“Content” for business is nothing new. Businesses have been producing commercial narrative for as long as they have existed.

However with digital media, more are creating and disseminating their own content and building their own channels.

Some of those channels are growing into powerful media titles in their own right, while others are struggling against a sea of competition.

With digital publishing has come an increasingly fragmented audience and a tsunami of content; over 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, just one of the many publishing channels on offer.

So how do you stand out from the crowd?

Firstly, you need to understand your target market and their media consumption habits: what channels and platforms are they on, when and where do they consume media. And what sort of content do they want? Is it short bite-sized content to consume on the go, or is it long-form journalism? Do they prefer video or prose? Do they want to be informed, entertained or educated?

Once you know what your target market wants, you can then consistently deliver into that space, building audiences and engagement.

To do that you must deliver an original, well-written and well-researched narrative. Inspire your audience, make them smile or laugh. Make them nod their head or say “cool”. Give them something of value. Subscriptions, likes and shares will follow, as will their affinity to your brand.

It might seem obvious, but only content produced with your audience in mind will be consumed and shared.

What are their informational desires? Fulfil them. Become a credible source and you will soon have the support of the industry as people link to your content, journalists cite you as a source and your SEO rankings climb.

Then, given you probably have a commercial offering in that same content-interest sphere, the commercial benefits will follow.

The Complete Content Marketing Guide is a 30-page white paper detailing all aspects of developing, refining and implementing a content marketing and marketing automation strategy.

Content Marketing Strategy Development
Establishing Content Marketing Goals
Audience Analysis
Marketing Automation
Content Metrics and ROI
   – Digital Content Distribution:
   – Social Media
   – SEO
   – Video
   – E-Newsletters
   – Content Seeding and Amplification
Print Content Considerations
Legal considerations