"The value of content marketing lies in the engagement between the customer and your company. Traditional advertising shouts at prospect customers whereas content marketing talks with them. Essentially, it is about the creation and participation in meaningful conversations and development of relationships. Content marketing can benefit your company by increasing sales leads and positioning your company/brand as a thought leader, in addition to increasing the number of visitors to your website." - Amanda Maksymiw

Beyond the direct benefits of "better, cheaper, lower risk and lasts nearly forever," David Meerman Scott notes, "We are now living a revolution wherein we have been 'liberated' from the triple 'tyrannies' of: marketing effectiveness being determined by the size of our wallets, having to interrupt people’s daily lives to try to market to them, and always relying on mainstream media to get our information into the marketplace." (Inbound Marketing: Get found using Google, Social Media, and Blogs by Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah, founders of HubSpot .)

Content marketing levels the playing field between the largest, multi-national conglomerates and the smallest, hometown business because it is based on "providing value in order to receive value," that often is easier for the smaller businesses to remember and execute than for the larger corporations who long ago delegated communicating with their customers. See how even the smallest company can become the "thought leader" and the "expert in the field." (Excerpt from "Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business," by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman. Wiley, December 2010.)

Content marketing is the only marketing left because it makes sense and it is exactly what you want yourself - high-value information instead of more interruptions. It's the power of providing value FIRST. At its heart, it's helping instead of telling and the power of being authentic.

Examples:

David Meerman Scott (video) - Big Business Result - How a VP for Universal Orlando Resorts in Florida launched a new theme park by telling only 7 people, that within two days grew to over 350,000,000 people.
David Meerman Scott (video) - Small Business Result - Find out how a dentist in Boston, MA grew her business from $150K to over a million dollars per year with simple content marketing.

More...

March 24, 2011 - Content Marketing Surges with CMOs and Consumers