I recently came across a how-to article on a marketing blog entitled “How to Avoid Becoming a Marketing Dinosaur.” Compelling title, right? Who wants to become extinct or the butt of tiny arms jokes? So I clicked through and read.
What I was met with was a lede that implicitly dismisses marketing tactics like direct mail and banner ads. In other words: eschew your tired old marketing tactics and get on the content marketing bandwagon.
We get it. Direct mail and traditional advertising are as dead as print. Content is king.
But here’s the thing: Direct mail and traditional advertising are no more dead than print, and in some instances are more effective now than ever. Why? Because more and more organizations are going digital, and digital is becoming increasingly noisy.
We hear a lot about content marketing. A lot. And in PR, most of us point and laugh and then get back to work because we’ve been doing “content marketing” for decades and understand that successful marketing is about not just telling stories—”storytelling” being another big buzzword du jour in the marketing world these days—but about making sure they’re being heard by the right audiences and offering something valuable.
It takes more than a blog post, a whitepaper and a PR Newswire release to achieve your business goals. It takes craft, creativity, follow-up, relationships and engagement.
You don’t get too far into searching #contentmarketing before being bombarded with automation platforms that promise the silver bullet for your marketing and sales needs. They’re great for what they do, but at the end of the day those platforms are all tools—they’re not a strategy and more than anything else, strategy is what organizations need today.
When we talk strategy, we talk seriously about your business goals. Not goals as in “make more sales.” Goals as in “we want to be the premier provider of sustainable architecture and engineering services for commercial development in Northern New England, positioned for expansion throughout the Northeast.” Goals that require more than a frequency formula for social media and blog posts, thin case studies and syndicated content you can spot a mile away—ever find it interesting when your neighborhood agency has exactly the same post as the agency in the next state? Can you say #original? Not exactly.
We talk strategy that incorporates authenticity and recognizes that sometimes traditional media works best for reaching the right decision makers, and for building the rapport and trust needed to sell complex systems and services. When we talk strategy, we start with the end in mind and ensure tactics align with the goal and the audience. #ContextIsKing – #Content just isn’t enough anymore.
The bottom line? The best way you can avoid becoming a dinosaur isn’t by ignoring traditional marketing methods. Or even by sticking with them. It’s by paying attention to what’s out there and then taking a step to ask yourself and your organization: “What does success look like? And what’s the best vehicle to get us there?” — by Michael Geneseo, Broadreach Senior Account Executive
