You have what they want: building your content map

I've been playing for a while now at the crossroads of the internet marketing world, the social media marketing world and what one of my clients recently referred to as "regular marketing."

It can often feel like opposing camps. Yet somewhere in the middle, somewhere between the infomercial sales letters and spammy emails and the social media technorati talking about building community are the majority of us. Just "regular" businesses and nonprofits who are looking for ways to communicate with our markets, to stand out, to sell our services, to stay on the radar screens of our clients and customers, to grow in a sustainable, effective and ethical way.

But at the crossroads, there's an effective content marketing strategy that will get us where we want to go. It's a simple premise. When we provide clients and customers with information that is genuinely useful, and we can effectively tie this back into our business services and our brand, we are building a relationship-- and as a result, building our business.

Seriously. It can be that simple.

The content marketing model itself is not rocket science: Create your content, make it good and send it out into your market. Promote it, encourage sharing and bring people to your door. What it's not about is chasing around your potential customers around the table telling them how great you are. Chances are, you've already learned that doesn't really fly for very long in the marketplace. (And yet, more businesses than not are still trying to make that work.)

If you've got a solid niche or two, then content-based marketing (or whatever the cool kids are calling it this week) is very likely your next best step.

You've already got what your clients and customers want: a wealth of valuable information that they don't have.

Don't believe me? You've got technical expertise. You can share useful resources. You've got a different perspective than they do. You've got the client success stories, the horror stories, the been there-done that experiences. So let's simplify this and put it to work:

Step 1. Forget about all those marketing buzzwords and tools for a few minutes and just come up with a map. A draw-a-circle-in-the-middle-of-the-paper kind of mind map. (If you're so inclined, there are also plenty of mind mapping software options.) Gather everyone you need to gather for this conversation. It's important.

Step 2. In the center of the map, write your niche.

Step 3. Now, brainstorm all of the topics you could easily share knowledge about within that niche. Think about your customers. What do they really want and need to know? What are the most common questions that come up in client calls and meetings? What's keeping them from accomplishing their goals? This is the part where most companies trip up. This is not about what you want to tell them or what you want to sell them. Of course, those factors may come into play eventually, but not right now.

Step 4. OK. How about delivery? How do your clients and customers like to get their information? Will you deliver it through email? On your web site? In a white paper? Through a new blog? In articles? Which of these options are reasonable to put on your plate for the next 12 months? How will they work together and feed one another?

There you go. If you've followed these steps, you're now the proud owner of a content map that will be the basis of your marketing efforts from here on in. Draw it up in a neat graphic and put it somewhere visible. Refine as you need to. Let it guide you.

Sure, you'll need to create some calendars for your chosen media. And then there's promotion. You might get the word out about your content through the press, on Twitter, through industry forums and events, search marketing. But that's a conversation for another day.

Go on, get focused. Get to work. Report back.