The Need for a Systems Mindset in Content Marketing

Chances are that if you have employed digital marketing strategies in growing your insurance business, you have heard the expression “content is king”. Content, or the words, images, and videos showcasing your company’s products or services found on websites and social media, is the foundation of digital marketing. Unfortunately, too many companies – including digital marketing professionals – put too much emphasis on content creation and not enough on the supportive tools and strategies needed to ensure success. There is a solution to this inherent pitfall in online marketing, however. The solution:  Adopting a systems mindset, taking your agency’s content marketing strategy to a new level of engagement and visibility. 

Content Marketing: Components that Form a System

It is all too easy to overlook the fact that in content marketing, the content used in web properties is not the only aspect that drives business growth. In fact, there are many components that are all inter-related, forming a powerful digital marketing system. If any one of those components are overlooked, the campaign can falter; at best, this is a waste of time and financial resources, while at worst it can have negative impacts on website traffic, resulting in lost opportunities. The components of a comprehensive content marketing strategy include:

• Market and audience research – identifying target audiences for a given campaign and determining which factors to include in marketing materials.
• Content planning and development — discovering the types and formats of content that may appeal to target audiences. Content can be used for many reasons, such as to tell a company’s story or history or to introduce products and services to consumers. Having a plan in advance puts the team on the same page and helps to prevent wasted efforts.
• Content creation – the process of putting together content, whether it is text-based, uses images or video, or blends multiple formats.
• Content distribution – once content is created, digital marketers and business stakeholders need to have a clear path for what to do with it. Again, content can be used in many ways, including website or blog content, social media posts, or even email outreach campaigns. 
• Optimization of content – content is the core of content marketing, but content doesn’t have to be static. It can be updated at a later date, or repurposed for other uses in the future. Optimization of content simply means that it is refined over time to achieve digital marketing objectives, like search visibility, social media engagement, or simply to tell a fresh story.

Systems Management: The Key to Content Marketing Success

Now that we have a clearer understanding of the aspects and features of a typical content marketing strategy, the goal is to develop a systems mindset. What this means is that business owners and content marketers must take into account all of the components in any given campaign and develop a plan to manage all of them.

Remember that the content itself is important, but it is not all-important. Forget “content is king” for a moment – as part of a content marketing system, it is but only one component of a larger set of factors. To foster the systems mindset of content marketing, it can be valuable to look at what marketing efforts are currently being used and how they are working. From there, it becomes easier to spot weak points or areas that are missing in a campaign. These areas can be filled in with new content that is planned and developed according to specific market and audience needs – which further illustrates how each of these pieces work together in a marketing system. Teams must also continually refine processes as the campaign progresses. 

With a systems mindset and the techniques described above, digital marketing efforts are more cost-effective and impactful. More importantly, they are the key drivers in business growth. Insurance agencies that utilize a content marketing system rather than focusing on only one or two aspects of content creation see improved engagement with clients and experience vastly improved website traffic and social media activity, some of many possible benefits from the content systems mindset. 

About Agency Tsunami

Agency Tsunami is the digital marketing division of Neilson Marketing Services, who has provided the insurance distribution sector with innovative marketing and communication solutions for over twenty-five years. With our Agency Tsunami program, we have implemented an integrated marketing strategy that includes optimized, professional websites supported by high-quality SEO and Social Media for hundreds of insurance retailers and wholesalers. Our goal is to help your insurance business perform and generate new opportunities. Give us a call at (800) 736-9741 to learn more about how we can do that for you.