Content strategy vs. content marketing, and how to leverage both for your brand

Picture this: You’re casually strolling through your Facebook feed, swiping idly past the usual suspects when, BAM! A sponsored post appears, and you can’t help but push pause on your endless scrolling. That’s the power of a well-crafted content strategy and the finesse of content marketing at its finest.

What is content strategy?

Content strategy is your “why.” It’s the thought and research behind a content marketing campaign.

The content strategy identifies what is important to your target audience. Pinpointing content themes and topics upfront ensures you are addressing your audience’s needs when it comes time to execute. The themes and topics relate to the objectives of your content efforts.

Let’s look at how this might work:

Imagine you’re a farmer, making crucial decisions that can make or break your harvest. In the ag industry, brands are vying for your attention. It’s like a small-town rodeo where everyone knows everyone, and standing out is no easy feat.

Now, let’s talk content. Here are two scenarios:

Scenario 1: You open your email, and there it is — a newsletter from a brand you vaguely remember. It’s a wall of text, jargon-filled and not very engaging. You scroll right past it, without a second thought.

Scenario 2: Another day, another email. This time, it’s different. It’s well-crafted, loaded with insightful tips on optimizing crop yield, a captivating story from a farm in your region and maybe a quick video on the latest tech. You find yourself nodding along and absorbing the information.

Why does the second scenario matter? Because in the realm of agribusiness, high-quality content isn’t just a bonus — it’s a game-changer. When you’re one of the few brands in the field, each piece of content becomes a golden opportunity to establish trust, showcase expertise and win the farmer’s loyalty.

Think about it. Farmers are busy, pragmatic folks. They won’t waste a second on content that doesn’t offer real value. But give them content that helps them grow better crops, navigate challenges and improve their bottom line? You’ve just earned a front-row seat in their resource library.

What is content marketing, and how does it work with content strategy?

Content marketing goes beyond your traditional marketing methods. It’s the creation and distribution of content — from social posts and blogs to webinars and email campaigns — that positions a brand as relevant and reliable, so when the time does come to purchase, your brand is sitting front and center in the mind of the customer. Content marketing makes you evaluate why you are creating content. Who needs this content? How will you help in ways no one else can? It’s about playing the long game through the full sales funnel, from awareness to closing, to keep building long-term customer and prospect relationships.

Content strategy and content marketing work together to effectively build genuine relationships and achieve marketing goals. Content strategy defines the purpose, the target audience and the content pillars. Content marketing attracts, engages and keeps your target audience.

What goes into a content strategy?  

Want to improve your content strategy and content marketing, but not sure where to start? Here are some tools to focus on and what they can do:

• Content mission statements sum up what a brand is trying to accomplish with new content and how it connects to both brand and audience values.
• Audience personas keep brands rooted in their audiences’ wants, needs, perceptions and more. Read them before brainstorming sessions, when kicking off a new project, before customer/prospect meetings or events, or whenever you need inspiration or validation about what the audience would find important and relevant.
• Content pillars define the core topics on which your brand will focus.
• Content objectives define the marketing result a brand wants to achieve through content marketing.
• Content voice and tone identify the personality and the different ways the brand’s voice is used.
• Themes represent topics audiences have revealed are most important to them and about which the brand can speak from a position of expertise.
• Content gap analysis highlights areas where there is an opportunity in the brand’s marketplace to create content.
• Existing content recommendations utilize and optimize the content you already have to meet objectives.
• Content calendars help teams execute one or many campaigns by determining when content will be produced and published.

Content is important to marketers, but it’s not enough to create content and hope for the best. Brands must outline goals, understand their target audiences and consider the types of content they’ll create that best reflect the brand. Keep in mind that content marketing is meant to build a long-term relationship with real people.

Brands can achieve goals and generate leads when content strategy and marketing go hand in hand. Develop a strategy and you’ll be well on your way to success.

Contact MorganMyers to learn how you can implement content strategy in your business.