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Content All Stars Takeaway: 3 Ways to Create Branded Content That Readers Love
The saying goes, all good things in life are difficult to achieve – running a marathon, making a cheesy, puffy soufflé and, in the world of digital media, content marketing. The art of brands advertising through content is not new. But in the past year, the adoption of this strategy has hit critical mass with more than 90% of B2C brands and 95% of B2B companies using it to educate consumers about their brands. It’s playing a central role in many marketing strategies, yet nearly all marketers are struggling with every aspect of it – from curation, discovery and measurement. Brands know they should be doing it, but need help.
Last week, Digital Content Next hosted its’ inaugural Content All Stars event, which brought together some of the worlds most effective content marketers across nearly every business channel – Goldman Sachs, IBM, and the poster child of successful branded content: Red Bull. Here are some of the top lessons that we’ve learned on how to take your branded content from meh to must-read.
1. Always provide value. Never sell.
Consumers don’t want to be sold to – that’s why banner ads have not been terribly effective. Any piece of good content needs to educate, inform or entertain. Great content does all three. The easiest way to do this is to always produce from the perspective of the reader. Are they going to walk away glad they just spent time with your content? Have an honest dialogue with yourself, and with your team: Would you want to sit down on a Sunday morning, pumpkin spice latte in hand, and read what you’ve just created? If the answer is anything but yes, go back to the drawing board.
2. Don’t assume ‘if you build it, they will come.’
Chances are, your target audience is not waiting with baited breath for your next blog post or whitepaper. What are they waiting for is a relevant, enjoyable online experience that provides value. If your content is good enough (see #1), they won’t mind if the article, infographic, listacle or Vine was created by a brand. In order for consumers to experience all of the compelling content you’re creating, you need to make it find them. It’s not enough to only post to your owned media properties anymore – you must make targeted distribution a key component to your overall content marketing strategy. A three pronged approach across owned media, paid media and earned media channels will help ensure the content you spend a lot of time and money creating gets the traffic and engagement it deserves.
3. Be very specific about what you want to achieve – and then measure against it.
This sounds obvious, but the most successful marketing programs have extremely clear objectives and success metrics. One could argue that the higher you go up the funnel, which is often where content marketing tactics sit, the harder it is to measure performance. Not anymore. Today’s technology and automation tools are making it much easier to track, measure and optimize against branding campaigns in the same way that we have been able to track direct response campaigns.
The often ambiguous ‘page view’ has been replaced with more accountable metrics like time spent, scroll depth, scroll velocity and hover rates to better gauge consumer engagement. Be scrupulous about applying the same analytics and optimization strategies you practice with standard paid media campaigns like display and search with your content marketing. You’ll gain invaluable insight into what your audience is really responding to and be able to adjust your strategy accordingly.
The key to effective content marketing is delivering an authentic, memorable experience your audience will appreciate. This may be easier said than done, but the extra effort is worth it – and with the right strategy and execution tools – entirely possible.
Lindsay Boesen is the Director of Marketing at PulsePoint, a global advertising technology platform focused on fusing the efficiency of programmatic technology with the engagement of content marketing. At PulsePoint she oversees the companies marketing, communications, and creative team. Lindsay has over 10 years experience as a B2B digital marketer and was previously Senior Global Marketing Manager for Vibrant, the pioneer in to contextually relevant native advertising. She has also held marketing & creative roles at media companies like Select NY and Condé Nast. Trained in brand strategy, copywriting and art direction at NYC’s Adhouse, Lindsay holds a B.A in Communications & Advertising from Loyola College in Maryland.
About.com’s Data-driven Overhaul
About.com debuted a major redesign this week, which CRO Brian Colbert says was, “long overdue.” While the site holds the enviable number 15 spot on Comscore’s list of most trafficked websites, About.com had fallen behind on design, usability, social and the ability to effectively monetize its traffic. “And if you aren’t innovating,” says Colbert, “you are falling behind.”
One significant challenge in undertaking an overhaul is what has always been one of About.com’s strengths: its deep well of content. About.com boasts 3.5 million pieces of content covering about 1,000 topics. “We amassed so many assets over time and we couldn’t just flip the switch all at once, so we opted for a phased rollout.”
Starting with a redesigned homepage in July, then working through the most popular verticals, Colbert says they were able to evaluate what the users responded to and what was most effective from an advertising standpoint “We made tweaks and modifications based on our analysis as we went. So we feel pretty confident of our major release Tuesday, and we rolled out the final two channels Wednesday.”
User Experience and Relevant Content
What’s readily apparent is that the new site has a much more modern, visual sensibility. “The content was always good,” says Colbert, “but it wasn’t presented in the most elegant way. In fact, the user experience had become really dated.”
In terms of content, Colbart says About.com will continue to use “a lot of the strategy that has worked well for us in the past with our narrowly focused experts that run a wide gamut of topics.” However the new site reflects an increased emphasis on social sharing and on building topic-centric user destinations. Each vertical has its own dedicated general manager and a customized social strategy. In the near future, About.com’s GMs will be making a concerted effort to seek out “personalities in their verticals who will bring more credibility and panache.”
Though the vertical landing pages and article templates are very similar at launch, according to Colbert over time they will begin to look more distinct. “The Money section will include rate tables and stock tickers; each will feel like their endemic brethren,” he said. The objective is to become less reliant on search to drive the site’s traffic and to become a place that enthusiasts and information-seekers routinely rely on.
