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By way of definition, Williams shared, content marketing is creating content that is valuable, relevant and consistent to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. To harness that power, companies, nonprofits and other groups must not just provide content for content’s sake.

“Content without context means nothing,” Williams says.

What people want is information that helps them answer a question.

Williams cited research that found that people read 10.4 pieces of information online before making a purchasing decision — be it personal or professional.

Indeed, Williams notes, most people get 60 percent through the buying process before they ever speak to a human being.

She said she often asks clients, "if you gave your website to your sales team to use in presentations, how would you feel about that? Would your website be the number 1 salesperson you have? If it’s not, it should be.”

It also means developing a content marketing strategy tailored to your business that reflects what you know about your customers and what they want and need. What makes that successful?

— Companywide buy-in. It is not a person or department, it is a companywide mentality.

— Aligning marketing and sales. They are the gatekeeper to the customer. Tap their knowledge and use it.

— Documented content strategy aligned to goals.

— Content resources and accountability. Consistency is key.

To begin the journey,

— Set goals and outline benchmarks. What do you want to achieve, what metrics will you use and how will you track them? This takes time, Williams says.

“You can’t make changes if you don't know what is working and what’s not.” Williams says.

Using buyer personas fictional representation of your customers that are based on what you know about your real customers. To develop that, you need to talk to actual customers, using a Q and A that you use to find out what are questions, needs and challenges they need help filling.

 It means knowing who is doing the research about buying decisions in a company. That’s not always the person with the biggest job title.

“The researcher is the most overlooked persona,” Williams says. “All of the content you are creating is not necessarily for (the CEO or top level company officer).”

Knowing how to reach those people — what messaging attracts them and turns them into converts to your business — is a piece of the heart of content marketing.

“Content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. A year from now, you will see the results,” Williams says.