My colleague Harry Klein from Customer Engagement Strategies contacted me with a good article today on branded content. According to Corporate Marketers Shifting Spend to Branded Content, “more than three-quarters of US corporate marketers say they are aggressively (16%) or moderately (62%) shifting spending from traditional marketing to branded-content* marketing.” (1) The article appears on the MarketingProfs website.
Based on a study by the Custom Content Council (CCC) in partnership with ContentWise, the top content market goals are to educate customers (49%), followed by customer retention (26%) and enhancing brand loyalty (14%). Similar goals were cited in 2010, with customer education ranked first (52%), followed by customer retention (23%) and brand loyalty (12%). (2)
I continue to see that being the leading provider of content in your area of expertise is a key to success. Be the content.
Notes
(1) http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2011/6638/corporate-marketers-shifting-spend-to-branded-content
(2) Ibid.
Tim – content is how we earn the right to develop a relationship with a prospect. It’s also how we ensure we stay relevant to existing customers and earn their continued trust. There is legitimate concern about “giving away too much IP” in free content that varies depending on industry. If a SaaS company offers me deep content on how their service works and what the benefits are for my company that only helps me make a purchase decision. Consulting firms can share their processes without killing sales. The real value of those processes is the experience behind them. As you said “be the content”.
Harry, I completely agree with what you say about how content enables us to develop relationships with our prospects. Once prospects become clients, developing consistently high-quality content becomes even more critical.
What types of content (blog posts, webinars, podcasts, white papers, etc.) have you found of most value to your customers?