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Digital marketing in India is going through a revolution of sorts. There is a discrepancy between what consumers want to do online and how brands engage them through that platform. As a result, we are seeing a massive shift away from traditional forms of advertising towards content as the main way of building brands online. Content marketing is changing the way brands approach public relations, how they engage consumers on social media, how they ensure they are discoverable through search, and increasingly, how they engage with people on mobile.
Brands are quickly waking up to the enlightened point of view that storytelling is the most effective way to communicate with people. You can't tell a story through a display banner ad. You have to publish valuable content and most of the time, without asking for an immediate return. Consumers are demanding value from brands before they agree to transact with them and Indian marketers are coming to realise that the most effective way to deliver that value across platforms such as social, search and mobile is to create and distribute great content that their audience appreciates.
There is massive potential in content and brands are moving quickly to leverage this opportunity. According to a recent survey by eConsultancy, 63 per cent of marketers in the Asia region (including India) are going to spend more on content marketing this year. The only area that they said they would invest more on is Search engine optimisation (64 per cent).
So if we agree that content is becoming more important, we need to understand how best to participate in this revolution. Here are some important factors driving the uptake of content marketing:
The central role of content
In an increasingly fragmented media world, one thing seems to be constant - content. People are connecting on social media through content, making decisions on what to buy online with the help of content, actively searching for content, or simply just reading and discovering content.
Consumers are already on board
Relevance of content to the audience, and whether it entertains or educates, is more important than the source of the content. If the content adds value, consumers will come on board, regardless of whether the content comes from publishers or brands. According to a research from the Content Marketing Association in the US, around 82 per cent of consumers like reading content from brands if it is valuable and provides unique insights.
Display ads don't engage
The third driver is the lack of credible alternatives for marketers to build their brands online. People are not seeking out display ads. According to Comscore data, almost 50 per cent of display advertisements are never seen, let alone clicked on (which is about 1 in every 1000 impressions). The reason people visit any website in the first place is for its content This is where consumers find value.
Consider an example from India. Madura Fashion & Lifestyle's Louis Philippe has addressed the reasons people come online. It has a very impressive content marketing platform with its website www.thelabel.in . The website is not about selling shirts with each click. It is about connecting with people and building an audience by providing valuable information about topics that men in India are interested in.
How to win in the content revolution?
So if 74 per cent of people's time online is spent interacting with content, Marketers (and their supporting agencies) should be spending at least 74 per cent of their time trying to fulfil this consumer need. Here is my view on the four steps that are crucial to winning the content revolution:
Plan for distribution
Building the content is not the first step. Thinking about where your audience lives online must come first. It is important that marketers answer these three questions before they embark on content marketing: (i) Who is the audience? (ii) Where do they spend time? (iii) Why are they there? Once you have the answers, you will be in a much better position to focus your content creation investment. Content that works in a sponsored content section of newspapers will be different from the content that people search for. Content that is readily shared will differ from content engaged on global content discovery platforms like Outbrain.
Publish worthwhile content
Once you have a strategy for bringing your content to consumers in the places they already inhabit online, then you should commence creating or sourcing the content, but only if it's worthwhile. The word 'content' in its verb form means to satisfy. In digital, 'content' aims to do the same. This is not advertising. Advertising, by its definition, does not care if it satisfies the audience. It only cares about registering an impression.
Satisfying people is about knowing what they are interested in and investing in content that they will truly value. This can be done in partnership with a big publisher or it can be done with an agency or in-house. However, it needs to respect the audience and deliver value - this is a key pillar of effective content marketing and elevating brand sentiment.
A quick word of warning: Embarking on content marketing is a huge responsibility for a brand. You are entering into a contract with consumers who have opened the door for you to engage with them. If you blow it by abusing their trust with ads camouflaged as content, consumers have more platforms than ever to put your brand on notice.
Track influence
There is no point in investing on creating content if you are not tracking its impact and influence. Online content marketing is measurable, but you need to be careful about what you measure. The most important metric to track is influence. It is measured through engagement.
Quite often I am challenged on this view, as marketers and agency executives want to push by these engagement metrics in favour of sales. My retort is that while sales are important, you are not going to sell anything if you don't increase engagement. Neither will you increase market share if you don't increase your audience.
Consider this: There is an even larger set of people you can influence with your storytelling who may not immediately convert to customers, but are driving your brand equity online and may yet become your customers in the future.
At a top level, there are metrics we are all familiar with that help us understand whether or not the content is resonating "things like unique page views and repeat visits". In an increasingly online world, these metrics are more and more important, but are best analysed over the long-term as trends rather than short-term results.
Content marketing is truly revolutionising the way brands engage with their audiences. This audience is currently way ahead of marketers in India, which provides a huge opportunity for those brands that move quickly into this space. If marketers plan for distribution, focus on publishing great content, and build capabilities to track its impact and influence, they are on the right path to success. They can win the content revolution.
Anthony Hearne
Regional Director, Outbrain, South East Asia & India
Regional Director, Outbrain, South East Asia & India
