content_l360brief

CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 -The Loyalty Marketer’s Association

http://loyalty360.org/


The value of content.

• Content marketing is a relatively small slice of

the marketing pie, but is expected to grow.

• Most marketers surveyed say they are doing

a Good or Excellent job on content, but struggle

with keeping it exciting, fresh and relevant.

• There are stark differences between how

Travel/Hospitality and Financial Services/

Banking marketers approach and view the

success of their content strategies.

• Accurate measurement and attribution is difficult.

Senior-level support and budget allocation for

content may hinge on establishing accepted

measurement standards.

OVERVIEW


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“Understanding how to effectively use and administer content to drive value is a very timely topic for our members. Content is a huge opportunity for marketers today, but also presents a number of challenges. The market is abundant with new and established technologies and solutions to create, curate, personalize, target, deliver and measure content. Figuring out how to utilize all of these options to create a content strategy that efficiently and effectively drives results is challenging and time consuming. Simplicity is critical, because brands that make the problem more complex and make it more difficult for consumers to engage with them will see content as a “challenge,” rather than a marketing lever to pull.

Many organizations struggle with content because they aren’t built to strive in this type of environment; many organizational cultures don’t embrace and empower true dialogue with customers, and marketing efforts are expected to deliver results in the short term.

Content should create an honest and effective method of engagement with consumers. Brands know there is a revenue opportunity associated with creating unique, unbiased content, yet those that trust their instincts and who have consistent organizational-based content objectives – where financial benefit can follow – deserve plaudits!”

-Mark Johnson | CEO & CMO | Loyalty360

We are excited to present this Executive Brief, which shows a broad view of how marketers are approaching and executing content strategies, as well as the challenges they face along the way.


http://loyalty360.org/about-us/leadership/



Consumers today are bombarded with content from digital technologies that weren’t widely used a generation ago, including email, social media, and websites, along with longstanding mediums like TV, print and radio. Most of this content can be accessed by multiple screens, wherever consumers go. Often, too many choices can be a burden and this rings true for consumers’ access to content. Brands understand that their content must add value and be relevant to their audiences, but it’s a challenge to deliver on that promise and do so in a way that creates measurable results.

We tend to think of content as a trendy and buzzworthy topic of late, but the truth is that content marketing has been around for as long as there has been media to distribute it. The idea that content can influence consumer behavior is not a new one. It seems that the conversation paid to content ebbs and flows, with now being a time where the discourse is flowing liberally.

The struggle to deliver content that’s relevant and provides value to consumers but also drives top line results isn’t a new one. It’s worth recalling that content was also a popular topic back in 1996 when Bill Gates popularized the phrase “content is king.” Gates penned an article where he predicted that much of the “real” money to be made on the internet would come from content. His discourse corresponded

with the announcement that Microsoft was entering into a partnership with NBC to jointly own the cable news network MSNBC and the interactive online news network MSNBC.com. All of this was happening when Google was still in its infancy, Netscape was the most popular web browser, the term “blog” had not yet been coined and Apple was five years away from releasing the first generation iPod. In many ways it was a generation ago, but the question of how to monetize and measure the efficacy of content is still a real one.

In this executive brief, we’ll examine current trends in content marketing, including budgets, goals, and channel strategies based on findings from a survey of 124 marketing professionals. We’ll also provide insights on the impact of content on consumer behavior, tenets for a successful content strategy and guidance for the future, based on commentary from Loyalty360 members.

INTRODUCTION




Content Should Provide Value and Be Non-promotional

“The definition of content is wider than ever before, particularly due to the wide variety of options available to consume it. Content is any document or resource used to convey information. It can take many forms (for example, hard copy, digital, audio) and can be disseminated using any number of channels (print, web, mobile, podcast, video).”

-Crystel Figaro | Marketing Manager Exchange Solutions

“Content marketing, typically described as communications to customers that are neither promotional in nature nor offer-related, is an approach that marketers ap-ply in pursuit of more relevant interactions and brand experiences for customers.

In the loyalty context, content market-ing takes cues from Member behaviors, preferences and attributes, and supports the value exchange between Members and the brand without the use of points, rebates or discounts.”

-Scott Robinson | Senior Director of Loyalty and Consulting Solutions | Maritz

“Content is anything we publish that speaks to our brand, our potential guests and guests, and the travel experience. It can be text, image or video.”

