Content marketing…the now frontier

Content curation was last year. 2012 is for content marketing.

The essence of content strategy is that instead of pitching products or services, you deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, making them more intelligent. You also engage, reward and entertain them with the overall business goals of customer conversion and customer loyalty/retention, thus creating passionate subscribers.

Some key content marketing ingredients:

- Insider insights can help grow audiences; interviews, behind-the-scenes photos and “a day in the life” stories can provide that sense of insider privilege that clients are looking for.

- Create rewards for Facebook likes and followers, which allow fans to become part of an inner circle (Kimpton rewards fans with periodic passwords that earn guests a surprising reward, from room upgrade to F&B benefits at check-in).

- Hold online events with limited attendance. This can be anything from a sneak preview video to early access to new stuff.

- Be invitation-only to increase your following for that sense of being “part of the club” feeling.

- Seek feedback through comments, contests and quizzes. The more you seek their opinions, the more they’ll come back.

For more marketing trends that we foresee dominating 2012, click here