Glenn Nicholas from OM4 uses the above title in his blog Content Marketing vs Search Marketing. Now, nothing against search engines; we get lots of traffic from them...but a search marketing strategy is starting to take a back seat to our best friend, content. Is content a part of a search marketing strategy or is search marketing a part of content marketing?

For starters, Glenn includes a few solid definitions of both:

Search Marketing is all about maximizing the chances prospects have to find you when they are using search engines. 

Content Marketing is all about publishing great content that attracts the attention of the right people in the right frame of mind.

For content marketing, think direct marketing with a higher purpose.

Some Background on Content Marketing

Back in 2004 when I worked at Penton Custom Media, we talked and talked about content marketing. Most of our competitors, and the industry associations, were talking about custom publishing and custom media. Now, more than three years later, content marketing is starting to take off.

How do I know?  Well, outside of Glenn's post, there are many very successful bloggers and business minds discussing content marketing. David Meerman Scott has been talking content marketing for years now. Brian Clark (Copyblogger) has been preaching consistently about an alternative route to Google traffic (that route being quality content creation). Paul Conley recently spoke about content marketing as an important journalistic and marketing trend, and how traditional publishers will need to change their business models to adjust. And Newt Barrett, a former business-to-business publisher, has embraced content marketing in much the way I have.

This group of people are what I would call the early adopters of content marketing. Don't get me wrong now...the concept is nothing new. Heck, John Deere created a content publication targeting farmers in the late 1800's that anyone in the industry would call one of the first clear examples of content marketing. But the phrase "content marketing" is very new.

Being consistent with a phrase or term like content marketing is important for marketing professionals to grasp, understand and use in their lexicon. Think about it...more and more of your marketing efforts are going toward original content creation, whether that be blogs, podcasts, web events, in-person road shows, custom magazines, enewsletters, and more. In today's marketing and advertising clutter, businesses NEED content in order to create the relationships that deliver customer value, and ultimately, a profitable organization. And perhaps, no more important strategy is your online content marketing strategy.

Tell Me - Why Content Marketing?

Last night I was chatting with a colleague and friend of mine, David Drickhamer, one of the best writers and editors you'll find, about content marketing.  He keyed in on the fact that there is a lot of talk about the "what" of content marketing, but not the "why" of content marketing. Frankly, he's right. Here are a few steps as to why you need to consider a content marketing strategy, and that a focus on content marketing will get you a lot farther than a focus just on search marketing.

1. Both strategies include content at the core, but search marketing focuses on content and keywords that give greater site visibility, not necessarily content that is inherently valuable to the target customer's problem. Content marketing must focus on what is valuable to the customer. Anything other than that is waste! That's it. If it's not valuable and relevant content, it's not content marketing. We may be splitting hairs here on the difference, but it's an important distinction.
   
   Why? All products and services sold are a result of a customer perceived need. That need drives demand, and thus, profits for the seller. For online content marketing, products and services are usually found through an informational need, very similar to how a magazine editor writes content to solve a reader challenge. So, to get your target readers to the product or service, you must first solve their informational need. The product is almost always secondary, and is especially true for a complex product or service.
   
   Customer Need >>> Valuable Content that Discusses Need >>> Product or Service that Solves the Need.
   
   
2. My clients always get excited about raw traffic numbers. Traffic numbers are great if you sell advertising on your site on a CPM basis...but if you sell products, you only want the right traffic. Content marketing is all about knowing who your target audience is. It's about building a long-term relationship with them by delivering consistently valuable content. Most traffic coming to your website is probably not customer-worthy (just think about where your current traffic is coming from, and what your bounce rate is). Traffic from search engines and social media sites is still important, but it's next to impossible to build a long-term relationship with someone you don't know, and only digests your content sporadically. Content marketing must be targeted...which means you know who the target is. It's content marketing first, search engines and social media second.
3. Content marketing is about becoming a trusted informational source to your prospects and customers. If they trust you and believe in what you have to say, odds are they will buy product from you if they have a need you can fill.
   
   Glenn Nicholas sums this up well: "People use search when they can’t find what they are after. If you are reading a website or blog that you trust and see a reference to another interesting site, you follow the link. Why search for a great copywriting resource when Copyblogger points you to them? Search is often a last resort, if you haven’t already got access to a resource through your trusted sources of information."
   
   Instead of a last resort, be the first resort. Media sites have done this for years...now is the time for corporate (or business) media.

These are just a few reasons. For more, check out our free eBook all about the why and how of content marketing (this link takes you directly to the pdf...no email or login required).

Online content marketing - attract the right audience (key target buyers) with valuable content, versus search marketing - various initiatives to improve the visibility of the site. Both are important for sure...but what will put your company in the BEST possible position to sell products or services? Which would you choose?

Joe Pulizzi is chief content officer for Junta42 (www.junta42.com), a content marketing search portal, and founder and president for Z Squared Media, LLC, a content marketing consulting firm.