The Backpack Blog

We here at Backpack are currently in what is possibly the most crucial stage of our public relations: getting Backpack into the public eye. A big part of this falls under the banner of content marketing, which, as stated by Content Marketing Institute, is the "process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action." Because I'm having to work with content marketing a lot, I have been doing some research into the field. Below are four of the major points covered by content marketing, as outlined in a presentation by marketing consultant Mike Tekula, as well as a little of what I have been learning about the points.

1. The battle for attention is global

You are not just competing against your competitors when you are on the web; you are competing against all websites. This is because all sites are ultimately vying for the same thing: the time and attention of web users.In other words, we at Backpack can’t go into our site and product design with a mindset of “we need to offer an experience that outdoes our immediate competition (other similar sites).” No; we need to keep in mind that we are competing against all other web services that vie for people’s valuable time, or, in other words, every other website out there. This includes huge players, like Huffington Post, ESPN.com, and Facebook We need to keep in mind the goal to fill desires one cannot have filled anywhere else on the web, and to present content in a way that can win people’s interest when faced with even the most professional content on the web.

2. Your content needs a mission

Your site’s content is the face of your brand. If your brand was a person, the site content would literally be the face. In other words, the content expresses what the brand is about and embodies the messages and values the brand wants to communicate. Site content is not simply an add-on to the brand, not simply a device meant to fill space and add to the quantity of information the site offers. Rather, it is the brand’s mission and attitude in words. 100% of a site’s content should be aimed at furthering those needs or familiarizing people with the brand’s mission.

3. Your content must fill a need

Not only does your content have to be presented well, but it must be targeted towards a niche that has not been filled. Narrowing down your site’s focus is the only way to escape the world wide web-wide rat race I talked about in the first point and compete in a smaller sphere. Of course, a site should never forget it is ultimately battling all other sites for people’s attention, but a narrowed down focus makes thriving a more manageable goal.

4. Content does not promote itself

Good content does not equal an increase in interest. A lot of people who design content believe that if they produce killer content, the content will grow popular. This is absolutely not true! Imagine if a site had great content, but that content was not promoted. What a waste! Great content that is not promoted is about as useful as awful content that is not promoted. Of course, once promotion does occur and the content rises to the public eye, the good content will leave the bad content in the dust. This Is thanks in large part to word of mouth, but promotion must continue if that word of mouth is to be kept from dying out.

As I said, we're in the midst of a crucial public relations period, so I'm doing a lot of research on content marketing. More to come in a few days!