-Kevin Scholl | Social Media Manager Red Roof Inn

WHAT IS CONTENT AND WHO NEEDS A CONTENT STRATEGY?

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as:

Content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. It is non-interruption marketing. Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent.

When we ask our members to define content for us, nearly all agree that – at its core - content provides value to an audience and is non-promotional in nature. But disagreement sets in when we explore if and how companies should leverage content.


http://loyalty360.org/me/members/10398


https://loyalty360.org/loyalty-management/contributors/11911

https://loyalty360.org/loyalty-management/contributors/11911


Ccontent

CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association What is Content and Who Needs a Content Strategy?...continued.

Experts Disagree on the Efficacy of Content Marketing for Some Verticals

“All industries and all verticals have customers. As long as customers are using social media- brands that have customers should have a content and social media presence regardless of type of industry or verticals.”

-Dave Cook | Vice President Access Development

“Yes, all brands should have a content strategy. I believe that if brands do not engage and provide content to their customers, whether it's B2B or B2C, they lose the opportunity to gain awareness and curiosity on who they are and what they can do.”

-Tara Murray | Senior Marketing Manager Fresherized Foods

“Yes, all brands should have a content strategy. It's much more holistic than marketing strategy; it's reputational, builds goodwill and license to operate.”

-Gwen Migita | VP Sustainability & Community Affairs

Caesars Entertainment Corporation

“Not all brands need a content strategy. Every brand needs to assess what kind of relationship their audience is looking for and then they should focus on delivering the right message in the right way to their audience. Content needs to be authentic and valuable to the end-user. The last thing the world needs is more content. It needs more relevant content.”

-Adam Trisk | Head of Marketing CrowdTwist

“There isn’t a brand I know that doesn’t have a content strategy. From local power companies telling consumer how COOL it is to be an energy efficient person or a major water company that tells you when it is HOT to drink more water. The better question is who has a content strategy now that would be better off dropping it.”

-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising, Global Partnerships | dunnhumby

http://loyalty360.org/companies/crowdtwist1

http://loyalty360.org/companies/crowdtwist1

http://loyalty360.org/companies/dunnhumbyusa#members

http://loyalty360.org/companies/dunnhumbyusa#members



Content is a Small but Growing Slice of Marketing Pie

The commentary on content may be widespread currently, but as a marketing strategy it is a rela-tively small slice of the pie for most companies. Our survey findings show that nearly half (44%) of those polled are spending less than 10% of their marketing budgets on content and nearly three-quarters are spending less than 20%.

While spend is relatively low now, our findings show that companies may increase the priority placed on content as a marketing strategy in the near future. Over half (56%) of those surveyed say they plan to increase budget allocated to content in the next fiscal year. A budget increase of more than 10% is planned by one-third (33%) of respondents.

CURRENT TRENDS IN CONTENT MARKETING

Q:

$What percentage of your marketing

budget is allocated

toward content?

Less Than 10%

10% - 20% 21% - 40% 41% - 60% More Than 60%

Q: How do you

anticipate budget allocation toward

content will change in the

next fiscal year?

No Change Increase by Less Than 10%

Increase by 10% - 25%

Increase by 25% - 50%

Increase by More Than 50%

Decrease by Less Than 10%

Decrease by 10% - 25%

Decrease by More Than 25%

23%26%

6% 6%

37%

1% 0%

44%

29%

19%

4% 4%

1%




Current Trends in Content Marketing...continued.

Four Distribution Vehicles Clearly Lead the Pack and All Are Digital

A clear “big four” of content distribution vehicles emerges from our survey findings. Email, Website and Facebook are used by more than three-quarters of all companies, followed very closely by Twitter, which is used by 71% of companies. Usage rates for other vehicles are much lower, with just less than half of companies using Newsletters and Direct Mail.

More recently developed social media platforms – Pinterest and Instagram – are being used by 25% and 19% of companies, respectively, showing that marketers have been relatively quick to build and execute strategies for these platforms.

The four leading distribution vehicles are all online, which is not a surprise given the cost and flexibility benefits. The relative infancy of these technologies may point to why marketers are still struggling to solve some of the challenges of optimizing content creation and delivery.

