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Content Marketing Jessica Borgen, 2013

Abstract

What is content marketing and why is it important in today’s marketing world? This

thesis will look into the growth of content marketing over the last several years as well as the

forecast of which direction it looks to be going. Over the last several years, with the explosion

of the internet, key trends in content marketing have shifted. This paper will discuss those

trends as well as successful marketing content campaigns. Next, some of the ethical concerns

regarding content marketing will be discussed. This will lead to a consideration of some of the

advantages and disadvantages of content marketing and the benefits that can come from

successful marketing campaigns.

Introduction

In marketing, there is a focus on the 4 P’s which consist of product, promotion, price

and place. With the ever-expanding marketplace due to technology advances companies must

find a way to make their products stand out away from the other products available.

Companies have started to turn more towards content marketing, focusing on the creation and

sharing of content that engages consumers. (Zmuda) With the expansion of the internet, the

way in which companies market their products and engage with consumers has dramatically

changed over the last few years. The internet has contributed to the globalization of marketing

by reducing the barriers to entry and making it possible for anyone to publish information

online at minimal cost. In order for companies to succeed, they must find a way to actively

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engage their customers, gain their attention, and keep them interested in their products and

services.

There are many marketing communication channels available these days; however print

channels such as newspapers and magazines are declining in importance while internet

marketing is on the rise. Internet channels include such things as social media (such as Twitter,

Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), blog posts and company webpages. Marketing a product online gives

a company the ability to target audiences directly as well as reach more consumers for a much

lower cost than through print media.

Contemporary consumers are looking for more than just a sales pitch. Companies on

average are now spending approximately 25% of their marketing budgets on content creation

and distribution. (Pulizzi) Finding the right audience and correct marketing channel and

creating an engaging story that captures the consumer is the challenge for marketing

departments in the global ecommerce marketplace.

Origin

The idea of content marketing dates back to when John Deere first published The

Furrow, a publication that educated farmers on agriculture and farming. (Pulizzi) There have

been other companies such as JELL-O, Sears, Procter & Gamble, Nike and many more that have

successfully run content marketing campaigns. (Pulizzi) From print publications to internet

microsites, companies have been engaging in content marketing for years, though it was not

always labeled that.

Content marketing can be described as any marketing strategy wherein some form of

content is created and shared publicly in order to engage the interest of a willing audience.

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(McDougall) Being able to tell a story about the product and engage the consumer is very

important. Today when there are so many places for consumers to research and buy products,

a company needs to find a way to stand out.

With technology easily accessible to most people these days, engaging a consumer and

creating loyalty can help a product/company be successful. The fact that approximately half

the population walks around with a smart phone in their pockets makes buying products easier

in today’s market. There have been numerous cell phone apps created that allow consumers to

shop right from their smartphones anytime and anywhere they want.

In the home, digital recording devices (DVR’s) are becoming widely popular. These

allow for consumers to watch recorded shows and have the ability to fast forward through

commercials. Also with the rise in streaming videos/movies over the internet, commercials are

becoming a harder marketing stream.

Marketing Trends

As the globalization of the marketplace is evolving and companies are recognizing the

need to embrace new media channels, it is imperative that the companies keep current with

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current marketing trends. There are many different tactics that can be utilized to create

content marketing and connect with consumers. As shown in the graph above, a company has

many tactics to choose from when it comes to sharing the content. The top three current

tactics used by businesses are social media (other than blogs), articles posted on company

website and eNewsletters.

In an article posted online by Patricia Redsicker, she discusses eight current trends in

content marketing. This article compiled information from a study involving 1,416 B2B

(Business-to-Business) marketers in North America. These trends involve content collection,

different media channels and a forecast of where content marketing is headed.

One of the biggest challenges companies face with content marketing is coming up with

enough content that will consumers and be of interest to them. Asking potential customers or

clients is a great way to determine the

information that they are looking for in a

product. That information can be used to

create a blog post or article that elaborates on

the information the customer is seeking.

Listening to the voice of the customer is a vital

starting point for this marketing channel.

Based on information for 2012, the

average number of content marketing tactics

being used by companies is twelve. These

tactics range from in-person events, such as

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trade shows, to articles posted on the company website or a third party website. Although

some companies use more than twelve and some use less, experts say that by using twelve

different tactics that should give a company enough variety to reach the audience it hopes to

reach.

Social Media has become extremely popular, and with that companies must ensure that

they are using different channels of social media to connect with consumers and build brand

awareness. Creating a Facebook page for a company or product, producing a YouTube video

that has an opportunity to go viral or compiling a Pinterest profile that has a collaboration of

recipes that incorporates a company product are all examples of how different social media

channels can be utilized to connect with consumers. From a cost perspective, social media can

be quite inexpensive depending on the particular channel a company chooses to use.

