"How to Approach Content Marketing" Part 1 ~What Marketers Need to Think Like Editors~

Content marketing, a strategy gaining global attention. By becoming their own media and distributing content, companies expand business opportunities. Various companies, primarily overseas, are implementing this approach. In Part 1, Tokunaga explains what content marketing is, what perspectives are needed, and what it means to think like an editor, following the book "27 Secrets of Content Marketing."

Marketers Need the Mindset of an Editor

Searching for "content marketing" online yields 1.04 billion results in English and 12 million in Japanese. Over 3,000 books on the topic are published on Amazon (as of May 2014). In the US, an organization called the "Content Marketing Institute" has been established, and its founder, Joe Pulizzi, has been advocating this concept since around 2001. Recognizing this social trend, we translated the book "CONTENT MARKETING." The author, Rebecca Reeve, possesses expertise in digital marketing, media editing, and search engine marketing. The Japanese edition, titled "The 27 Secrets of Content Marketing," was published in January 2014. Its subtitle is "Think Like a Publisher." We will introduce what content marketing is based on this book.

Here, "content" encompasses not only web campaigns, viral videos, and online articles, but also white papers, investor-focused videos, online newsrooms, and seminars. Content marketing aims to drive business results by delivering relevant, valuable information (i.e., content) to the target audience.

The introduction to the original book "CONTENT MARKETING" is highly symbolic, opening with the term "Content-ment." "Content" is a verb meaning to satisfy people. This word encapsulates what Rebecca aims to convey throughout the book: two key points. First, "Only what satisfies customers is content." Second, "Content marketing is synonymous with customer service." In other words, what matters is delivering valuable, appropriate content or entertainment to customers at the moment they seek it. This can be achieved directly by companies themselves using the web and social media, without relying on traditional media like TV or newspapers. Content marketing objectives vary widely: attracting attention, crisis response, boosting brand loyalty, and more.

It is something that should be pursued by everyone, from small, locally owned businesses to global corporations. It is necessary to devise and structure appropriate content tailored to the specific goals of each organization and brand.

A key reason content marketing has gained prominence is that consumers, not companies, now decide when and how they receive corporate messages. Previously, companies could predict and control how consumers would react based on where product or brand information was placed. Today's consumers typically access information they find interesting at their own convenience and search for needed information when required. Unless companies become a source of this "interesting information" or appear in search results, they cannot deliver their own information and thus cannot connect with consumers for business purposes. Another aspect is that the emergence of owned media and social media has reduced the cost of media buying and content creation for companies, making it easier to implement. Furthermore, when considering business from the perspective of systems and databases, data essential for gaining customer insights needed for business cannot be collected unless customers take action or make statements. Therefore, content that prompts some kind of action from customers is necessary at touchpoints.

For companies to continuously publish content as a media entity, they must "think like an editor." Future marketers must adopt the mindset of an editor. Specifically, "thinking like an editor" means: understanding your audience and setting themes and messages, just like advertising; managing operations with an editorial calendar; creating content people want to see daily, like horoscopes or weather forecasts; making full use of interview articles; and listening to user comments and responding appropriately. Evolving previously published content and repurposing it with new perspectives is also an editor's approach.

※Part 2 is scheduled for update on Tuesday, August 26.