Goal Percentage of Respondents

Email 86%

Website 86%

Facebook 77%

Twitter 71%

Newsletter 48%

Direct Mail 44%

LinkedIn 40%

Online Video 40%

Blog 35%

Mobile 35%

Pinterest 25%

Google+ 21%

Other Social Media 21%

Instagram 19%

Advertorial 12%

Other Video (Not Online) 11%

Whitepaper / E-book 11%

What vehicle(s) do you currently

use to feature content?

Q:




Efficacy Lags for Social Media

For delivering content in a way that helps reach goals, Website and Email are the clear winners, while Facebook and Twitter fall to the middle of the pack. Very few say that Instagram and Pinterest are most effective at delivering content, perhaps because marketers haven’t yet been able to conduct several cycles of testing various tactics on these platforms to see which are most effective.


What vehicle is most effective at helping achieve

your content goals?


Email 31%

Website 24%

Facebook 9%

Twitter 9%

Newsletter 6%

Direct Mail 6%

LinkedIn 4%

Online Video 3%

Blog 3%

Mobile 2%

Pinterest 1%

Google+ 1%

Other Social Media 1%

Instagram 1%

Advertorial 0%

Other Video (Not Online) 0%

Whitepaper / E-book 0%

Q:




Sales/Revenue is Top Goal of Content and a Frequently Used Measure of Success

The most important content goal for over one-quarter (27%) of respondents surveyed is sales or revenue. Customer engagement is a close second, followed by lead genera-tion. Web traffic and sales/revenue are the most widely used metrics for measuring the effectiveness of content.



Sales/Revenue 27%

Customer Engagement 22%

Awareness 16%

Lead Generation 11%

Thought Leadership 8%

Customer Service 6%

Loyalty 5%

Prospect Engagement 5%

Other 1%

What is the most important

goal of your company’s

content strategy?

Q:

Metric Percentage of Respondents

Web Traffic 60%

Sales or Revenue 59%

Open Rates 33%

Number of Followers 31%

Number of Incoming Leads 30%

Number of Shares or Likes 29%

Downloads 21%

Referrals 20%

Opt-out Metrics 15%

Other 7%

What are the metrics used by your company to

measure the effectiveness of content?

Q:



“Our mission is to change the way people think about and eat food, and we do that every day in our restaurants through our ongoing commitment to serving food made with better ingredients from more sustainable sources. We create content and experiences that invite our custom-ers to have a conversation with us about food and food issues. “The Scarecrow” is our latest project to present complex and challenging issues—such as the industrial food system—in an engaging, entertain-ing way. For us, content allows us to have a conversation with customers and talk to them about why we are committed to better food from more sustainable ingredi-ents. We believe that the content we create impacts loyalty, especially as more and more people are paying attention to where their food comes from.”

-Danielle Winslow | Public Relations and Marketing | Chipotle

“Content can have a positive and potential negative impact on a customer’s relation-ship with a brand. A well-executed content strategy can promote customer loyalty when it provides customers with relevant, brand related content that eases or enhances an individual’s experience with the brand. For this to have a positive impact however, the content must be seen as valuable, relevant and aligned to the brand. Content can also negatively impact loyalty if it is not thoughtfully executed. For example, content strategies where a customer is plied with the same content multiple times with little review of relevancy or response can decrease a customer’s desired engagement with a company. It is important to meet your customers in the channels that they want to engage with you in and to ensure the content is relevant and valuable for them. Otherwise, you are just creating more noise in an already busy and cluttered world and actually risk decreasing loyalty.”

-Kirk Johnson | Partner | Lenati

While driving sales and revenue is the ultimate goal of any marketing strategy, the role that content plays in it varies by company. Companies like Chipotle emphasize content as an engagement mechanism, while others focus on post-purchase experience and customer loyalty.






“We’ve seen some great examples of the correlation between consuming content and engagement with the brand. And not surprisingly, those with higher engagement are not just better customers, but better influencers for the brand. So if the goal is to measure the value of engaging with content, we have to measure who is doing it. And we have to know that person is the same person who later looked at a product at GNC.com and then finally came to our store and made a purchase. To do this well you have to invest in the data environment to capture it all, and then build that content consumption into an attribution model. A good example is our Protein Number tool. Nearly 1 million customers used it to find their protein number (how many grams of protein you should consume per day). And while this may not lead to someone rushing out to buy more protein, it does lead to more consumption of the protein powder you already own, which will then lead to a purchase sooner than without having used the tool.”

