Decoding Confusing Terms in Content Marketing
February 2, 2024
In the world of content overload, the key to standing out among your competitors is your content marketing campaign.
Great content campaigns— as part of a solid overall content marketing strategy—provide customers with highly useful information, deliver value, and help shape brands into market leaders. That is why brands cannot afford to make mistakes when putting content out there.
Top brands recognize the importance of ensuring high-quality content always hits the mark with the target audience.
Unfortunately, content writers may occasionally miss the mark by confusing certain terms in content marketing. It’s not always their fault, though. Some of these terms are frequently used inappropriately across various platforms, misleading content writers. That is why clearing the air is crucial in order to ensure great content marketing strategies meet their intended targets.
5 Confusing Terms in Content Marketing
1. Thought Leadership
Thought leadership is about establishing oneself as a go-to source in one’s respective industry. Thought leaders become standard-bearers for other professionals in that field.
Thought leaders are typically CEOs, influential entrepreneurs, or authoritative academics. These individuals are known for their track record and become well respected for their achievements.
Consequently, many thought leaders become content writers by authoring books and memoirs or contributing to major publications.
The term “opinion leader” is also utilized when referring to thought leaders.
In essence, thought leaders and opinion leaders are synonymous. Both terms refer to influential individuals in their respective fields. As a result, either term may be utilized when drafting content marketing materials.
It is worth mentioning that both terms are interchangeable, though it is up to each individual to choose the term they feel best suits their persona.
The biggest contribution that thought leaders make to their field is taking complex concepts and translating them into accessible and engaging narratives. They intertwine often complicated subjects with their unique perspectives based on experience and knowledge.
They know how to cater to their audience by delivering insights very few others can provide.
However, some content writers mistakenly attempt to replicate thought leadership content by producing generic materials as part of a broader content marketing strategy.
The problem with this approach is that audiences do not want generic content. They seek insights and perspectives not readily available.
In short, audiences seek personal contributions from influential individuals, not run-of-the-mill content. That is why brands seeking to produce an effective content marketing strategy must strive to provide singular perspectives relevant to their fields.
Producing common, generic information will not cut it in today’s marketplace. The best brands and professionals offer their expertise to the benefit of their followers and consumers.
2. SEO Content Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been the bread and butter of brands seeking to position themselves in the vast expanse of internet searches.
SEO content marketing utilizes keywords users utilize to find the content they want. Content writers employ keywords to ensure their materials are visible to anyone looking to find it.
Some brands employ content marketing services to produce SEO-optimized materials.
While working with content marketing services can be a great way to produce materials, a dark side must also be considered.
Some content writers utilize a practice known as “keyword stuffing.” Keyword stuffing consists of artificially including relevant keywords within the text, even when the text seems nonsensical or illogical. The point is to “trick” search engine algorithms to find the material and provide users with links to websites and product pages.
In the early days of search engines, this practice worked. However, as search engines used improved algorithms, they were able to detect keyword-stuffing practices.
Search engines such as Google punish websites employing this content marketing strategy by shoving such content to the bottom of search results.
The bottom line is that any effective content marketing strategy must strive to deliver useful content. Gibberish littered with keywords will not suffice.
Brands looking to work with content marketing services should do their due diligence. These services should demonstrate a track record of quality work. In such situations, brands can be sure their content will meet today’s rigorous SEO requirements.
3. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is often tossed in as an umbrella term for any type of online advertising. While digital marketing encompasses a wide range of online marketing tactics, digital marketing offers much more than just online advertising.
Brands employing digital marketing have various channels to choose from.
For instance, channels such as social media marketing, email marketing, video content, blogging, e-books, and newsletters can all reach a wide audience. Some of these channels are quite cost-effective, while others may require a more substantial investment.
Unfortunately, some brands believe that a content marketing strategy involving digital channels is solely based on throwing content out there. The belief that “more is better” can ultimately lead brands down a disappointing path.
When a content writer produces content for the sake of producing it, they knowingly or unknowingly damage the brand they represent.
Audiences do not want content just for the sake of it. They want content that speaks to their wants and needs. That is why the “less is more” approach has never been more relevant to digital marketing.
When thinking about how to create a content strategy, considering the most appropriate channels is crucial.
For example, a brand can choose to focus on one or two channels as opposed to casting a wide net. Becoming highly proficient in a single channel can yield far better results than attempting to scatter content across multiple channels.
In addition, working with an experienced content marketing service can help brands hone their sights on the most effective channels given their products and industry. Above all, effective digital marketing focuses on delivering the right content to the right audience over the right channel.
