If you’re in-the-know about the state of digital marketing (or any kind of marketing) in 2015, you may have noticed that one of the biggest buzzwords right now is “content marketing.” There’s a reason for this, as content marketing is currently exerting an enormous influence on marketing, and shows a lot of promise for the future.

What is content marketing, exactly?
Content marketing is marketing that is focused around media and publishing content to attract customers. In other words, content marketing might be news articles, instructional guides, infographics, question and answer articles, or informational articles.

Content marketing can be in the form of blog posts, like the one you’re reading now, or even informational magazines distributed by companies themselves. The point of content marketing is to educate consumers.

Okay, but why should I care? What does content marketing offer my business that other types of marketing don’t?
Okay, now here’s where it gets good. Marketing has changed significantly in the past several years, along with countless other industries. Consumers are searching for, reading about, and finding products in ways in completely different ways with access to the internet.

Before, people used to have to watch advertisements to watch television. While this is definitely the case, many directly stream their television and avoid advertisements entirely. While scanning the web, consumers can scroll past or click through advertisements, going directly to the content they want to read. In short, consumers are getting more control over what media they see and when they see it. And people don’t want to read, watch or hear advertisements– they want to read, watch and hear entertaining or informative pieces.

And that is precisely where content marketing comes in.

Content marketing is educational, not promotional. Many people think all marketing has to be primarily promotional, but that’s what they get wrong about content marketing. Content marketing offers consumers something that traditional marketing doesn’t. It offers an informational post that has value in and of itself to the customer. While nobody wants to seek out and read advertisements, consumers will seek out and read a post that offers to educate, inform or entertain.

Once you’ve attracted consumers with attractive content, they’ll have been brought to your website, social media site or blogging platform and will see more information on your business. Even better, if your content is handled well enough, it will display your company’s knowledge and expertise on your industry, products or services.

If you’re interested in content marketing or would like to talk to some of the best in the business about it, give PGN a call today. We offer industry-leading content marketing for our clients that is sure to boost your sales.