With each update to Google’s algorithm, Facebook’s edge rank, and consumers use of new and ever changing apps, how companies marketing to their customers continues to change. Once upon a time, a well-designed logo and a print ad would suffice. Then radio happened, than TV happened than the Internet.  When companies first started advertising on the web, they created websites affectionately known as “brochureware” – they might have paid a designer to design a banner ad and had their ads run across sites.

This history lesson could go on but now we are in the age of “content marketing”. So what do we mean by content? Content can be an e-book that helps potential clients know more about your business, or it can be a downloadable PDF that your B to B customers can use with their customers. It can be an infographic, blog posts just like this one, or even developing social contests. So content is a big umbrella. Your job as a company is to figure out what kind of “content” your ideal customers need or want.  We forget a very important content type that appears to be evergreen, and that’s email.

Each piece of content should be shared on social networks, sent directly to your client email list or gated behind a landing page.  So how do you pick the right kind of content for your customers and clients?

First you admit there is no formula. There are no magic bullets. Second, you need to understand that content marketing is a long game. Very few potential customers will see one infographic that you’ve produced and pick up the phone to book business with you.  Once you understand these two rules, you need to experiment. You can also go back to another evergreen marketing technique and host a focus group.

So what’s your Internet Marketing Game?

Jonathan Meyerhoff is the founder and CEO of Internet Marketing Magicians LLC