Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance Magazine Spring 2019 | Page 24

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CONTENT MARKETING TRUTHS
UNIVERSAL TRUTHS
ABOUT CONTENT
MARKETING
BY: LEE ODDEN , MARKETING STRATEGIST, AUTHOR, SPEAKER
I
n 2019, marketers are just as
overwhelmed with tactics as buyers
are with content. This paradox of
choice at scale incurs costs that
range from dissatisfied customers to
ineffective marketing programs.
With increasing demands, fewer resources
and greater complexity in marketing that
now includes smart speakers, VR/AR, IoT,
AI and all forms of disruptive technology,
marketers are looking for the universal
truths that will keep them on track and
effective.
In my book, Optimize, I talked about a
customer centric approach to digital
marketing that emphasized search,
social and content. The truths about
how customers engage content to make
decisions outlined then are equally true in
2019 and for nearly any kind of platform.
Those content truths are: discovery,
consumption, and action.
DISCOVERY: Where do buyers look for
solution information? What do they say to
their Echo or Google Home device? What
do they search for on their phone or tablet?
What sources do they subscribe to for
updates on their smart watch? Of course
laptop, tablet and mobile search, and social
media behaviors are still relevant.
CONSUMPTION: What are your buyers’
preferences for engaging with the content
they find? Do they read/watch/listen on
the discovery platform or save/subscribe
for later? Are there preferences for
experiencing or interacting with content
vs. simply read/watch/listen? Images vs.
videos vs. audio vs. interactive on various
devices is still relevant.
ACTION: What triggers will inspire action?
Do buyers need content personalized on
the fly or are they willing to exchange
contact information to be fed personalized
content? What will it take to motivate
share, subscribe, inquire, transact, or refer?
All still relevant.
Marketers in tune with truths about how
customers find, engage with and take
action on information will reveal whatever
technology, platform, media format, and
experience buyers need. As part of an
ongoing effort to optimize marketing with
a customer focus, these truths can help
architect successful marketing programs
for years to come.
Lee Odden is a marketing strategist, author, speaker and bearded world traveler. He’s also CEO of
TopRankMarketing.com, a digital marketing agency that serves top B2B brands with “best answer”
marketing strategies that integrate content, search, social, influencer marketing, and online advertising.
Cited by The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Forbes for his marketing expertise, Lee has
evangelized a customer-centric approach to marketing at over 200 events in 17 different countries,
through numerous industry publications and an award winning blog.
TOPRANKBLOG.COM
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