Has there ever been a more overused and misunderstood phrase in marketing. Content  marketing is a redundancy . All good marketing is content marketing. Because all good marketing is target marketing. Content marketing lets us target a message to a narrowly defined audience interested in that content.

There are three variables in the content marketing equation. The content, the message, and the audience. Mostly, the focus is on the content variable  Lets not allow this content focus be at the expense of the message or the audience variables. 

In order for your marketing to be successful your message also must be appropriate for your audience.

Be certain that your vehicle for content-delivery is appropriate for both your content and the audience with which you are trying to connect. Regardless of whether that messaging vehicle is a 30-second spot, a white paper, a trade show booth, or anything else. 

That is not to say that the same content cannot be delivered in multiple message vehicles. It can and should, with each message integrated with the others. All of the messaging vehicles  must be appropriate for your target audience.

So, lets call this audience marketing rather than content marketing. Lets make the audience that you are trying to reach with your content the starting point. Then tailor your message and vehicles to that audience.    

  

In the interest of fair discloser, I write this as a recovered reporter and news director and current PR practitioner. 

The worlds of traditional and digital media are closer than might at first glance appear. I am a big proponent of digital media but the first thing I do every morning is read the print editions of the Wall Street Journal and our local county newspaper, the Daily Local News, both of which I have home-delivered.

Having written that, I will still cop to visiting the websites of any number of news aggregators throughout the day to get additional details in specific areas, such as sports, finance, or health care.

Similarly, any print journo worth his or her salt has a presence on the web, especially services like Twitter and Linkedin, and is also a consumer of digital information from traditional and non-traditional sources, such as blogs like the Lobster Shift.

Traditional and non-traditional new sources should be complementary not exclusive in your PR campaign.

How this will work depends on your target audience.