-David R. Sims | VP CRM | GNC Holdings

“It is very tricky to measure true direct return on investment (i.e. sales generated) when employing a complex content marketing strategy. Most successful companies leverage some form of revenue attribution model to measure success, unless they have highly sophisticated integrated systems in the background. To be successful with attributions, it is critical to identify the customer journey variations that might be taken and build a data history of what interactions a customer has had with the brand.

It is important to be able to develop a 360° degree view of your customer/prospect’s interactions with your company and create ways to gather more information in each interaction. For example, it is far better to ‘gate’ the valuable content and capture critical customer information (email address, etc.) that can be attributed back to a specific customer and can help build the customer story. Only by implementing ways to identify customers throughout their journey with the brand and then utilizing analytics to build a customer profile, can you truly tie ROI back to the content strategy.””


Industry experts suggest that measuring the success of content is not easily boiled down to a single metric or two, but rather should be based on a holistic view of the consumer decision journey to understand the effectiveness of content at different stages of the journey. Engagement is important, and it should eventually create purchase and advocacy behaviors.


Measuring the Value of Content is a Struggle

Even though our research showed that companies are using an average of three different metrics to gauge the performance of content, the accuracy of those metrics to truly capture the value of content is doubted or questioned by most. Nearly one-quarter of respondents say the metrics used are not capturing the true value of content and an additional 38% say they are not sure. Nearly 40% of total respondents say the metrics in place are accurate.

Yes No Not Sure

Q: Do you think

the metrics you use accurately capture the value of your

content?

38%38%

24%





Companies Say They are Doing a Good Job on Content, but Customers May Not Be So Delighted

Companies may be glossing over some of the challenges they are facing on content and it seems that consumers take notice of performance gaps. Over half of respondents say that their companies have Good (52%) or even Excellent (9%) performance on content strategy. Just 10% says content performance is Poor.

Based on those numbers, it would seem that creating and executing on a content strategy is rather straightforward and painless; however, our research indicates that challenges are widespread in nearly all aspects of content, from creation and/or curation, to delivery, to measurement. Two issues that directly impact the consumer experience were cited as the biggest challenges by our survey respondents: Quality & Quantity (in other words, keeping content fresh and engaging) and Relevancy.


Q: Please rate the overall performance of your

content strategy.

Poor

Fair

Good

Excellent

9%

52%

29%

10%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Quality & Quantity

Relevancy

Budget

Metrics & Measurements

Senior-level Buy In

Cross-channel Consitency

Attribution

Cross-functional Support

What is the biggest challenge

your company faces related to content?

Q:




“A recent Forbes.com and IPG study showed that readers were 41% more likely to share branded content when they read it on Forbes.com versus on the brand’s own site. There is still appetite within customers for a perceived impartiality of the brand message. Content and context can build your customers into advocates, but on the flip side, see what happens when you send a household a message about Nestle, when they are loyal to Cadbury. Personalization is key to loyalty, whether in content or otherwise. Customers that perceive brands to be loyal to them (e.g. looking out for the best offers and sending relevant ones to their customers) will become and remain loyal to these brands.”

-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising, “Global Partnerships | dunnhumby

What’s more, when we asked our Twitter community how often they – as consumers – receive relevant messages from their favorite brands, most people responded by saying “never” or “hardly ever.” Customers appreciate recieving relevant and personalized messages and it can often be the difference between driving a purchase and even building a loyal customer.


Providing content that’s frequently updated, but of a quality that will continue to excite and engage the target audience is the biggest challenge faced by one-third of those surveyed. Delivering relevant content to customers is the biggest challenge faced by 17% of respondents. Essentially, companies say they are struggling to deliver a delightful experience to customers.


http://loyalty360.org/companies/dunnhumbyusa




Industry Differences: Travel versus Financial Services

We see stark differences in how the two biggest groups of survey respondents by industry, Travel/Hospitality and Financial Services/Bank-ing, approach and describe their content strategies. As a whole, Financial Services/Banking is spending a larger portion of the marketing budget on Content, but far fewer are saying performance is Good or Excellent.

