In this brief video recently posted by ANA, Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Advisor for the Content Marketing Institute, urges organizations to view content marketing as a business strategy rather than a marketing tactic.

Rose stresses that content marketing should not be viewed as a “supercharged” marketing campaign.  Instead, it should be considered a business strategy.  As such, content marketing has real power to add value for a company’s customers, current and prospective, that can help you add real marketing value to your site.

A terrific example of content marketing as business strategy appeared recently in Forbes.  This article, IBM’s Big Data University: Free Online Learning With Over 400,000 Students illustrates how IBM derives benefit from the value it offers its Big Data University students by way of free on-line learning.

The article cites Leon Katsnelson, IBM’s director and CTO for analytics platform emerging technologies, giving this reason for providing the courses for free.  Simply, it is:

“We are in the business of selling tools and implements for people to use. If people learn from us, they will buy from us.”

As a business strategy, this is the ideal objective of content marketing.

What about YOUR content marketing?  Supercharged campaign or business strategy?  Does it deliver value to your customers?  Will it attract new customers?  Build loyalty and repeat purchases from current customers?

It could be time to elevate your content marketing.  Give it careful consideration, and insure it is delivering value to your target audiences.