Attributes of Content Marketing

Earlier this week I was attempting to define my life's work to a few family members. I thought my answer was straight forward; short and simple yet detailed. I proclaimed, "With a foundation of servant leadership principles, I help the American youth unearth their personal brands and share those brands through content marketing." Quickly realizing "servant leadership", personal branding", and "content marketing" created more questions than answers, I dove into greater detail, hoping not to lose their attention. I had a difficult row to hoe. How do you take such complex concepts like servant leadership, personal branding and content marketing and break them down into bite-sized conversational statements?

Then I remembered a recent article I read on CMI that featured content marketing professionals explaining the trade. Pulling what I could recall from this article, my family members walked away with memorable attributes of content marketing. Here's what I shared with them:

Analyze - content marketing is a highly trackable, cost effective and measurable strategy.

Buzz - content marketing listens to, interacts in, and cultivates relevant conversations online and off.

Customer Buying Journey - content marketing is customer-centric with the primary goal of meeting consumers where they are and guiding them through the sales funnel to the point of purchase and beyond.

Are you a content marketing professional? If so, how do you explain your trade to others who are not in the industry? If you aren't a digital marketing professional, what tips or advice would you give to others trying to explain a complex trade to those outside the industry? 

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