Content marketing is something most marketers have done for years without ever knowing that it had a name.  I don’t remember learning about it in journalism school, yet I’ve provided content marketing to my clients since my first day at my first marketing job.  The only difference is that now, I’m sharing it online.

Content marketing is defined as “using informative or entertaining content to attract and retain customers and position your business as a trusted resource in your industry.”

Instead of aggressive and persistent outgoing messages designed to attract attention, content marketing provides useful information that can be quietly appreciated and uniquely valued by clients and prospects alike. The sales message from you is subtle—almost to the point of subliminal.

If you’ve ever read your alma mater’s alumni magazine, you’ve read content marketing. If you have spoken at a Chamber of Commerce or other networking event, you’ve provided content marketing. Recipes on the back of cans from food companies, realtor articles in the local paper, customer newsletters – these are all considered content marketing.

The bottom line is that content marketing is never a direct sales pitch. “Content marketing is engaging with your community around an idea instead of a product. What it is is to try to serve the community first, and sharing information, ideas and experiences that benefit others without directly asking for anything in return. What it isn’t is just a veil in front of a sales pitch,” says Dan Blank of We Grow Media.

Here are some examples of content marketing you may already be doing:

• Free workshops, seminars or webinars
• A regular newsletter that educates (not sells)
• A well-written, regularly updated blog
• A customer newsletter or magazine that educates – not sells
• Articles you write for trade magazines or journals
• Video tutorials
• Detailed case studies
• White papers

Share valuable info on your website, social sites and blog, and you will be employing a great age-old marketing tool that also helps to educate consumers on the products and services you sell (and they need).  As long as your content gives them something they need or want for free, they will likely seek out and share your future content marketing because you have demonstrated trust, authority, and influence.

What’s the best cure for writer’s block? Well, reading! The Frugal Traveler – a blog that has recently transferred authors, but is generally about how to travel frugally. In the latest blog post, the new author (whose last name coincidentally rhymes with frugal) interviews the old author. Here’s an excerpt of my favorite part in the Q&A question, Any advice on how to keep them happy now that they don’t have Matt Gross to kick around (or hug) anymore?:

A. You don’t want to keep them happy. You should be provoking the readers. The readers come up with answers and solutions and ideas when you fail. And you will fail. There will be times when you do things wrong. When you spend too much money, when you miss seeing the really cool thing because you didn’t know it existed, and your readers will be there to tell you afterward. It’s nice to have the readers create a community around the thing you do. So it’s not just you out there. There are people who are rooting for you.

In creating a blog, it’s important to take a stand and release your inner persona. Sometimes it isn’t easy to, because… maybe I don’t know how to express how I feel, until I hear the other side and differing points. Sometimes, it’s hard to take a stance on, Facebook, Twitter, Graphic Design– things that are very broad. But I’ve learned that if I take a stance on something more specific, it’s easier to generate a (possibly) thought-provoking and interesting viewpoint.

Which is, of course, why I return every-so-often (and why you, the reader of this blog, might as well to this blog) to my favorite blogs– to read varying view points, to gain a better understanding of a particular topic, to learn…and for the sheer enjoyment of reading.

The reason why I love blogs (at least, the real ones) is because they are like reading a mini book. The author shares something, I can go to a new place via a link, I can learn whatever it is that the blog is about. Each day, there’s new content and it can be a new topic—though usually blogs stay on one topic (because of the nature of people and our capacities).

My “Blog Roll” a.k.a. Favorites list, rotates with my life, and also depends on if I think their content is worth reading.

To me, a good blog will:

• Update a few times a week
• Suck me in as a reader so I am waiting to read the next article
• Draw me in to make a comment
• Be relevant
• Be refreshingly comical (though I think this is a matter of personal taste)
• Not be bland (This makes me think that a good blog is like a good meal…)

A bad blog will:

• Be predictable
• Spit me back my own thoughts with no new commentary
• Be at least more than a paragraph long
• Have an author that infuses life

Any of your own ideas on what constitutes a good or bad blog? Comment away below!