Seth Godin published Pemission Marketing back in 1999. For me, it was evidence of the fundamental shift that the internet was having on the concepts of push and pull marketing… a real “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” moment.
Push marketing had the marketer in control of the message, how it was seen and when and where…whereas…Pull marketing shifts the emphasis and attention onto the customer, trying to market in the correct places to reach a target audience to create awareness and keep the company brand in front of consumers without aggressive marketing.
Another way of looking at it is … Interruption vs Permission.
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”
Content marketing has become a major part of an inbound “pull” strategy where quality information that is relevant to your prospective customer draws them to you. In large part, it does this by offering them relevant material that helps create a sense of thought leadership around your brand.
The Content Marketing Explosion by the Numbers
So what is the current status of content marketing and what are the marketers plans for 2012?
- 90% of B2B marketers are doing some form of content marketing
- 60% of B2B marketers plan to spend more on content marketing in 2012
- The major content marketing tactic is article posting at 79%
- B2B Marketers are investing on average 25% of their budget on content marketing (smaller companies are spending more)
Take a look at how content marketing has become a power source in marketing as a whole, and why it has become one of the fastest growing industries today.
A special thank you to one of the kings of content Jeff Bullas for this infographic and stats.