Surprisingly, LinkedIn has become the most popular social media website that

companies look to for content marketing. LinkedIn

provides a more professional environment than Facebook

or Twitter. As of January 2013, LinkedIn has reached 200

million users and that number is expected to increase.

(Pozin) Current statistics show that Facebook has reached

1 billion users and Twitter has reached 500 million users as

of January 2013. (Social Media Statistics) Just considering

the number of users on the top three social media sites for

content marketing, there is great potential for reaching a

large audience through these sites. By creating a group in

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LinkedIn, a business page in Facebook or sending out tweets on Twitter a business can reach

those consumers that share interests and are interested in the company’s product.

Brand Awareness has become the top content marketing goal. Creating brand

awareness ensures that consumers recognize the company’s product. Having a story attached

with the product can help a customer remember the product or brand in the future without

them having to do any research for a product. According to Redsicker, the most important

measure of brand awareness is website traffic. When a company’s website traffic is high then

they know it is a good place to reach out to potential customers. A website with high traffic

helps build credibility and assists in the rankings of search engine results when customers

search for products or information.

There are third-party companies that can be outsourced to compile content marketing;

however, the current trend shows that many companies have concentrated on creating the

marketing content in-house. With the current trends showing how strong content marketing

has become, many companies are bringing all or at least a good portion of this task back in-

house and hiring people with the skills to make it successful. With the ability to create

marketing campaigns in-house, it ensures that the people behind the campaign are looking out

for the good of the company, usually understand the product better, and have a better

understanding of the message that the company is looking to send.

Published in the 2013 Benchmark and Trends Research study, conducted by the Content

Marketing Institute, content marketing budgets for both B2C and B2B are both forecasted to

increase in the coming years. (Efficiency and Integration Critical for Effective Content

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Marketing) Currently, on average, about 28% of marketing budgets are allocated to content

marketing and about 55% of the marketers in the study are projected to increase their budgets.

Successful Content Marketing Campaigns

Procter & Gamble (P&G), a well-known company that makes products such as Tide®,

Pampers®, CoverGirl® and many other well-known household and beauty care products, has

embraced content marketing. They have recognized the benefits of connecting with

consumers, engaging them and creating brand awareness and loyalty. P&G has created several

microsites, which are websites that are separate from the company’s main website and are

used to promote products or engage customers in information and interesting material. One

microsite P&G has created is BeingGirl.com, which focuses on preteen/teen girls. (Pulizzi) On

this site they can find out information about their bodies and connect with others going

through the same stage in life. While this site is meant to focus on a lifestyle, it is also a way for

P&G to market their own beauty and grooming products, like Always® and Tampax®. Another

microsite created by P&G is LifeGoesStrong.com. This site is partnered with NBC Network and

aimed at baby boomers with a collection of articles about health, family, career and other

personal issues that target the baby boomer age group. On this site as well, there are

advertisements for P&G products that could be of interest to the age group being targeted.

Microsites help companies create a place to advertise their products and also help create a

sense of community among consumers that share the same interests and hopefully in turn will

use the company’s products.

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In 2012, Coca-Cola changed the layout of its website to appear more as an online digital

magazine. (Snow) The

company changed the name

of the website to Coca-Cola

Journey, and the site now

provides updated stories

from around the globe, talks

about its global initiatives

(like AIDS research), and provides recipes for food made with Coca-Cola products. In an

unusual twist, the website also provides posts about job searches and tips on how to find a new

job. Coca-Cola has invested heavily in this website and has contracted with quality writers,

photographers and guest posters to keep the website updated, hopefully drawing in consumers

and creating brand awareness and loyalty.

When most people hear of Red Bull they most likely think about the energizing, high

caffeine drink. Red Bull has long been a company that has gone out into communities to

promote its product. They have been very successful in creating a brand community in which

people have a sense of belonging and connection with each other when drinking Red Bull. The

company has several websites and creates short films that are posted to their RedBull.TV

channel on the websites. Red Bull has even created a print magazine and recently added the

ability to download an app to connect with the Red Bull digital magazine. All of these channels

help create a sense community between the consumers who like and drink Red Bull.

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Another company that has seen success with content marketing is Pepsi, using the Pepsi

Max brand as their focus. They have created some great viral videos that have captured the

attention of consumers and achieved more than 30 million views on the popular YouTube site.

