Taming the Content Beast

Content is hot. Suddenly, everyone has woken up to its potential as a tool for sales and brand loyalty. What’s behind the rush to content marketing – and how can it work for financial services?
“We’re all about to be buried in crap.”
This recent posting on the topic of content marketing sounds like the start of a backlash. In fact, it came from an agency dedicated to content marketing.
It was a somewhat apocalyptic warning that, in the rush to capture customers through compelling content, marketers risk overwhelming the talent available to produce it – leading to sub-standard material that will turn off audiences in their millions.
It’s undeniable that a content tsunami is building. According to Econsultancy research, 90% of brand marketers expect content marketing to become more important over the next year.
More and more brands are cottoning on to the diminishing returns offered by traditional advertising, in an age where consumers can get all the ‘buying information’ they need through smartphones and other devices. Building a genuine connection through valuable, relevant content is the new holy grail of marketing.
As content marketing guru Joe Pulizzi puts it: “Unfortunately, a great product or service is just the start. Since the majority of the buying journey happens before consumers ever contact us, we’d better be delivering amazing information, or we will never be part of the buying equation.”
That has particular relevance to financial institutions as they struggle to rebuild relationships with customers. Finance is the least trusted industry across the world, according to the latest ‘trust barometer’ published by Edelman, with just 22% of UK consumers prepared to put their faith in banks and financial services.
Integrity and good products and services are seen as important by the public in re-establishing trust, Edelman reveals – but the top factor is a readiness to engage.
With that in mind, many major finance players are already turning to content. But what form should this content take? For a start, it shouldn’t be self-serving stuff about the brand itself.
“We need to realise that customers don’t care about us, our products or services. They care about themselves,” Joe Pulizzi told Argent. “So we must deliver the best information on the planet to get their attention.” He cites with approval the ‘thought leadership’ material of companies such as IBM and Deloitte.
But even the best information on the planet isn’t enough in itself. It needs to have a purpose – allowing the brand to occupy its niche with authority. And given the multitude of today’s content platforms – online, social media, mobile, video, face-to-face, email and print – it has to be coordinated.
“We often see that content approaches across these channels are fragmented. Driven by departmental silos, there is no single ‘content plan’ or view,” says Caspian Woods of Editions Financial, a specialist in content marketing for finance brands.
“Content is then created and recreated, which racks up costs. The result is mixed messages, and missed campaign and brand strategy goals.”
If that sounds obvious, it has yet to be recognised by many marketers: 63% of brands admit they don’t yet have a content marketing strategy.
Clare Hill, Managing Director of industry body, the Content Marketing Association, says strategy should start with story. “Once you’ve defined the brand’s story, you look at which channels you’re going to use to distribute it.
“It’s the opposite of traditional marketing, which is my background. There, it was almost done backwards – you would start with your turnover target and your budget, and then decide how to divide that between radio, TV and so on.”
Woods offers an aid to strategy formulation: a ‘content engagement funnel’, allowing brands to map out the ideal journey of their customers across each channel.
The journey moves from the initial hooking of consumers’ attention – perhaps through thought leadership pieces – to engagement in richer media channels such as ezines and video. Customers then move on to interact through social media, events or one-to-one contact.
This builds return on investment. “A significant benefit of plotting a journey is that marketing effectiveness is no longer judged solely in terms of activity levels, such as ‘likes’ or ‘click-throughs’, but the extent to which they drive action and revenue to the bottom line,” Woods explains.
Hill concurs: “The key differential between traditional marketing disciplines and content marketing is that measurement is quite easy in our world. In many cases it enables you to identify sales conversions, if that’s the objective.”
Once the strategy is in place, a commitment to the long haul is critical. “Brands need to deliver content consistently and have a long-term time horizon,” Pulizzi declares. “Content is a promise to customers, and your credibility happens one piece of content at a time.”
It’s clear that such a commitment won’t be misjudged: content marketing isn’t going away any time soon. Clare Hill points to the contrast between the decline of newsstand magazines and the fortunes of content marketing publications: the biggest-circulation UK magazines are now produced by Tesco and Asda.
As for the predicted tide of crap, the solution is to set yourself apart by using professionals, Hill adds. “The majority of people in the content marketing industry are ex-journalists. They know how to formulate a good story, and they’re applying those principles in a marketing capacity.
“As Steve Jobs said, ‘The best people are the ones who understand content’.”