Content Marketing Report: Components, Strategies, and Application

This report delves into the essential components of content marketing, drawing from Rampton's (2016) article and the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) as described by Dahle, Eagle, and Low (2015). It highlights the importance of understanding the target audience, creating relevant content, offering valuable insights, and utilizing effective promotion and distribution strategies. The report emphasizes the significance of focusing on the audience's needs and interests, rather than direct advertising. The report also explains the integrated approach of IMC, which includes all types of content, and interlinks them to achieve improved business returns. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of follow-up communication with the target audience. The report references Forbes and Journal of Social Marketing articles to support its analysis, providing a comprehensive overview of effective content marketing strategies.

The components of content marketing as described in the article by Rampton (2016), include:
 People: Understanding of the target marketing and the characteristics of the audience
 Content: Ensuring that the content is in accordance with the defined audience. Whether it is
the written word, an image or a video; the content must include topics and resolution to the
problems that the target audience is looking forward to read about. The content must not be
promotional and its focus should be on the issues of the audience alone.
 The offer: this implies that the content should focus on a case study or a white paper wherein
the organization has used its products and services to resolve a similar problem in the past.
This can be viewed as an indirect marketing tool. Through this tactic, the message is clear on
the expertise of the organization but the content is not categorized as an advertisement.
 Promotion and Distribution: adoption of the right methodology to promote the content.
Platforms such as social media, PPC ads, guest blogging tools etc. can be used for the
purpose of marketing of the content.
 Follow-up: once permission to email the people who have downloaded the content is
received, valuable information should be sent to them for reference.
Integrated Marketing Communications is a process that includes all types of content and interlinks
them for the purpose of achieving improved business returns from their marketing. It takes into
account different marketing channels and methods for the promotion of the content that is written by
the organization from time to time. The above stated components are an indirect explanation of the
process of integrated marketing communications process (Dahle, Eagle and Low, 2015).

References
Dahl, S., Eagle, L. and Low, D. (2015). Integrated Marketing Communications and Social
Marketing. Journal of Social Marketing. Vol 5. No. 3. Pp 226-240.
Rampton, J. (2016). 5 Key Components to a Successful Content Marketing Campaign. Forbes.com.
Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2016/10/02/5-key-components-to-
a-successful-content-marketing-campaign/#26af34195ebc. [Accessed: 2nd May 2019]