(Sauer) Pepsi has teamed up with famous athletes and created viral videos such as “Test

Drive”, which features famous NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon disguising himself as a consumer

taking an unsuspecting used car salesman for a spin. Pepsi has recognized that consumers are

looking for entertaining and unique content to capture their attention. With this recognition,

and the creation of viral videos, they have been able to reach millions of consumers.

Characteristics of Successful Content Marketing Campaign

There are several characteristics a company should include when considering a content

marketing campaign. One very important first step should be to listen to and monitor the

consumer. The voice of the consumer can give a company a lot of insight into what kind of

product and information that the consumer wants. This also helps the company determine if

they are aiming at the right target market, as well as what media channels the target market

uses on a regular basis. Having a website that is user friendly and easy to navigate is also

imperative. If a consumer gets frustrated with a website, that could lead to loss of a potential

customer in the future. The 2011 Demandbase National Marketing and Sales Study states that

company websites are great lead generators, having downloadable content helps motivate

visitors to visit the site. (Carango)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the ability for a website to be listed in the search

engines page either through paid or organic search results. This is something that websites

have fought to stay on top of through the years and as more websites are created, the more

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important this has become to make sure that a company’s page is listed within the first few

search engine results.

It is expected that over the next several years, mobile marketing will continue to grow;

this growth is due to the increase of Smartphones and mobile electronic devices (i.e. iPads,

tablets, etc). Concentrating on media channels that are accessible and compatible on mobile

devices is very important going forward. Ensuring that message content is optimized and that

the message has been relayed within the first 250 words, so as to not lose reader interest, is

very important. (Burg) There are thousands of press releases every day; ensuring that a

company’s message is clear and concise can make a difference in the visibility of the release

and the follow through from potential customers.

Characteristics of Unsuccessful Content Marketing Campaigns

After spending time and money on a marketing campaign, the last thing a company

wants is a complete failure. Developing enough content is one of the biggest obstacles that

businesses face, and they spend a lot of time trying to come up with the right story that will

captivate their audience. A company must have goals in place to ensure that they understand

where they are heading. If these goals are not clearly defined, it can lead to confusion and

counter-productive results.

The right target audience must also be defined; failure to reach the right consumers

means the content is being wasted. Once the target audience is defined, the correct media

channel in which that consumer is likely to use needs to be discovered. If a company chooses

to only publish viral videos on its websites, however; the popularity of their YouTube channel is

much higher there could be a potential loss in reaching the audience intended.

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Once the goals have been set and target audience clarified, there is still a lot of work to

do in order to make the content meaningful. With the ever-growing amount of information on

the internet and the ready access that everyone has to information, a company must ensure

that the sources they choose to use information from must be credible. One slight mistake in

providing misinformation could be catastrophic.

Companies spend a lot of time and money on content marketing campaigns, making

sure that clear goals are set in the beginning can help make sure that the marketing campaign

stays on target and is successful. When utilizing online media, the profitability of a content

marketing campaign does not become clear until after the content has already been published.

A company must ensure the content that is published concentrates on the goals they which to

achieve.

Ethical Concerns

As with any business decision a company makes, ethics is a very important factor. With

content marketing, a company is looking to engage with the customer and create a sense of

connectivity. This can be accomplished in many different ways but ensuring that no one

questions the validity of the company information or becomes offended by the message being

to relayed can help foster campaign success.

The website, Contently.com, recently published a Code of Ethics for content marketing

stating some key points that should be maintained while compiling a marketing campaign.

(Snow) As with any marketing campaign, the core values of journalism must be followed, these

include honesty, integrity, accountability and responsibility. Ensuring that all facts are well-

established and one is not embellishing the story is extremely vital in a campaign. A company

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must also remember to give credit where credit is due if they are using information that has

appeared elsewhere. (Snow)

Since content marketing usually focuses on creating a story, blogging, publishing

material online, one must be careful in the wording chosen to be sure consumers can

understand the message being relayed. We live in such a global market these days so anything

on the internet can be seen from all over the world, this means when creating a marketing

campaign one needs to be aware of how the message is being conveyed and ensure that no

one could take offense to the message.

Advantages

There are several advantages to content marketing, if it is done correctly. If a company

is able to engage the right consumer, it could lead to a lifetime of customer loyalty. In today’s

world, in which we are constantly having information thrown at us, creating a story line that

consumers can relate to helps make that connection between a company/product and the

consumer. With busy life schedules and access to the global market at every consumer’s

fingertips, creating a brand loyalty with a consumer is very important. Most customers like to

continually buy what they know and usually resist change, so creating the right story and

engaging a customer early on could be very beneficial and profitable.

Having access to published material on the internet can potentially give a firm a broader

base of consumers that can be reached for a much lower cost than through print material.