The differences between the two industries may indicate the varying degrees of confidence and flexibility with which both approach content. Financial Services/Banking is a more strictly regulated industry in many ways. The regulations may inhibit marketers from freely expressing the brand’s voice in creating and curating content, and it has likely caused the industry to be slower to adopt online content delivery mechanisms, like Facebook and Twitter. While most companies in the industry are now on those platforms, the sophistication of their strategies, capabilities and metrics may still be lagging behind others.

Leveraging content to drive sales is a lofty goal and perhaps one that is easier to accomplish for some industries, like Travel/Hospitality, where consumers are open to and expectant of content that is aspirational and inspirational. While Travel/Hospitality marketers expect content to directly drive sales/revenue, Financial Services/Banking marketers expect content to come into play at the top of the sales funnel – building brand reputation and awareness – and at the end of the sales funnel – as a post-purchase customer service channel.


Travel/Hospitality Financial Services/Banking

Average Spend on Content (as % of marketing budget)

Less than 10% 10% - 20%

Most Important Goal of Content Sales/Revenue

Customer Service, Awareness and

Lead Generation (3-way tie)

Percentage of Respondents who Ranked Content Performance “Good” or “Excellent”

95% 53%

Percentage of Respondents who Ranked Content Performance “Poor”

0% 18%

Most Frequently Used Metric Sales/Revenue Web Traffic

Do the Metrics You Use Accurately Capture the Value of Your Content?

63% say Yes 17% say Yes

Do You Use Direct Mail as a Distribution Vehicle? 26% say Yes 65% say Yes



WHY IS CONTENT IMPORTANT AND HOW DOES IT IMPACT CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?

For brands, the risks and rewards of content can be hefty. It can and should represent the voice of a brand and a way to convey the brand identity to cus-tomers. Only when customers understand a brand’s identity can they build a relationship with the brand. Content requires a large investment from customers to take the time to engage and perhaps understand the nuances of a message, but when done well it can create a foundation for longtime, profitable relationships with customers.

Content Builds Brand Loyalty

“I frequently contend that loyalty programs today lean far too heavily on monetary means of influencing Member behavior. While points and discounts are certainly effective in influencing the behavior of many Members, the challenge is that these monetary forms of influence are not especially differentiating, and brands do not have endlessly deep pockets into which they can reach to repeatedly ante-up and outspend their competition.

Content marketing on the other hand, holds much potential as a non-monetary means of elevating the relevance of Member communications in loyalty and, in turn, of influencing customer behavior. And while content marketing alone may not entice new customers into a brand, content marketing does present itself as an opportunity for loyalty initiatives to engage and retain existing customers, in ways that are evolved beyond the monetary, into new territory that is authentic, emotionally rich, and brand-aligned.”

-Scott Robinson | Senior Director of Loyalty and Consulting Solutions | Maritz



CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association Why is Content Important and How Does it Impact Consumer Behavior?...continued.

Content Inspire and Motivates

“Our content helps us become and stay engaged with our guests during the entire cycle of travel, from inspiration, to research, through booking, stay and after the stay. It allows us to inspire possibil-ity, convert the buying decision, resolve negative emotion and create lifelong brand advocates through an honest and transparent brand/guest relationship.”

-Kevin Scholl | Social Media Manager Red Roof Inn

Content Creates Customer Relationships

“We’re educating and servicing our cli-ents. Content goes hand-in-hand with the merchandise we’re trying to sell. Women love product, but they always want to be learning more about it. We’re deepen-ing that relationship and making it more authentic.”

-Sarah Choi | VP of Beauty Insider | Sephora

Content Builds Brand Trust

“Good content is really a brand’s best friend. Content that aims to help, enter-tain or inform your customers rather than simply pushing out marketing messaging is going to provide value to your customer. If they feel that you’re genuinely being helpful and not too salesy, that will build trust, which leads to loyalty.”

