By Niki Vriens, Guest Blogger, Freelance Creative Communications
How consumers arrived at a preference for valuable content
With a deluge of content crowding social feeds and inboxes, brands today are vigorously competing for customer attention–and what's more–loyalty. It's no easy feat. With so many new products and services coming to market each day, it becomes increasingly difficult for consumers to commit as they squirmishly move from post to reel.
Content marketing strategy is one solution to the restlessness, with its tenets rooted in selling without selling, offering great value to consumers, and—this is key—longevity. Content marketing takes a patient approach, like a slow simmer on its way to a boil. Brands committed to consistently releasing mood-boosting stories, tutorials, or thought-provoking podcasts, slowly, steadily, build a loyal following.
The Digital Marketing Institute recommends formats such as how-to's, listicles, product reviews, and tips as "evergreen" content that won't become stale. Other content may include stories that humanize products and services, or perhaps creatively engage consumers and encourage dialogue. But before you embark on creating and executing a content marketing strategy, it's probably helpful to understand what conditions led to the surge of content marketing and why today's consumer often prefers it over its persuasive advertising counterpart. In other words, where does the evolution of less salesy content begin, and where did the strong aversion emerge?
An evolving consumer mentality–and why content marketing meets the desires of today's consumer.
Let's back up to the beginning of the digital marketing era. In the early 2000s digital media channels, now fueled by the smartphone, enabled the mimicry of how humans communicate in a dynamic, nonlinear pattern of thought. Unlike traditional advertising or another mass medium like print or television, digital communication empowered the consumer to shift from passive viewer to an active participant. Dialogue between brands and consumers became possible.
With this new reciprocal model, marketers began to seek opportunities to interact with consumers and engage them with the brand. An abundance of feedback became available for companies to evaluate their marketing efforts and appropriately adjust strategy. Moreover, digital media technology refined the concept of targeting a key audience; "microcasting" became common practice, highlighting and tailoring aspects of a brand's message. Mass and broad worked their way out of the marketing vernacular, with niche and nuanced capturing the focus.
The development of more complex algorithms and the collection of user data further equipped companies to microcast with more precision. In 2006, Facebook began its journey through the uncharted waters of social media advertising. Anticipating a public distaste for an inundation of content, they began pouring all resources into targeted marketing. By 2014, targeting ads to a users' demographics became standard practice.
A new era of perception.
A general annoyance with advertising content and "feeling watched" began to simmer in the mid-2010s, as consumers began spending more time browsing and scrolling through an increasingly commercialized, less organic feed. It is during these years that a growing awareness of the inner workings of big tech began to push the public into a new era of perception about social media and the digital communications channels where they were spending exorbitant hours. In many ways, the late 2010s cultivated cynicism and apprehension towards traditional advertising and its perceived intrusive nature, a chasm widening between consumer and the platform.
This backdrop—this consumer mentality—contains the answers as to why content marketing, in 2023, is outperforming its persuasive advertising counterparts in many scenarios. Undoubtedly, many consumers, distrustful of digital media outlets and fearful of manipulation, now sift out the impurities—the disrupters—of their online experience. When executed properly, inbound content marketing enhances rather than disrupts, leaving the consumer hungry for more. During this ongoing journey, consumers encounter carefully curated stories, education, and information that slowly establishes the brand as trustworthy, authoritative, genuine, and worth their time. In this way, content marketing is the antithesis of digital advertising and the explanation for its momentum within this crowded media landscape.
Harness the potential of connecting with consumers through content marketing.
Within this great content boom lies an abundance of opportunities for brands to connect with current and potential consumers across channels. Skilled communication practitioners have no choice but to leverage content marketing if they hope to retain their key demographic audiences, Baby Boomers to Gen Z, and everyone in between. A wide range of genres exist as tools for content marketers. Blogs, social media, white papers, webinars, emails, and microsites are just some of the main forms of content at their disposal. The creative possibilities to create value and drive loyalty are endless.
What is part of your organization's content marketing repertoire? How has value-driven content helped to build loyalty? Comment here!
About the Author: Niki Vriens is a local communications freelancer who recently finished her masters in media communications, her thesis focusing on content marketing strategy. As a creative writing teacher for the past decade, she's an admirer of storytelling and all that it can accomplish.
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