Why is Content so Important In Marketing?

It's about helping customers before a sale has ever been made

Consider some of the more conventional forms of marketing; door to door sales, cold calling, billboards, spam emails and advertisements. These are all examples of Outbound Marketing. They are intrusive at their worst and unsolicited at their best. They almost always take away from our most valuable commodity — our time. The message is pushed onto consumers, whether it is well received or not.

That product ad placed bang in the middle of your evening news? Outbound marketing. Those door-to-door salesmen that show up unannounced? Also Outbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is an antidote to this.

Seth Godin (pictured above) is a marketing genius and a prolific writer. He is perhaps most well known for articulating the concept of ‘Permission Marketing’, a marketing philosophy that eventually evolved into Inbound Marketing.

Godin and his mustard glasses concluded that marketing efforts that are personalised, relevant and helpful to consumers are much better received.

Helpful marketing pulls consumers to the brand by providing value before a sale has ever been made.

Prior to purchase, a consumer contemplates their needs and the solutions the market has to offer. Marketers call this evaluation process ‘The Buyer’s Journey’. Inbound marketing taps into this journey by providing information that educates the consumer through relevant and remarkable content at each stage.

Inbound Marketing’s key tenet is to produce helpful and relevant content that is of value to people.

This is why investment platforms like Wealthsimple produce super cool (and funny) content like their Investing Master Class starring cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) from HBO’s Succession.

This is also why Coinbase also produces educational content on cryptocurrency. Wealthsimple and Coinbase understand inbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing’s key tenet is to produce helpful and relevant content that is of value to people. The content educates and empowers the consumer while building trust and attracting them to the brand.

Purpose of any marketing is to attract attention, no doubt. But while outbound marketing buys consumer attention, Inbound Marketing earns it.