The BIG Misunderstanding -- Defining "Content Marketing" For The Water & Wastewater Market

Since B2Brand Water opened its doors we have been preaching the benefits of content marketing to cohesive brand publishing.  The backbone of the brand publishing strategy is that content drives its success.  Without content, the entire initiative is nothing more than a failed attempt at doing something new for the sake of doing something new. 

I’d like to talk for a minute about the definition of content marketing.  The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. 

The key word in that definition is “valuable” and let me explain why.  I’ve had hundreds of conversations with manufacturers in the water and wastewater industry around the value of content marketing and brand publishing.  Some conversations go smoother than others but there are several consistencies among the groups that understand and adopt it as a reality. There are also consistencies among the manufacturers that are still having a hard time truly understanding the concept, its mechanisms and its benefits.  It’s the latter group that may find what follows helpful so here it goes.

The main point of disconnection I encounter when speaking with a company around the basics of brand publishing centers around content.  Many companies understand the importance of the approach and truly believe they are already good enough in terms of a content library.  Many times, truthfully, sadly, they’re not.  Here’s why.  The content they have is not “valuable” at all stages of the sales cycle.  Product spec sheets, datasheets, brochures, and display ads are not pieces of content that affect engagement or awareness in the early stages of reader engagement. Delivered at this stage, they are purely promotional advertisements.  Those types of content certainly have their place in the later stages of the sales cycle but for the majority of the sales cycle, they don’t provide the reader with value. 

It’s understandable why companies rely so heavily on this later sales cycle content. Marketing departments within water and wastewater treatment equipment manufacturers have traditionally been tasked with creating this literature to support their sales teams in the field. Much of our literature efforts are born of a new product launch. It’s natural to focus in on the new products features and attributes. Unfortunately a prospect is not going to take time out of their busy day to read about how wonderful your product is until they are firmly in the active buying stage.

So how do you refocus to begin creating the variety of content you need to support the full sales cycle?  Start by asking yourself (and your company), “Is the content you are distributing to your customers any different than anything else out there?”  Every company produces datasheets. Every company has a list as to why their products are the BEST. Only astute companies are creating content that matters, that’s impactful, and that’s VALUABLE at every step in the sales cycle.

Remember that up to 70% of the buying decision is made BEFORE a prospect engages with a manufacturer.  If you continue to fight the battle within that final 30% of the process with datasheets and benefit pages, you will be losing more consistently to the manufacturers who have already won the “battle for attention” MUCH earlier in the process through valuable early-engagement content.