-Tiffani Allen | Marketing and Communications Ciceron






MARKS OF A WINNING CONTENT STRATEGY

When we asked our members to name brands that deliver a strong content experience, similarities in makeup and execution emerged. Together, these similarities make the brand more human; not just pro-moting products and services, but by being a good “neighbor” and “paying it forward” they build equity with customers. The brands our members named deliver consistently on these five traits:

Relevant

The topic of relevant content is almost as popular as the discussion on content itself. Customers expect that when brands reach out, the message will be relevant to their recent browsing behavior, purchases, preferences, personal interests, demographics, psychographics, household members, purchasing power, and the list goes on. When customers feel the information provided by a brand is consistently relevant, the message is not only welcomed, but is sought-after. American Express is an example of a brand that provides relevant content to its audience seg-ment of small business owners through OPEN Forum. By understanding areas where small business owners need support and thought-leadership, OPEN Forum’s content helps fill knowledge gaps.

“American Express - provides me information that I feel is relevant to me.”

-Michael Baum | Partner | Brightstone, Inc.

Exciting and Fresh

Establishing a brand’s point of view or “voice” and then expressing it in new and exciting ways keeps consum-ers entertained and coming back for more. Chipotle and Kenneth Cole are examples of brands that are creating and delivering content that expresses fundamentals about the brand identity and seeks to shape the way customers view specific topics, like food sourcing or homelessness.

“I am always amazed by brands taking a strong position with content as it is such a double-edged sword. Either it will really make people take notice or it will have some special interest group asking consumers to boycott them. Some of the best content these days is coming from Chi-potle. They are creating very engaging, short and long form content around why they choose not to use factory farms. I also find myself on the lookout for what Kenneth Cole is saying. This is one brand I find myself engaging with on Twitter. There are no boundaries and you never know what they might say. It’s a risky approach, but does position the brand in an edgy way where you want to see what’s com-ing. This risk is best mitigated by ensuring relevancy and delivery of each message to those most likely to positively react to it.”

-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising, Global Partnerships dunnhumby




CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association Marks of a Winning Content Strategy...continued.

Unified Voice

Regardless of where the brand is talking or how the mes-sage is being delivered, the voice of the brand must be consistent. Kenneth Cole, for example, is a multinational corporation, but the founder and CEO is the face of the corporation and his voice comes through in content on the brand’s website and social media properties.

Contextual Understanding

Customizing content and delivery techniques for each ve-hicle is critical to customer engagement. While the same customer may use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email and other platforms, the platforms are utilized in different ways, frequencies and for different reasons. The content that’s featured on these various platforms should reflect those differences.

Red Bull’s website is a wealth of very rich content that is connected to the brand, but has very little to do with promoting the brand’s products. Content focuses on the interests of Red Bull’s core customers, such as extreme sports, music and video games. Red Bull utilizes its social properties to engage with customers and build awareness for the content that’s featured on the brand’s website. The messaging on each social property is unique and custom-ized to provide the best audience experience on that site.

Educational

The best content provides value by way of informing or educating, in addition to entertaining. The spectrum of how a brand can educate customers is very wide; for example, Nordstrom keeps shoppers informed about the latest fashion trends, while Fidelity Investments educates about managing money and investments.

“Nordstrom is an interesting retail brand that does a great job highlighting the latest fashion trends and providing tips that are relevant to their customer base. By having information about existing purchases, they can tailor the content to customer desires and provide targeted com-munications with extremely relevant content.

Fidelity Investments utilizes educational content to con-nect with their customers and develop a direct relation-ship. Often customers who have a company provided 401k start with little direct interaction with the 401k provider. By providing educational tools such as product training, financial information and tips for how to use the company provided research tools, they help a customer understand how they can directly manage their investment and in turn, build a stronger brand relationship with Fidel-ity. This all results in positive returns for Fidelity because as a customer explores other investment opportunities, they will likely turn to where they have brand recognition and loyalty.”






WHAT SHOULD MARKETERS PLAN FOR IN FUTURE CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIES?

“Knowing your audience” will remain most critical.

“What needs to be considered when determining a content strategy is actually quite simple. Know your audi-ence. As with every aspect of marketing, this truism will continue to remain the foundational crux of any content strategy. Executing on the content strategy, now that can be more of a challenge.”

-Crystel Figaro | Marketing Manager Exchange Solutions

Consumers will increasingly expect content that entertains and educates, rather than promotes, and will reward the brands who provide it.

“Content should fill a consumer interest rather than push a corporate agenda. Content should be focused not on sell-ing, but on educating or entertaining.”

