Content Marketing

Content marketing is publishing content to attract potential customers to a business that sells something other than the content. A roofing company publishes a guide on “signs your roof needs replacement” to attract homeowners who need a roofer. An accounting software company publishes articles about tax deadlines to attract small business owners who need accounting software. A law firm publishes explanations of employment law to attract HR managers who need outside counsel.

The content is free. The content exists to put the business in front of people who have a problem the business solves, at the moment they are searching for information about that problem.

The content is the channel, a means of acquiring customers for a product or service that exists independently. A plumber’s blog post about pipe insulation attracts homeowners who need a plumber. The Wirecutter’s article about pipe insulation earns affiliate commissions on the pipe insulation itself. The articles look identical; the revenue comes from different places.

The mechanics overlap with publisher SEO: identify search queries that potential customers use, create content that answers those queries, rank in organic search, and capture leads from the resulting traffic. The output looks similar — blog posts, guides, videos. The difference is what happens after the visitor arrives. A publisher wants the visitor to read more pages (more ad impressions) or subscribe. A content marketer wants the visitor to contact the business, start a free trial, request a quote, or buy a product.

The funnel structure of content marketing:

• Top of funnel. Broad educational content that attracts people early in their search. “What is double-entry bookkeeping?” attracts someone who might eventually need accounting software. High traffic volume, low conversion rate to customer, but builds awareness and email list.
• Middle of funnel. Content that addresses specific problems. “How to reconcile your books at month-end” attracts someone actively managing their accounting — closer to needing a tool. Moderate traffic, moderate conversion rate.
• Bottom of funnel. Content that directly compares solutions. “QuickBooks vs Xero vs FreshBooks” attracts someone ready to choose. Low traffic volume, high conversion rate, high customer value.

Most businesses doing content marketing produce too much top-of-funnel content and too little bottom-of-funnel content. Top-of-funnel content is easier to write and generates impressive traffic numbers, but the people reading “what is double-entry bookkeeping” are not buying accounting software this month. Bottom-of-funnel content is harder to write (it requires genuine product knowledge and comparison), targets lower-volume queries, and looks worse in traffic reports — but it acquires customers.

Measuring content marketing requires attributing revenue to content. A visitor reads a blog post, joins the email list, receives nurture emails for three months, and then starts a free trial of the software. The blog post gets no credit in a last-touch attribution model (the email gets credit) and full credit in a first-touch model. Neither is accurate. Multi-touch attribution — dividing credit across all touchpoints — is more realistic but harder to implement. Most businesses undervalue content marketing because their attribution model does not capture its role in the acquisition chain.