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All experienced marketers understand that every growth market matures. To think the same would not be true for content marketing would be folly. You might say, “Content marketing is still too new!” First off, it’s not as new as you might think. Secondly, if you take into consideration the speed at which digital marketing and social media have been evolving, it stands to reason that its maturity rate will match the evolution rate.

Content Marketing’s Early Days

The origins of content marketing is relative to one’s definition of content marketing. Some argue that content marketing began with cave paintings, while others believe it began with the ability to disseminate mass communication through the internet. That leaves an enormous span of time for those who believe it began somewhere in between.

One thing is for certain – brands have been telling stories for well over a century – from John Deere’s launch of ‘The Furrow’ in 1885 in order to build relationships by helping farmers improve their processes to Jello’s turn of the century free recipe booklets. There is a common denominator to these earliest content marketing strategies and today’s: Brands telling stories to attract and connect with customers.  It is a strategy that historically transformed some brands into modern household essentials. And while brands, people, and publishing have changed, content marketing is still transforming brands today.

3 Ways Content Marketing is Maturing

So, if content marketing is not new, how has it endured as an effective marketing tactic over periods of such enormous change? Through maturity. As investment in content marketing grows, it is being matched by more mature content strategies. Brands that have embraced content marketing have stepped up their game in terms of the planning, creative, technical, and assessment of content marketing.

• Strategy & Planning: More and more brands have articulated editorial missions, strategies, marketing personas, and editorial calendars. Gone are the days when content marketing was sporadically published in one or two places with assets created on the fly.
• Execution: A more mature content marketer knows the value of quality over quantity. Stock images and lower quality graphics have made way for compelling, original images, and videos paired with content that provides value to targeted audiences in multiple stages of the buying cycle with a distribution over paid, owned, free, and earned channels.
• Assessment & Refinement: Data is increasingly important, with tools and technology to help organize and measure impact. The value and power of calculating the ROI of content marketing is in how it informs the next round of planning and strategizing.

Tips for the More Mature Content Marketer

As more and more content is being created and served by an ever-increasing number of brands globally, content marketers will continue to search for the next new and fresh way to rise above the din:

• Find niches that are still underserved. A larger percentage of a smaller universe is sometimes greater than a small percentage of a large universe. In addition, those niche audiences can be fiercely loyal. For an example from traditional marketing, think about when Nyquil first launched. There were several large brands dominating the cold market, but Nyquil was able to grab significant marketing share by becoming the first ‘nighttime’ cold medicine – a quite effective niche for them.
• Solidify and adhere to what differentiates you from competitors. Distinguishing yourself from competitors is what will help you create value.
• As social networks become saturated, reach can decline. Look at paid social media distribution in combination with building your organic audience.
• Remain agile.

Always take lessons from history to heart. John Deere’s ‘The Furrow’ taught us that selling is often more about building relationships and loyalty than it is about selling. These types of universal lessons can help brands stay relevant as content marketing matures.