I try not to be a “Hot Take” artist but every now and then, I like tossing out a strong opinion to the LinkedIn network and see if I’m on to something or validate that I am, in fact, crazy.
I did this several weeks ago with a “take” that I thought was pretty 🌶 spicy🌶 but it’s actually no spicier than a Cooler Ranch Dorito. Tasty but not spicy.
But, I have a follow-up question. If everyone agrees, why do we keep talking so broadly about Content Marketing?
What even is content marketing any more?
I started my career at ExactTarget. There, the Thought Leadership team was on the cutting edge of this new “Content Marketing” strategy. I was in awe of the wisdom that Jeff Rohrs, Joel Book, Kyle Lacy, and others injected into deliverables that our audience desperately waited for.
“Content Marketing” has only grown in popularity since then. It’s grown so much though that we’re actually underselling what “Content Marketing” … is.
I know they say, “Never read the comments” but just...read the comments:
“We’re finally getting to the point of recognizing that it takes multiple people with different skill sets collaborating to pull all that work off. Content isn’t just your blog anymore.” - Nicole Klemp, Content Director, 6sense
Mollie Kuramoto, Marketing Manager at Element Three left her own perspective in the comments: Content Operations: What You Need to Create Consistent Content
“Content IS Marketing.” - Jimmy Girot, Strategic Insights Director, Daxko
Now we’re cooking.
A lot of marketers weighed in on the topic and the consensus is that there are many elements to Content Marketing. Everything from ideation, creative, strategy, operations, execution, distribution, analytics, and the list goes on and on.
While “Content Marketing” could be pretty easily defined in the early 2000’s, it’s grown so much since then, it’s time to start giving attention to the individual pieces that construct the larger industry.
Let’s talk about content creation, content strategy, content distribution, and the other pieces specifically. I can’t help but think when someone is broadly referencing “Content Marketing” that they don’t truly understand all of the specific challenges content marketers face.
We’re thinking through those challenges at Fathom. We’re starting with three main pillars: content distribution, content discovery, and content analytics.
I spoke with a marketer I admire early in the process of building Fathom. He eloquently summed up the dual-sided nature of “Content Marketing”:
“Content production does not equal results. Production plus content distribution equals results and that is harder than ever.”
Like everything else we interact with across the internet, we’re building a platform that pairs the right (B2B) content with the right (B2B) audience at the right time. Think about how you interact with music, movies, eCommerce, advertising even. It’s all curated based on your specific profile and interests.
We’re focused on helping content marketers become more effective content distributors and helping content consumers become better content discoverers so they can be better at their job, make decisions with confidence, and stay up-to-date on all of the trends in their industry.
We’re breaking “Content Marketing” into the pieces that are most valuable to the people who make up the industry. If you’re one of those people, we hope you’ll join us on this journey. And if you have your own content marketing “hot take,” we want to hear it. Until then, we’ll keep bringing the heat as we build in public.
