A defining feature of content marketing is its continuous, ongoing nature. As this article puts it, content marketing is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.

That’s why it’s essential to plan for continuity in content marketing. By incorporating a story, characters, a theme, or a hook that lasts, you can make your content sustainable for the long term. The article lists four themes — Character, Curation, Community and Rubrics — that can help you start thinking about ways to foster sustainability in your content marketing.

Character

Mascots can be found everywhere in advertising, and with good reason. A strong character drives narrative.

An example is Macy’s “Believe” campaign, which centers around a fictionalized version of Virginia O’Hanlon (as in “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”) The animated Virginia can be found on the store’s website, in stores, and in her own television special. There are even licensing agreements underway for a line of dolls and toys.

Curation

Content may be king, but without curation, it can be simply overwhelming. For any product, service, or industry, there is already plenty of information out there, with more content being produced every day. For many people, all of this content becomes too much to sift through.

That’s why content curation can be a key to finding and retaining your target audience. In short, you do the sifting for them. By consistently providing relevant information on your topic, industry or area, you can become a trusted source for quality content.

Community

The article points out that many companies have benefited from creating communities in which consumers can gather to discuss given topics. This holds particularly true in the tech sector, where electronics manufacturers run forums where members can discuss business problems and product issues, offering one another help and support.

The benefits go far beyond ongoing content creation. By listening and participating in discussions, the sponsoring brand has an early-warning system regarding problems, issues, and, often, competition in the field. Monitoring discussions can lead to advances in product development, and customer service expenditures can be dramatically reduced when customers are empowered to help one another.

Rubrics

Just as regular features in periodicals — such as a daily horoscope or a weekly home and garden section — are designed to keep readers coming back regularly, content marketing can use the same principle.

The author suggests developing regular, repeatable content units like an events calendar, expert opinion columns, how-tos, or a video of the week. These kinds of regular, repeatable features can provide your audience with new material while providing a comforting sense of familiarity.

This list doesn’t come close to covering all the aspects of content marketing, but hopefully it starts you thinking about some strategies and tactics that can promote longevity and make your content sustainable.

At Accendo Digital marketing & media, we work with you to build out a content marketing system: your website as a marketing hub, your overall web presence and email marketing. Contact us to discover how we can help you build and engage audiences, convert customers, and develop stamina for that content marketing marathon.