Did you know that the average digital marketer uses 17 different technologies to execute their strategy?
There's the obvious ones like CMS, CRM, e-Commerce and web analytics that have been around for a while, and the newer tools like social management/analytics, ad re-targeting, social and mobile advertising, personalisation and marketing automation.
Now that's a fistful of tech grunt in anyone's language and provides marketers with many sophisticated ways to understand likes and behaviours, and reach their audience wherever they go.
Now that marketers have all this tech firepower, the next most critical factor in ensuring they maximise its effectiveness is the content that is distributed through it.
If you're a marketer, think of your marketing funnel as a river ecosystem, that distributes content to your customers and prospects.
This ecosystem has numerous streams and tributaries (representing the different stages of the marketing funnel and your different customer personas), that enables you to deliver your many messages far and wide, to as many customers as possible.
It's the perfect vehicle to reach your customers, with personalised and relevant content at the right time.
But what content are you sending down this river? What is the source? When and where are you sending it?
Is it a pure source, rich and dynamic in nature, that resonates with its recipients and satisfies their thirst for engaging and compelling experiences? Is it timely and relevant?
Or, is your marketing funnel poisoned at the source?
Are you sending down the same old brand message, generic in nature? One message delivered to the masses?
If so, no matter how powerful your marketing stack is, without a well-structured and thoughtful content strategy, it will be rendered largely useless and your investment wasted.
Shit in, shit out. Simple.
Take one of Toyota’s latest Facebook campaigns. They’re one of the leaders in the content marketing space.
They ran the same 60-day campaign twice over two years. In the first year, they used stock standard imagery and staged photos.
In their second, they sourced 45 photos from actual users of their products from Instagram. Using photos from real customers saw their post-engagement jump by 440 per cent.
A simple tweak for a triple figure increase in results.
Why? Because the content looked real, it was authentic, and it was generated by customers and not Toyota.
In my sporting days there was a saying among my teammates that described the guys with the newest and most expensive equipment, but couldn't back it up with performance. It was "All gear, no idea."
Don't be this person.
By Damien Mahoney is the CEO and co-founder of Stackla.