With the cost of publishing online usually being minimal, compared to print marketing costs,

this could be a huge savings for companies. With online capabilities a company also has access

to respond to customers on a more personal level and at a much faster rate than previously

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available. Marketing departments can be set up with multiple employees monitoring the

internet and addressing questions or concerns that are posted immediately, as well as respond

to more than one customer at a time.

Another advantage companies should consider is Inbound Marketing, having the

consumer come to the company rather than the company having to search out the consumer.

By having information about a company or product posted online, it is easily accessible to the

consumer and the consumer can seek out the company. Since the consumer is seeking out the

company, this has a tendency to lead to higher quality leads. (Inbound Marketing Leads) When

a company uses an online communication channel, they have the ability to reach a broader

audience, being able to turn that audience into a lead can prove to be beneficial. Inbound

Marketing has shown to be about 60% less than Outbound Marketing, a company having to go

out in search of leads. In 2012, Inbound Marketing on average cost a company $135 a lead,

while Outbound Marketing on average cost a company $346 a lead. There is significant cost

savings attributed to Inbound Marketing.

Disadvantages

There are some disadvantages to content marketing that companies should be aware of

before they start to compile content. Many different channels of communication are available,

so deciding which one will best help get your message out can be difficult; if the right channel is

not picked, it could lead to failure. A downside to the openness of the internet is that

information can quickly be published and is not always easy to delete or remove information

once it has been released.

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A company must take on the task of deciding how they are going to manage the content

marketing campaign to be completed. There needs to be a balance between whether the

company feels like they can keep up with the marketing campaign or if they need to outsource

it to a third party. Current trends show that there is an increase in content marketing so a

company must plan for that increase. If a marketing campaign is outsourced, there is the risk of

the third party not understanding the product and message. This can create problems in trying

to communicate with them. For in-house work the right employees must be hired. They must

be aware of the content marketing tactics that will work for the business. Content marketing is

about engaging the consumer; if a direct sales pitch is too obvious, the message could fail.

Another disadvantage that has presented itself is that it is hard to measure the actual

return on investment (ROI) that comes from social channels. (eMarketer) Companies can pull

the analytics and watch the website traffic but there is no perfect way to quantify the actual

revenue that can be created from the website traffic or number of times that someone has

read a blog post.

Conclusion

For today’s market it is imperative that companies embrace content market. Creating

brand awareness and brand loyalty will help ensure that a company and its products are

successful. As technology continues to evolve, companies must keep up with the trends of

content marketing and create the stories that connect consumers with products. With so much

information available to consumers about different products, companies need to focus on

engaging with consumers and giving them the feeling of reliability.

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Whether a company chooses to use the popular social media sites such as LinkedIn,

Facebook, Twitter, or their own corporate website, consistent upkeep and interaction with

consumers will enhance the engagement consumers have with the company. Unlike print

advertising, content marketing is ever evolving and requires a consistent flow of information.

Consumers like to know that there is someone on the other side of the computer and that

someone is listening to them; it helps create that feeling of connectivity.

There are many examples of current successful content marketing campaigns, just like

the P&G, Coca-Cola, Red Bull and Pepsi examples discussed earlier. In the four examples, not

one involved a direct sales pitch for the product. The websites were used as a basis for

engaging in the lifestyle and activities of consumers who would use the products and would

likely be interested in them. The Pepsi video was posted on YouTube, a social media channel,

with hopes of it going viral and gaining attention of consumers, which it did. No matter what

the media channel is that a company decides to utilize, getting consumers engaged and

hopefully talking about the product, as well as getting them to come back and check out new

information, is important.

Key trends in the content marketing campaign should be considered by anyone looking

to use this approach. The most important point is to make sure the voice of the consumer is

being heard; this also helps to ensure that the target audience a company is aiming for is the

one they are actually reaching. If consumers do not feel engaged or connected to the message,

they will easily skim right over it and move onto the next thing. At the start of a content

marketing campaign, a clear set of goals needs to be established. The target audience should

be identified, as well as what the overall goal(s) the company is hoping to achieve are.

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While there are both advantages and disadvantages to content marketing, they key is to

remember that consumers are not interested in a direct sales pitch. Although online marketing

can be a cheaper, there needs to be research to find out if the target audience is using the

media in which to be used for the marketing campaign. A company must also make sure that

their message is being communicated clearly and not potentially being offensive to anyone.

Content marketing is expected to continue to grow as technology becomes more

common in everyday life. With the ability to target audiences, the lower costs to advertise and

easy accessibility to connect and engage with consumers, companies will continue to see

content marketing as a beneficial communication stream.

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