Jill Kurtz, Owner, Kurtz Digital StrategyNo matter what you are communicating or marketing about online, content is a critical component to success. You need great content to connect with your target audience.Here are 5 reasons why you need to invest time into an effective content strategy:

1. Content marketing is customer centric. It’s about you rather than me. It is how you attract the people you want and how you build an ongoing relationship with them.
2. You have no excuse not to publish content. Everyone can do it. Your audience knows this and is waiting to hear directly from you.
3. Content is what populates all media channels. In addition to your owned media, such as your website or blog, it is critical to earned media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
4. People want to know your entire organization. Content originates across the organization, primarily in public-facing functions such as sales, HR, customer service, product development and in the executive suite. Today’s consumer wants to know about it all.
5. Content is how you stay relevant in real-time. People don’t expect to wait until your next regularly scheduled publication. They what to know what’s happening, when it is happening. This also means you build an audience that is always listening.

Content is part of the way that we interface with the world around us. You need a plan to be part of the resulting conversations and relationships.