Content marketing has existed long before the term was coined. Trade magazines like The Furrow, produced by John Deere, have long been used to build deeper relationships with customers with the aim of developing greater brand awareness and building a more loyal customer base. But while the aim of content marketing hasn’t changed, the way businesses go about it certainly has. This article will look at the evolution of content marketing and what we can expect from the future of content marketing.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a marketing approach that sees businesses produce marketing material that is educational, informative or valuable to its target audience. Today, content marketing is largely used to refer to digital content; online blogs, vlogs and social media posts can all form part of a content marketing strategy in the 21st century.
But as already mentioned, content marketing can also appear in more traditional formats. Trade magazines and newspaper articles, for example, may have previously formed part of a content marketing strategy.
It could be described as a less salesy approach to marketing. While a strong strategy should ultimately lead to increased sales, the focus is more on disguising marketing material as valuable content that doesn’t disrupt or intrude on the recipient. Simply put, the consumer should actively want to consume the content, unlike an online advertisement that could be regarded as a disruptive form of marketing.
How Has Content Marketing Evolved Over Time?
There are examples of content marketing throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. But one of the best examples of content marketing in its current form comes from Michelin, a tyre manufacturer that created travel guides, thus promoting car travel and reducing the time before a consumer would need to replace their car tyres.
When customers did need new tyres for their car, the Michelin brand was in their head – a perfect example of how valuable content can increase brand awareness and sales. The strategy was so successful that it led to the now world-renowned Michelin Star rating system.
While the logic behind content marketing hasn’t changed, the channels which are used to deliver the content have changed enormously. Over time, channels used in content marketing include newspapers, celebrity gossip magazines and, more recently, online blogs, vlogs and social media. Again, it’s important to stress that brands don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to content marketing and instead need to use current channels to funnel valuable content to users that meets them where they are, rather than disrupting their browsing habits.
The digital era has allowed brands to get even more creative with their content. A great example of content marketing in the modern world is WWF’s reimagining of the 2048 Olympics, which creatively shows what the future Olympics could look like if we don’t start taking better care of our planet. Again, this content isn’t designed to necessarily sell the services of WWF, but more to be interesting, engaging and thought-provoking.
How Will Content Marketing Look in The Future?
Content marketing has exploded with the rising popularity of digital marketing. Digital platforms such as social media apps have offered brands a new way to shape their digital content, and given the amount of time that consumers are spending online, this shows no signs of slowing down.
The popularity and demand for content marketing have meant that bespoke agencies are emerging in the space. We can expect to see more brands working with a content marketing agency going forward, as this could prove to be a great way to ensure content is polished and stands out in what has become an extremely competitive space.
As the digital world becomes more and more saturated, it could also be argued that a return to physical, traditional marketing channels may become more popular. While many will see print and outdoor advertising as outdated, combining traditional marketing with content marketing could offer your brand originality and uniqueness at a time when all your competitors are continuing to go digital.
Finally, it will be exciting to see how AI is used in content marketing going forward. We’re already seeing AI start to blur the lines between real content and AI-generated content, with AI opening a whole new world of possibilities in terms of content creation.
Final Thoughts
Content marketing has been around for decades, and it isn’t going anywhere fast. However, the content marketing landscape has changed over time, and we can expect it to change going forward, too. When it comes to creating content, originality and uniqueness are key. To achieve this, brands could go against the trend of creating digital content to stand out in an ever-increasing digital world. For brands looking to create captivating digital content, AI tools could provide a way to generate content that wouldn’t have been possible until now.