Content Marketing In The Water Industry

Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute, recently published an article centered on the life cycle of content marketing.  Specifically he outlined the current view of content marketing through the lens of Gartner’s Five-Step Hype Cycle. With this as a backdrop, I wanted to take a look at the evolution of content marketing specific to the water industry.

First you have the Technology Trigger. In the case of content marketing in the water space, the trigger was that all manufacturers, regardless of size, could publish their content digitally. At the same time engineers and operators had unprecedented access to information through online communities like Water Online.  Water and wastewater equipment manufacturers no longer needed to depend on print publishers in order to get important information into the hands of the engineers and operators that influence the purchase of their products. 

Even though content marketing, like many water and wastewater equipment manufacturers, has been around for over a hundred years, the growing popularity of online content in the early 2000s created a free flow of information for both the publisher and those engineers and operators involved in the purchasing of engineered and component systems.

After the trigger, the path shoots upward quickly as early adopters find themselves ahead of the curve and finding a tremendous amount of success.  The water market arrived here in 2015 (Our market lags behind most other markets in terms of adoption and content marketing was no different). Content marketing and brand publishing was seen as new and modern.  Modern in the sense that before digital and content marketing came along, marketing options had remained relatively stagnant for more than 50 years.  The water and wastewater market is now entering the Peak of Inflated Expectations stage of the cycle.

In the next year or two we will begin to descend into the Trough of Disillusionment. It will represent a time when marketing professionals across the water market realize that being a publisher and creating a consistent body of engaging content is not cheap and it is not easy.  This stage of self-doubt is approaching. Astute manufacturers are identifying it and will address it to their advantage.

The Slope of Enlightenment refers to the timeframe after a marketing department has experimented with content marketing and brand publishing techniques, analyzed its failures and begun to understand what it takes to be successful.  It’s important to note that in most cases where brand publishing failed it was because it wasn’t fully embraced. There are plenty of examples in the water market of companies investing in generating more content. But that is not where the success lies. Enlightened marketing focuses on supporting an ongoing dialog with customers over campaigns; creating audience-focused information over self-focused promotion and controlling one’s own circulation over hiring a third-party’s list.  

So what does this mean for our market going forward? There will be a tangible divide between the companies that lose faith in the process or never attempt it in the first place and those that take the initial leap of faith and embrace content marketing to reach the final Plateau of Productivity stage.  It’s at this stage where the consistent production and application of good quality content will dramatically start separating the men from the boys.