-Adam Trisk | Head of Marketing | CrowdTwist

The rapid change in consumer preferences and adoption of technologies and platforms will not slow.

“It is very hard to think of content without a clear strategy and that starts at the top. The more you can tie your con-tent strategy to long-term goals and not just an isolated campaign, the better. If that was not enough of a job, you have to keep up with technology and how people are consuming content. While one channel might be best now, the younger demos are starting to engage with another. This will evolve at a much greater rate than even a decade ago. There is a great statistic from the US Chamber of Commerce that has gotten much attention, that 90% of the world’s data was created in the last two years. But the bigger question is how to use that data to ensure content is delivered at the right time, right place, right channel, right context and to the right person.”

-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising, Global Partnerships dunnhumby

Expect an increase in customer self-service demand.

“Often the best way to personalize the experience is to al-low customers to serve themselves. Many industries have evolved into using a mixed model of services – allowing the customer to do much of what they want online or through a mobile platform, without engaging with a customer ser-vice agent at all. And many customers prefer it this way. Ensuring that your company has a strong content strategy for enabling self service will be critical to business success in the future.”





http://loyalty360.org/companies/crowdtwist1#details





CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association What Should Marketers Plan for in Future Content Marketing Strategies?...continued.

The importance of long-term measurements will be recognized.

“Of all of the challenges that we are hearing brands talk about with regard to content, measurement is one of the most critical to get right but also one of the most approachable. A brand’s objective for content should not solely be focused on driving short-term commerce, but increased collaboration with consumers and increased commitment from constituen-cies should be considered. Creating long-term engagement and loyalty is the end result of a strong content strategy. A unique set of measurements, both short- and long-term, should be established to reflect those goals. As with the challenges of measuring social media and other emerging technologies, it’s tempting to focus on short-term measure-able results, but there is a need to also look at longer-term less-defined pragmatic financial measurements that CFOs are looking for today.”






“This pressure often causes organizations to implement overly complex processes for execution and measurement, but we are seeing that – first and foremost – a few simple characteristics need to be achieved. As we saw with our Executive Brief on Corporate Social Responsibility, it’s critical that your content is a natural extension of your brand’s mission and charter, and it needs to be aligned with the way that your company conducts business from the top to the bottom. If your organization achieves these two attributes, employees will be more empowered to engage with customers and do so in the right way; so-called content “visionaries” will be less likely to cloud your good judgment; and you will better understand how to measure the value of content by knowing your customers and what outcomes to expect.”


“It’s expected that companies will spend over $100 billion on content marketing in 2014. As more companies throw serious money at

content, they will expect to see tangible results.”

CONCLUSION





About Loyalty360

Loyalty360 is an unbiased, market driven, voice of the customer focused clearinghouse and think-tank that is committed to bringing loyalty to the forefront as a critical marketing strategy. A trusted source for cutting-edge research, best practices, and networking opportunities, Loyalty360 gives members the expert insights and guidance they need to better understand loyalty and develop programs that effectively engage their customers and employees and build stronger relationships with them.

Loyalty360 offers you a roadmap to engaging customers and driving loyalty through research, reports, webinars, conferences, news, expert articles, multimedia and more. We pride ourselves on our ability to continuously deliver relevant and timely customer loyalty and engagement marketing best-practice perspectives and industry thought leadership on a variety of topics.

About the Author

Emily Heitkamp, Sr. Director, Content and Business Development

As an experienced market researcher and consumer insights expert, Emily has guided some of the most valuable brands in the world on their marketing strategies. At Loyalty360, Emily’s research and thought leadership provides organizations with an understanding of broad trends in the marketplace, helping them develop strategies for creating profitable and loyal customers.

Prior to joining Loyalty360, Emily held client services positions with The Nielsen Company, where she advised clients on measuring and optimizing advertising campaign effectiveness. Emily previously served as an account manager at NM Incite – a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey – helping brands measure and act on the chatter about them on social media. Prior to that, she honed her analytics skills as a research manager with Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a social media measurement solution, starting in 2007 when social media was in its infancy. In her time at Nielsen, Emily grew adept at packaging vast amounts of consumer and market data into easy-to-understand and actionable insights for clients, which makes her a valuable asset for Loyalty360’s members.






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value of content

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content strategy

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