Blogging vs. Content Marketing: What's the Difference?

For people that don't live and breathe marketing, there are a lot of words thrown around that you don't really hear anywhere else.

We all know what blogging is. You consistently post articles on a website, usually aiming to target keywords and get organic traffic from search engines.

What I want to cover is content marketing.

It's a category of marketing strategies, and blogging is just one possible tactic.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on the creation of educational and valuable content, often in order to spread awareness and brand recognition.

It is powered by content creation such as blogging, podcasting, newsletters, videos, writing books and guides, and much more.

The goal is to educate, inform, and ultimately provide value for the consumer of the content. And usually as a result, the consumer will think highly of the producer of the content, which will build brand equity and convey trust.

Content Marketing is Not:

Product Marketing

Product marketing focuses on sharing information about a product, rather than value or educational information.

Social Media Marketing

Although you can use a social media account to create content and basically do content marketing, this category of marketing is a much smaller niche and focuses purely on social media usage.

Email Marketing

Email marketing focuses on sending content through email, and differs from content marketing since a lot of what is sent through email marketing campaigns is actually promotional. Content marketing should use promotional content.

Influencer Marketing

This type of marketing implies leveraging influencers to spread knowledge and information. As a result you aren't creating the valuable content that powers the content marketing strategy.

Final Words

The marketing world can be intimidating and don't get me started on all of the acronyms and metrics that will come into play.

Content marketing is great category of marketing to learn and master as it's the most genuine and valuable for consumers. It focuses on teaching and educating without being promotional or trying to sell something. It builds up a great reputation for your brand and can get you a lot of attention for free.