Digital Strategies Focus on Content Marketing

Source: http://finchannel.com/Main_News/Tech/117475_Marketers_Bullish_on_Future_of_Content_Marketing/

Content marketing has become increasingly important in digital marketing strategies.  As existing digital, social and mobile channels evolve and new types of channels emerge, marketers need to stretch beyond traditional methods to reach their target audience.  According to the article, that cited studies from Outbrain and Econsultancy, email newsletters provide digital marketers with the most effective type of content marketing followed by social media.  I was a little surprised to see this as I thought social media may have been more effective than e-newsletters because e-newsletters can often go directly to “spam” folders or not even get opened by consumers with the overwhelming amount of promotional emails one receives daily; whereas social media channels are accessed by consumers searching for information.  So I was thinking more in terms of push versus pull or “search versus display” in a way.  I really do think content marketing will be a key component of digital strategies going forward.  

As e-commerce becomes more sophisticated and easily accessible, consumers are becoming much more educated before making purchases and relevant information marketers can provide to relevant consumers at relevant times can be the determining factor to whether the consumer proceeds through the purchase path.  I do think content marketing is a good way to connect emotionally with customers as marketers and companies can provide much more information to customers in this medium versus a banner ad for example.  Let’s say a customer is interested in making a purchase in the “beauty” category.  Depending on the product, let’s say it’s a really expensive face cream of some sort, they may conduct some research on the brand/product prior to purchase.  If a beauty company, such as L’Oreal, creates an original content site/blog with complementary information to their product suite, this can help consumers do research and become more informed.  An example of this is L’Oreal’s “Destination Beauty” YouTube channel which provides beauty-related content to beauty-conscious consumers.  While this example does align with the article’s reference to brands becoming publishers, this type of information can be highly valued by consumers and help them progress down the purchase path.