Apprentice Blog – Issue #1

Now then!

Having recently started my apprenticeship here at The Northern Foundry, I thought I’d share some of my initial findings of agency life. I’m relatively new to the world of work, let alone the world of Marketing, so I’ve had to adapt fast.

There’s been a lot of terminology flying about that I was previously unfamiliar with, but with each working day, I have become more fluent with the marketing lingo. I’ve also undertaken many tasks since my start and this is my next: The Apprentice Blog.

Content Marketing

So, content marketing. Have you heard of it? If you’re new to all of this like me, probably not. Had I heard of it? Nope. Do I know what it is now? I’d like to think so, yes.

Content marketing is a collection of strategies often used alongside a creative marketing campaign, which can involve creating and sharing content such as videos, images, infographics and blogs. It’s not out right advertising but it’s a way of collaborating interest in the products, services or ideas of particular brand. This content will be created for, and aimed, at a very specific target market. This means that the audience you are marketing to already have an interest in the products/services you are offering and your content marketing campaign is simply making them more engaged and educated by it (or at least that’s what I’ve come to understand so far).

Admittedly, I’m no expert and, as you know, I’m new to all of this but what I do know is content marketing can create a demand for your product. I assume it’s quite hard as a new business or company but content marketing is a superb way of supplying the demand that is already there.

Content marketing: The relevance

Now, you might be wondering why content marketing is so special and how this benefits your business any more than a regular marketing campaign. Well, a huge advantage is that it pinpoints and taps into your market’s unique and specific interests . For example, imagine there’s a website for surfers where they talk to each other about surfing and riding ‘gnarly’ waves, you wouldn’t push pretty handbags on that page because they’re not going to be interested. What you would do is promote your awesome new surfboard wax with a video of a surfer riding those gnarly waves, a blog of the benefits of the wax and that would be content marketing, because it’s targeted, useful and informative.

Alternatively, Robert Rose summarises it like this:

“Traditional marketing and advertising is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content marketing is showing the world that you are one.”

Content marketing: The key

The key is creating a streamlined process for distributing content that is relevant to a target audience which has been clearly defined through research into the key demographic. This way of marketing can work absolute wonders for your business, helping with increasing online sales and diversifying your user base.

Businesses that are fluent in the art of content marketing are familiar with what works best, more importantly what sort of content creates the most impact on their target market. This knowledge doesn’t come overnight though, there’s a lot of time spent digging and analysing, like an archaeologist but without the mud or fossils.  

Content marketing: The best bit

What’s my favourite so far? It has to be the content marketer’s secret weapon: Infographics. Infographics are the best way to say what you need to in a simple, visual and effective manner. Without exaggerating, an infographic will get information across 60,000 times faster than an abundance of text. Infographics are a differentiated way of learning. And that’s the beauty of them; anyone can absorb the information and retain it much better than a plethora of paragraphs.

Perhaps I should’ve made a content marketing infographic instead? There’s my next job.

Until next time…

Reece Taylor

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