Content Marketing. Who’s on board?

Whilst the economic outlook might be doom and gloom, the content marketing bandwagon is rolling at full speed. It’s filling up with enthusiastic new supporters at every stop, and gathering pace towards its destination in marketing boardrooms.

The ideas I first encountered when researching business blogging have been picked up, dusted off and given a new set of clothes in the form of content marketing. People are ignoring advertising, so the future is to barter for their attention with content of value.

Add to the equation that the costs of becoming a publisher have plummeted along with the price at which you can sell content. Content itself is now a promotional, marketing tool for building a closer affinity, rather than a way of generating income in itself.

I think content marketing has a bright future and is a future field for copywriters. In my own experience I’m finding more people who not only want words for the search engines, but also words that can provide ammunition to their sales teams and educate visitors.

This week I thought I’d share some of the blogs I regularly read on the evolving demand for high quality, useful content. I’d recommend adding them all to your reading list if you’re interested in where marketing and copywriting is heading:

Copyblogger – what initial started as a blog about copywriting techniques has now evolved into a speakers platform for sharing advice on writing for the web and the need to invest in quality content, rather than hammering out posts as though your PC is about to explode.

Web Ink Now – blog of viral marketing evangelist David Meerman Scott who shares his views on offering content of value and throwing overtly sales tactics in the bin.

Junta42 – a blog dedicated to content marketing. Whose doing it well? Who needs to start doing it? And how can you do it better? All questions dealt with using real life examples. They’ve recently announced their own list of content marketing blogs – so much to read, so little time.

Engagement Principles – blog of veteran copywriter Tom Chandler of Copywriter Underground fame focusing on engaging with content that appeals to people’s desires and interests, rather than blandly bores.

Seth Godin – Seth is constantly preaching on the need to tell authentic stories and to be more remarkable in a world filled with mediocrity. His massive fan base of disciples will be the ones pushing content marketing when Seth gives them the nod.

Chris Anderson – the editor-in-chief of Wired will soon be releasing a new book on the internet’s economics of giving away for free so you can profit in other ways. If it has the same impact as ‘The Long Tail’ then expect to see it referenced in the national media sometime soon. Here’s a link to a speech he recently gave on the subject to whet your appetite.

So there you have it. It’s not just be banging my drum but a whole orchestra of bloggers playing the content marketing tune. We write about it every week knowing that eventually our combined noise will be loud enough to penetrate corporate marketing boardrooms everywhere.

Hopefully this will then lead to a bright new world in which freelance copywriters and article writers are called upon to drive their content marketing campaigns, and not just think up their next ad’s tag line.