CONTENT AND CONTENTMENT
Content is king, as the saying goes. This holds true for the almost everything on the internet in this era of the 21st century. We live in an age of content.
Ask any YouTuber that holds significant sway on the platform about what made them successful and the answer would almost unanimously be good content. Their channels live and die by the content they upload, everything from vlogs to let’s plays, reviews and everything in between.
Move on to the Instagram folks and they would also say their content is what afforded them the luxuries of being a social media ‘influencer’ — I use this term loosely. Their content comes in the form of a packaged deal: their looks, their wits, their humour, and the way they sell themselves on the internet. Perhaps I should say the way they portray themselves, lest someone begins to think I’ve been browsing human trafficking sites.
In marketing, it is said that traditional marketing is becoming less effective as a tool by the minute. The advent of ‘content marketing’ is the latest fad which all marketers are giddy about. What is content marketing exactly?
Forbes cites it as a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
The ultimate goal for content marketing is to increase sales or traffic, and inculcate brand loyalty into customers.
By and large, content marketing is one which can take many forms — from social media marketing, to SEOs and, definitely PR.
PR is content marketing? If you take a step back and take a wide view of it, yes. Successful PR strategies and campaigns are the ones that address issues readers or the audience care about, which may not necessarily be a brand’s business per se.
The process of selling a story based on what people want to see or hear, or because it affects them, is PR’s version of content marketing. The story has to create an impression after all. Without it, how does one ascertain whether a PR run had been a success?
It is this engaging story that the media are searching for as well. For them to fill their pages, or portals, they require good content that suits their base of loyal readers or gain them new readers. PR plays a role in helping match brands and their activities to the relevant media to extend reach and publicity.
That being said, there is another side to PR content that isn’t explicitly mentioned by anyone. What I’m alluding to is ‘content…ment’. I believe anyone in the industry feels unmistakable joy when we hear “job well done”, be it from the client, team members or even media liaisons.
It matters not what the job is, big or small, strenuous or simple, producing work that is appreciated is always a pleasure. Not all brands are generous with explicitly telling you you’ve done well, however. Sometimes, you get no recognition at all. You have to be content in knowing that the words you wrote, the scripts you crafted, the speeches you drafted have been utilised and read out loud for the listening world to hear. You have to find joy in knowing the event you helped coordinate, however small your part, was a success.
Sometimes, that is all you will get as far as acknowledgement is concerned. If you are fortunate, you will receive an explicit ‘thank you’ or ‘well done’, and that is priceless. And the occasional thank you lunch, which motivates the team like nothing can.
Darren