed out content every week in the form of menus she created for her followers. You can download the menu and go to her website to learn how to cook each recipe. You can also purchase the food to be delivered to your home. Great tips and information for her followers to market Skinnytaste.
To be informative does not mean you have to talk only about your product. When you look at these examples you see one person giving cookie decorating ideas and another pushing out free recipes. They are not creating content that just talks about how their product or service works.
Order your copy of Media Matters: How to leverage the media to grow your business by going to www.mediamattersbook.com.
Scott Miller is the CEO of Centerpost Media, host of the Create. Build. Manage. show (seen on BizTV, heard on BizTalkRadio, and available wherever you listen to podcasts,) and a member of the Forbes Agency Council, Entrepreneur Leadership Network, and Dallas Business Journal Leadership Trust. You can find Scott on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via “@scottmillerceo” or on LinkedIn via “@scottmillermedia.” Centerpost Media is a content marketing agency with a vision to help every business they encounter with their media needs by providing outstanding quality, service and value. Centerpost Media is the parent company to BizTV, BizTalkRadio, BizTalkPodcasts and Bizvod.