Content strategy has become something of a buzzword in ecommerce and online marketing. All classical marketing strategy was developed to meet existing business goals, and content strategy is an extension of these techniques. Traditional methods involved saturating the consumer with impulse factors, pressing their buy button, in the hope they will be drawn to the product. This archaic method is ineffective on the internet. Leaving a site is as simple as pressing a button. The market is dependant not only on getting people to look at a product but retaining their interest once they are there.

Content marketing uses content to engage consumers. The content must be of a quality that they’ll want to consume it for its own sake. This is an alternative to a direct sales approach. When we want to buy something, we often don’t yet know what that something is. We have an idea, maybe we want a pair of headphones, but the market is saturated with choices. The traditional question of what do you have, has been replaced. The power is with the consumer and they want the best for as little as possible. So the purchase often begins with a question. Companies worked out they could draw traffic which already had an interest in their product just by answering these questions. The content is used to direct prospects towards their products.

Companies have become publishing companies. The focus is not on the creation of individual pieces of marketable content but a content marketing strategy. A content marketing strategy focuses on ways to engage and direct traffic to the site, generate leads and drive profitable behaviour. The means by which content marketing is the use and creation of quality content but a content marketing strategy is concerned with how to use this quality content and like most business ventures the end game is sales and profit.