4. Content Marketing Strategy
Traditional advertising focuses on selling products and services to customers. This approach features products, extols their best qualities, and then urges audiences to purchase.
Traditional marketing utilizes calls to action and catchphrases to prompt customers to acquire the products and services in question.
As the world became increasingly digital, traditional advertising began to fade. The once-popular infomercial format became largely obsolete.
Digital channels such as social media have essentially replaced mainstream ones like television and radio. Print advertising agonizes as people predominantly choose digital formats over print.
Given digital marketing’s growing influence, content marketing has become a highly influential way of reaching customers.
Today’s consumers are no longer satisfied with customer testimonials and product demos. They want to get more information and content from brands. These savvy customers want to know the research backing a brand’s claims. Delivering this sort of value is not something done over a thirty-second TV spot.
Now, more than ever, successful brands use content marketing to communicate with their customers. They employ content marketing strategies to inform consumers but also “sell” their products and services.
The key is to deliver valuable information without sounding salesy. The most effective content marketing strategies employ solid data and evidence that can support customer testimonials. Smart consumers can see through actors pretending to be satisfied customers.
Concrete content marketing can win over skeptics. Therefore, brands must consider working with content writers or content marketing services known for their track record in producing high-quality content marketing materials.
Specialized content producers can mean the difference between building rapport with customers or completely alienating them.
5. Content Marketing Services
In the traditional marketing world, brands employ marketing or advertising agencies to craft their campaigns. These agencies take care of virtually every aspect related to campaigns. From filming TV spots to writing brochures, advertising agencies have the skills and experience to produce well-rounded campaigns.
As the world transitioned from a traditional to a digital marketing world, traditional advertising agencies were faced with a dilemma: They either got with the times or faced extinction. Sadly, some went the way of the dinosaurs. Those that remained had to evolve in order to cope with the emergence of digital media platforms.
From the emergence of digital marketing came new firms specialized in digital content marketing.
These content marketing services could produce a wide of materials suitable for the array of available digital marketing channels.
As is the case with most fast-growing industries, new competitors entered the market, claiming to possess the expertise needed to excel in digital content marketing.
Many of these competitors could not live up to their claims, often employing inexperienced or untrained content writers. The results have led some brands to tarnish their reputations by producing subpar materials.
In some instances, unreliable content marketing services have produced such low-quality materials that brands have lost followers and customers.
In this regard, brands must do their due diligence when choosing individual content writers or employing content marketing services. Nowadays, practically anyone can claim they are a social media marketing expert or possess ample experience in digital marketing. But, the fact remains that a proven track record is the best way to gauge a content marketing service’s effectiveness.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Content Marketing
The widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in virtually every aspect of life has raised concerns about its use in content marketing. Some brands may feel compelled to harness the power of AI in their content marketing strategy.
Indeed, the use of AI can be quite useful in planning great content marketing campaigns. For instance, using AI to process large data sets used to pinpoint target customers is quite encouraging.
But what happens when brands attempt to use AI in content marketing materials?
Ethical considerations aside, practical issues come to mind. Firstly, AI lacks the depth, insight, and experience that comes with becoming a seasoned professional. AI cannot hope to replicate the insights that years of industry experience can provide.
If anything, AI content is known to be generic and lacking in originality. This characteristic makes AI an unsuitable competitor for human intuition.
Also, AI does not always get things right.
While AI can produce substantial amounts of text in very little time, the text is often flawed.
In fact, it generally takes longer to review and correct text than it does to produce it from scratch.
This reason underscores the need for human intervention despite the purported benefits that AI provides.
Lastly, AI does not have a voice. AI’s voice comes from the language models employed to generate text. These language models attempt to mimic the way a person would actually sound.
While this text may seem convincing, audiences crave unique perspectives that come from real-world experience.
Perhaps AI may one day be on par with human intelligence. Nevertheless, that day appears to be quite distant. In the meantime, no substitute for human content writers in effective content marketing strategy can be found.
A Final Thought
AI tools can be quite effective in content marketing. They can assist in research, summarize materials, and generate useful lists and content ideas.
Some content writers employ AI in drafting outlines and brainstorming ideas. These uses make AI a highly useful tool. But AI is nothing more than that.
Like a typewriter or a pen, AI is a tool that enables human scribes to generate meaningful content. Thought leaders can harness AI’s power to facilitate their content production. However, AI cannot hope to contend with opinion leaders.
Thought leaders earn the right to be called as such due to their years of hard work and dedication to their craft. This reason highlights why AI-generated content remains vastly inferior to that produced by highly respected professionals and opinion-makers.
