If you have decided to incorporate content marketing into your overall marketing strategy, your next step is choosing between a product-based approach and a consumer-based one.
Both approaches have their pros and cons. Choosing the right one can mean the difference between success and failure of your business.
In this article, we outline the pros and cons of product-based content marketing and provide tips for deciding if it is the right choice for your business.
What Is Product-Based Content Marketing?
Content marketing refers to creating and sharing relevant, valuable content to attract your target audience and turn them into paying customers.
It delivers 3x more leads than paid search does, so it’s no surprise that 86% of B2C marketers and 91% of B2B marketers are using it as a part of their marketing strategy.
There are two types of content marketing: customer-based and product-based.
Customer-based content marketing is usually very customer-centric. It focuses on helping, rather than selling. It emphasizes building relationships with potential customers vs. pitching your product directly.
Product-based content marketing is different.
It uses content to directly promote a specific product or service instead of focusing on the needs and interests of your target audience.
This does not mean product-based content marketing completely ignores the customer; however, this strategy can sometimes appear that way from the outside.
The Advantages of A Product-Based Content Marketing Strategy
Choosing a product-based content marketing strategy is a good way to quickly develop a reputation in your niche.
You can focus on creating the best product possible, then highlighting its features in your content, without having to immediately invest in in-depth customer research.
Since product-based content is structured much like a sales pitch, it is much simpler than customer-based content marketing. Therefore, it could cost you less time and money to execute. This approach can be helpful for smaller businesses or start-up companies.
However, here’s a question you need to consider: will product-based content produce the same kind of returns that customer-based content does? Or will it be cast aside as just another sales pitch?
The Disadvantages of A Product-Based Content Marketing Strategy
Businesses using a product-based content marketing strategy run the risk of alienating their customer base.
Customer-based content marketing usually works well because it speaks directly to the pain points of your customers. It makes them feel included and valued, which paid advertising or other direct, product-based forms of selling do not usually accomplish.
If you decide to use a product-based approach in your content marketing, be very careful and make sure you are not leaving a good chunk of your customer base behind.
Otherwise, no matter how awesome your product or service, you are just leaving sales on the table!
How Handmade SEO Can Help
Here at Handmade SEO, we don’t just grow traffic.
We look at your marketing from the perspective of a business owner to determine which marketing strategy is right for you and your business goals.
Interested in working together?
