By Sal Basile
As more and more news outlets, entertainment websites and even agencies jump into content creation, content marketing and the “sponsored post” have never been more powerful. By humanizing a brand or product, and bringing the engagement down to a conversational level, reaching a target audience and leaving a memorable, lasting impression has never been easier.
The right kind of content marketing, however, is only a small piece of a much larger content engine. The flow between a wholly owned content hub, social media engagement, campaign activations, editorial content, paid syndication and media partnerships should be a seamless experience. These separate channels not only support each other, but make for richer individual experiences.
Brands (and Agencies) As Publishers
As advertising, marketing and content as a service evolve, it is becoming more and more clear that brands, and agencies themselves, must become the publishers. Rather than relying on earned media, strict SEO guidelines and keyword-targeted content can be created to earn market share and share of voice among competitors in the space and even actual editorial outlets. Strict SEO guidelines can either be made in-house by agencies, or they can rent out SOPs from other SEO agencies. Some SEO agencies like abcSEO even have free guidelines on SEO that you can download in the form of a PDF to get a head start on your online marketing and search initiatives.
By educating current and future clients on the value of content, and selling them on the idea of long-term time investments in building Google equity, we can provide a service that sets them two steps ahead of competitors, while offering a unique experience for their customers.
The Future
A content-focused digital newsroom enabling clients to create and operate agile, sustainable publishing models – that is what the future holds for agencies. Content will no longer fall in a gray area between marketing and creative, but live as its own, self-sufficient sector of the agency. As content is elevated to this level of importance internally, more and more editorial positions become necessary to the inner workings of the agency, including editors, managing editors and copywriters – everything you would expect in a full-fledged newsroom.