I came across Mark Masters in the first few weeks of setting up business in Dorset; he has been championing content marketing strategies for over five years and leads his own national event and conference through the brand You Are The Media.
Mark's book The Content Revolution addresses the role of content in marketing today, which is so poignant, and how businesses can begin to leverage the power of content.
Here are some of my perspectives on the book:
· Good explanation of the role of content for educating audiences and lending itself to communicating brand identity and values whilst utilising channels to reiterate the importance of the information and thus the company to drive sales
· Good description on the evolution of media from paid to earned to owned and the role each plays in building a loyal audience
· Gives some visual representation of content strategy and the role it plays within the overall sales funnel
· Consolidates the evolution of content in marketing that represents today’s content revolution as all businesses must become media companies.
· Utilises real opinions and experiences with quirky personal anecdotes that helps visualise his message and convey the role of content.
· Some generalisation based on small projects and experiments but allows the small and micro business owner to appropriate to their own business.
· Limited detail and insight on the impact it has on revenue and the specific role it plays in the sales funnel - driving towards securing a customer - and is limited on case studies of how different types of content drive lead generation as opposed to pure brand building.
· Not so much guidance on budget resources and investment to achieve core business goals and how these change dependent on the size and type of business
· I disagree with free content in favour of gated content especially those that have taken time or investment to create (like ebooks), my belief is that the blog and social media allow the provision of free content and a gateway can allow the marketer to truly understand the needs of readers.
Overall, The Content Revolution is definitely a good read for small businesses who lack much marketing, or for marketers struggling to add content to their strategy, to begin getting a foothold on the market.
The text is accessible and easy to read with clear chapters and headings that take the reader on the journey that gives the concepts, presents the field, identifies the boundaries, shares the goals and presents some tactics.
Thanks Mark! I look forward to the You Are The Media Conference on 23 May 2019 - I hope I see you all there!
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