The days of simply placing a print ad or a video commercial with a local media outlet are about as old fashioned as printed newspapers and commercial breaks themselves. In today’s digital age, robust online content is king. In fact, nearly 50 percent of companies have content marketing strategies, according to “The 8 Step Approach to Successful Content Marketing,” a recent article by Douglas Karr of The Marketing Technology Blog. So, your company must enter the content creation race, or risk being left in the dirt.

While in-house marketing departments and outside agencies are still producing advertisements to sell products and press releases to handle media relations, content generation is gaining ground as the best marketing tool to promote a business. The content generated is for in-depth websites, constantly updated blogs or regularly scheduled emails sent to existing clients. Douglas Karr’s piece states, “Per dollars spent, content marketing generates approximately three times as many leads as traditional marketing.”

Due to the focus on helpful, quality information, the collateral might be designed just to reinforce the company’s overall message and not serve as an obvious direct sales pitch for a product. The 50 percent statistic shared before by Douglas Karr is two-fold. First it reveals that about half of all companies see a value in content marketing. The second key is these companies are creating strategies, meaning this avenue requires a lot of planning.

Whether in-house or outsourced to an agency like Mopdog, “86 percent of those content marketers have a dedicated person or team managing that strategy,” states The Marketing Technology piece. Content marketing includes many steps, such as strategy development, content creation, optimization, distribution and measurement. A team composed of a project leader, graphic designer, copywriter and SEO strategist typically completes these steps.

This graphic shows how members of a team work independently and together during the brainstorming process. At Mopdog, our offices are filled with constant discussion about how to respond to this week’s latest buzz in an industry. A thought leadership topic is then transformed into a professionally written and designed piece meant to captivate an audience, drawing them further.