I’ve long been a fan of the Content Marketing Institute, an organization whose mission is to advance the practice of content marketing. Watching and learning from the Content Marketing Institute was a part of the inspiration that led me to write Found: Connecting with Customers in the Digital Age.
The institute just released a very useful documentary for marketers called, “The Story of Content: Rise of the New Marketing.” I would highly recommend watching it, as it does a great job of framing the fact that marketers have to begin to create truly compelling content if they want to stand a chance at connecting with their audiences in a way that matters.
Less than hour long and containing some very useful content marketing concepts and stories, this documentary is well worth your time.
I took away 20 key quotes that we can all learn valuable content marketing lessons from:
- “Content is really the only marketing that’s left.” — Seth Godin
- “[Content Marketing] is really the only way that a business (going forward) is going to differentiate itself in a very crazy, noisy marketplace.” — Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer, Content Marketing Institute
- “Marketing, for a long time, has been about interruption.” — David Meerman Scott
- “Brands have come into their own when they’ve realized, ‘We don’t have to go through a third party to reach this audience; we can actually try to achieve that directly.’” — Todd Wheatland, Global Head of Strategy, King Content
- “Instead of having to advertise in someone else’s channel, I have the opportunity to create my own valuable, relevant, and compelling content in our own channels to really create loyalty, build relationships directly with what we like to call subscribers, instead of going out and having to pay for that attention.” — Joe Pulizzi, Founder, Content Marketing Institute
- “I think we have to change the way we think about getting access to the mind of the consumer we want to have a relationship with and one of the best ways to do that today is through content.” — Andrew Davis, Author, Brandscaping
- “I think the brands that really get it are focused on being part of the information you want to consume. they’re focused on creating higher quality content that inspires people to buy something they didn’t know they needed.” — Andrew Davis, Author, Brandscaping
- “Obviously content marketing has been around forever, but there’s a whole new thing when content marketing collides with the Internet and with digital.” — Doug Kessler, Creative Director & Co-Founder, Velocity Partners Ltd.
- “If I’m trying to get their attention, I’d better be creating some pretty fantastic information on an ongoing basis to get their attention.” — Joe Pulizzi, Founder, Content Marketing Institute
- “Content at this point is a form of currency that brands and storytellers use to have a conversation with somebody.” — Katrina Craigwell Director, Global Content & Programming, General Electric
- “Search, by definition, doesn’t create demand. It just fulfills demand. Nobody goes to Google and says ‘Hey, I’d like to buy something… I don’t really care what… Just surprise me.’” — Jay Baer, Founder, Convince and Convert
- “Nobody cares about your product. They’re trying to solve a problem.” — David Meerman Scott
- “The consumer has incredible amounts of information. Marketers are not accustomed to that. Marketers are accustomed to control.” — Don Schultz, Professor Emeritus-in-Service, Northwestern University
- “We’re seeing this transformation of marketing departments that were set up long ago in those mass media days. They’ve transformed into publishing departments.” — Joe Pulizzi, Founder, Content Marketing Institute
- “Like a halfway decent human being, brands have to be about more than themselves.” — Kirk Cheyfitz, Co-CEO & Chief Storyteller, Story Worldwide
- “We say that if you can’t rely on the media, you have to become the media.” — Lasse Hoegfeldt, Editor-in-chief, Jyskebank.tv
- “The content business is the only part of this business that I can see credibly leading this new practice of advertising and I’m moderately upset because not enough of us are trying to do it.” — Kirk Cheyfitz, Co-CEO & Chief Storyteller, Story Worldwide
- “Storytelling helps cut through, helps us make sense of the world. Content that has a storytelling backbone to it is just easier to consume, easier to remember, it’s more engaging.” — Christie Poulos, Global Head of Video, King Content
- “What brands have to be in this new age, they’ve got to be a coherent, core narrative because that’s the only thing that’s going to remain consistent and distinguishable and differentiating across all kinds of channels.” — Kirk Cheyfitz, Co-CEO & Chief Storyteller, Story Worldwide
- “The only way- The only right way to do content marketing is to be a story.” — Kirk Cheyfitz, Co-CEO & Chief Storyteller, Story Worldwide
Though the “content is key” maxim is often scoffed at as cliché, it’s important to remember just why it’s cliché to begin with: It’s true. Watch this video and see if you become inspired, just like I was. There are always new lessons to learn and stories to tell in the world of content marketing.