The phrase “Content is King” has a lot to answer for, especially to businesses, which have been left with the general impression that if you create content you get better marketing results, somehow, somewhere. The idea could have been explained a lot better, particularly to that large percentile of businesses which are engaged in a combination of Search Engine Optimization, online marketing, media and hard copy advertising.
As a matter of fact, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a very good benchmark standard for modern hard copy advertising, and it’s a lot more effective and economic than the market mythmakers have led businesspeople to believe with their little jingle about content. The common factors need to be understood, to start with.
For example-
- SEO marketing is done on the world’s biggest billboard, the internet. It’s very much a visual presence and it’s also an information-based advertising medium. SEO is a broad-based medium, but it uses SEO keywords and phrases for targeting to get the message through to consumers.
- Hard copy is a targeted visual form of advertising. Whatever type of print medium you use, the idea is also to provide useful information for consumers. The only real difference is the amount of information you can provide in hard copy, which is comparatively limited in terms of space.
They’re effectively identical in one area of content- Information values.
This is the common area where content really is king, and where the content has to be used effectively, economically and efficiently for both online and hard copy materials.
If you’re getting a business card printed, you’ll notice that the business card printing services provide you with a lot of options for your content. There’s a good reason for this approach- You get more value out of your business card with more content. To give an idea of the information values which the content of your business card can provide, the average business card can provide more information than a standard Yellow Pages listing. The reader of your card also gets more value.
The whole idea of “Content is King” is based on the value of information to recipients. This is an absolutely basic advertising principle, and it dictates the value of print media copy.
Good information content, like SEO keywords, is focused on the subject matter. It provides:
- New information to potential customers
- Value-based information like prices
- Distribution information
- Services information
- Points of contact for inquiries
- User information
- Special features
- Points of interest
It’s no exaggeration to say that a single run of corporate brochure printing can provide a wealth of valuable information. This is the content that drives sales. It’s directly focused on areas of value to consumers. Interestingly, hard copy materials have been “reincarnated” as versions of SEO-type content. The hard copy is the browsing merchandise in terms of marketing presence, and the visual prints are also highly effective attention getters, particularly to targeted market segments.
That’s why content is king in print, as well as online. When you’re looking for better information values, look at the SEO approach. Expect to be stunned by the difference in response and in sales.
I think you made a good point in that print advertising is a visual form of advertising. Still I feel like you talked a lot about including a lot of information in print advertising. The internet is changing the way we process information.
Stuffing a business card with lots of information does provide people a lot of useful content. However, it’s not the content itself that is king. Content is only king when it’s 1) useful and 2) increases the bottom line. If you fill up a ton of space on a business card it could all be supremely useful but if they get the feeling of ‘cheapness’ you will get no business.
So I guess my counter argument is content is only king when it brings in profits.
Great article. A lot of people just don’t “get” SEO and this will help those folks get on the right path to doing it and doing it right.