• by Patti Minglin , October 9, 2013

Content Matters

What is your definition of content marketing? According to a recent article on Forbes.com, content marketing is about “providing valuable information or content to current and potential customers for the purpose of building trust, branding, awareness and positive sentiment.” In short, successful content marketing is the foundation on which long-term relationships are built, especially if those relationships are with mom consumers. 

We are seeing tremendous growth in the area of content marketing, and trends for 2014 show little signs of this growth slowing down. Matter of fact, the same Forbes.com article suggests that companies that “don’t assign content creation and dissemination to specific people or departments will lose out.” Even if you are a small business, making content creation a priority is key to your overall marketing-to-mom success. As you begin to plan for 2014, here are some things to consider with your content marketing plans:

Know Your Audience

In addition to knowing who your audience is, you need to know where they spend their time and how your product or service fits into their everyday life. This will help you create content that is relevant not only to your brand, but to your audience. For example, if you are a company that provides cooking utensils and tools, you might want to create content that shows moms how to save time in the kitchen, create healthy dinners or learn a new culinary skill. 

Make It Shareable

Create content that people want to talk about, and make it easy to share that content with others. In addition to sharing via your own networks, make sure your site and blog has easy-to-find sharing buttons and even consider adding “tweetable links” inside your posts that allow people to share your most valuable content instantly.

Create Partnerships

Consider partnering with other businesses and/or brands that share your same mom audience to enhance your content marketing efforts. If you own a small tutoring company, interview the owner of the restaurant next door on her ideas for best “brain food” snacks or offer to do a guest post on her site with statistics on how a healthy breakfast helps kids become better students. 

Visuals Are Content

While we often think of words as being content, don’t forget about images. Blog posts, e-newsletters, presentations—all those elements are made more engaging by the strategic use of images. Have great stats on how your new organizational product helps moms save time in the kitchen? Instead of writing it, turn it into a visually appealing infographic that you can share with others.