By Mark Brownlow

The experts have apparently decided that content marketing is back for 2011: last year’s self-titled social media gurus are updating their bios as we speak.

The new (old) mantra is “quality content”. And everyone should be producing it: publishers, retailers, service companies…everyone.

But simply suggesting we distribute more quality content is like saying you should send more relevant emails. Great in theory, but…

Why does content have a new(ish) role to play in email marketing? Actually, what is “quality” content? And how the heck can you produce it cheaply and easily?

Let’s find out.

The “content is king” concept is as old as the first commercial website. But there are good reasons why email marketers – including retailers – should give their content strategy closer attention in 2011. In particular…

1. Content as social opportunity

We know more people than ever before are actively engaged in private and public networks and communities.

And we have a host of tools that make it easy for them to alert these networks and communities to our messages. Share this, like this, Tweet this, Digg this, forward this…shout it out from the top of the nearest tall building.

All of which is very exciting for marketers wanting to extend the reach and influence of their messages.

The irritating fly in the social soup is the need to give people something worth talking about.

Which is where quality content comes in.

We’re not all launching groundbreaking products or unique must-have offers every second day. Quality content is another way to feed your audience with shareworthy material that exploits this social marketing opportunity.

2. Content as differentiator

Google lists over 72 million results for the phrase “digital camera store”. My RSS feed draws content from almost 200 email marketing blogs.

As choice grows online, so it becomes harder for people to distinguish between sources of information, products or services.

Quality content is one additional way to stand out from the morass of sites and senders seeking to grab the attention of your audience.

3. Content as driver of loyalty and awareness

Messaging based on transactional information works, but has natural limitations. You’re not getting a 100% CTR on your promotional emails.

You can send me all the promotions you like, but if I’m not ready to buy right now,then…I’m not ready to buy right now. You’ll get your two seconds worth of awareness building (not to be underestimated), but that’s it.

Order confirmations, shipping notes, review requests, refill reminders, upsells etc. all touch the recipient positively, but are still limited by the confines of a transactional context.

Quality content adds a further dimension to messaging. It provides value without demanding much (or anything) in return. It gives people a reason to engage more with your emails, building more awareness and more loyalty.

So what is quality content?

All the above sounds jolly good. But most people skip to the next chapter in the online marketing book because they assume quality content…

• Involves considerable effort and expense to produce, and…
• Demands specialist skills, like classy writing or video production

It helps here to redefine what counts as quality content. It’s not (just) a 2000-word multi-author white paper or a $1 million viral ad.

Consider quality content simply as any element in the message that provides standout value to the recipient (aside from the inherent “value” of any offer).

I look for content that lifts itself from the competition by delivering more of the following:

• Usefulness and/or
• Entertainment and/or
• Emotional impact

A badly written 2-line customer product review that highlights an issue with one use of a product, but recommends an alternative…is quality content.

An email that makes you laugh (with the sender, not – hopefully – at them)…is quality content.

A carefully chosen image that touches the emotions of the viewer…is quality content.

Emotional impact is one aspect that’s often neglected. It can derive from the content itself (like that stunning photo), but also from the setting for that content: the style, design, personality of the content (e.g. offer, article) or content holder (e.g. email template).

You can enjoy a glass of red wine on a patch of grass at a freeway exit. Or you can enjoy the same glass of red wine as the sun dips below the palm trees on a Caribbean beach.

The context changes the perceived quality of the content.

Once you get away from the idea of Pulitzer prize-winning articles and viral video hits as “quality content”, a whole host of possibilities arises for just what you can do with your messages.

Here’s a quote from reader Adrian Kaule, who sends out an email newsletter promoting upcoming events at a Danish nightclub:

“I thought of what my recipients could want more.

- top 10 club hits with links to youtube
- articles about fancy clothing to put on next time you go out
- hot pictures from the weekend
- drink and cocktail recipes

…all this has given me an open rate of around 30-45% every week for a year, and click % is usually around 20-50%”

No time and no money = no content?

Now that we’re not trying to win journalism prizes, we also realize that content creation need not be difficult or expensive either.

Take our digital camera store as an example.

1. We could ask customers to submit photos, digital photography tips, product reviews, website reviews, software reviews etc. and use these as content. We might offer incentives – like coupons or gift certificates – to encourage submissions.

2. We could reach out to the numerous non-commercial digital photography sites and licence their content. Some may even offer that content for free in return for exposure.

3. We could tap into the experience of the customer service department to quickly come up with dozens of camera Q&As of relevance to customers and prospects.

4. We could simply link to a pdf of the user handbook for new camera purchases (minimal effort, but great content)

…and that’s just a few ideas to get started with.

Consider a B2B newsletter…this article has 10 tips to keep the content flowing and 21 actual content ideas to save yourself some thinking time. And this one has another 14 content ideas.

Five content rules

Before you head off for a bit of a brainstorm, here are five rules that I keep in mind when producing content for use online:

1. Pick the low-hanging fruit

If you’ve not thought much about content before, start small. See what you already have lying around the office or website that might find use in your newsletters.

2. Shareability

Make it easy for people to share that content. Use “share this with your network” services (like the Tweetmeme graphic you can see at the top of this post) or links, coupled with an appropriate call to action. Many ESPs now have tools that incorporate such links into outgoing emails automatically.

3. Longevity

Look for content that stays relevant through time. Advice on taking good photos in poor light has a longer life expectancy than event listings. Both make good content, but one needs constant updating to have long-term value, the other doesn’t.

4. Repurpose and reuse

Organizations produce a lot of content. How much of that could you make email marketing use of? Can you turn product research into an article, an ad shoot into a behind-the-scenes photo album, your bookmark list into a “link of the week” series?

How much existing “marketing” content can you use again or elsewhere? Can you turn a series of Tweets into a blog article. Can you turn a blog article into email content? Can you turn a forum debate into a website article?

Can you update and reissue content from earlier? Nobody on your email list today remembers the article you sent out in 2002 to your first 37 subscribers.

5. Relevance to business goals

Finally, don’t produce content for content’s sake. Always (obviously) bear in mind how that content contributes to your business success.