Data-driven Relevance
Another objective of this relaunch is increasing users’ time spent on About.com by serving its 85 million daily visitors relevant content once they’ve found their way to the site. “We are aggressively surfacing related content. Recirculation is a real focus for us.” This goal is underpinned by About.com’s increased emphasis on data analysis, which includes a three-person (and growing) data science team. Colbert says their efforts have yielded a new understanding of how users interact with About.com’s content. “We’ve developed a proprietary tool that helps us understand which articles are related to each other, even if they may not seem relevant at first.” For example, if you are “reading up on million dollar investments, you might also want to read an article on Cayman travel.”
This data focus will also help About.com better monetize its audience by offering advertisers a better context for their messages so that they can be included on areas of the site where one might not immediately think to look – essentially in-house behavioral targeting.
In addition, About.com is betting heavily on content marketing. “That term gets tossed around a lot these days, but to us it means enabling advertisers to surround their content with ours in a way that makes it all relevant. We are very well positioned to take advantage of native and do it right because the nature of our content lends itself to native.” Colbert cites a current native campaign on How to Train for a Long Hike by the Merrell shoe company that is running in the Hiking section. “They already have authenticity in the space so users feel the advertiser plays a positive role through content. Done right, native should feel additive to the user experience.”
And in 2015, look for a major video push from About.com. Colbert says they have a new studio and are actively producing a significant volume of “video that will enhance the user experience.” With the relaunch and future plans, Colbert says that user experience will not be measured by clicks alone. “We are judging the effectiveness and success of the redesign through engagement. We want people to visit more often, stick around longer and do more on the site.”
OneSpot Survey: The State of Content Marketing and Distribution
A survey of over 400 marketers on their objectives, challenges and budgets for paid content distribution.
Click here to view the research item.
Q&A: Mark Howard, CRO Forbes Media, on Creating Native Advertising Content
This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights… If you want to learn more, keep an eye out on our site for more interviews. Today’s Three on Three interview is with Mark Howard, CRO Forbes Media on Creating Native Advertising Content.
Q: Describe the importance of quality content in the Native Advertising value proposition:
A: As with editorial content, quality brand content is key for an advertiser to remain relevant and achieve credibility and impact. Some typical hallmarks of quality are, of course, accuracy, craftsmanship and usefulness to the audience. But it’s important to note that those characteristics can mean different things in different contexts. That’s why contextual relevance is also critical to a quality experience. What may work contextually in one environment, site, social media network or native ad placement may feel out of place−or not resonate as well−with the audience in another.
At Forbes, we review each potential partner’s content plan to determine whether that content would be relevant for the Forbes business journalism audience. We have guidelines for the nature of the content on our site. The content itself is not a place for marketers to promote products or services but rather a forum to provide domain expertise and insights and authentically engage with the Forbes.com audience. Members of our team work closely with our digital partners to share their years of expertise in the digital content landscape, and we share those lessons and collaborate with marketers to help them achieve success.
Q: Describe the way in which your organization handles the creation of Native Advertising content:
A: Forbes gives marketers a voice as experts in their fields to share their thought leadership and storytelling on Forbes.com and in Forbes magazine. Marketers have direct publishing access to Forbes.com. We first launched BrandVoice (then called AdVoice) in 2010, which emerged from a visionary philosophy that perceived the web and burgeoning social networks as great equalizer and merit-based information sharing systems. A variety of voices–whether it’s the voice of journalists, audience members or marketers–now has a chance to be heard. The audience “votes” through engagement.
In 2013, Forbes BrandVoice articles garnered more than 11 million page views. Partners have also seen benefits from their BrandVoice campaigns beyond article engagement. For example, a contributor from one of our partners received an invitation to advise government officials on her area of expertise–cloud computing−based on the exposure and credibility she earned via the Forbes BrandVoice platform.
Q: What types of marketing initiatives lend themselves best to leveraging Native Advertising and how can they be designed to better deliver on their objectives?
A: Brand content should serve the audience first. It should be useful to the audience in some way, it should be aligned with the marketer’s identity, and it should also make sense contextually within the environment where it’s being featured natively. Forbes readers expect authentic business thought leadership and storytelling aligned with a marketer’s expertise and ethos. On another site, the audience may expect, for example, entertainment or life science information.
Three pieces of advice for marketers for brand content programs:
- Commit to and resource brand content as a permanent initiative for your brand, with an ever-growing body of work. This is especially key as social and smartphone usage continues to rise. Content commands attention on the smaller screens and on social media.
- Think and act like a publisher, information provider, journalist, storyteller and/or entertainer. If you don’t know how, hire or work with people who do.
- Consider your brand content program one important piece of your overall brand marketing and advertising strategy that aims to broaden reach, drive awareness and trust, and increase exposure. A great brand content program works in concert with—but is itself different—than other types of advertising and marketing within your brand universe.
And some advice for publishers would be:
- First and foremost, be transparent and provide clear disclosure about the source of the content.
- Make your brand content programs truly native and contextually relevant to the spirit and goals of your environment, avoiding commoditized native advertising shortcuts that aren’t truly native, aren’t contextually relevant and aren’t useful to the audience.
- Teach your partners to become great publishers. Guide them strategically. Share metrics openly.
Mark Howard is Chief Revenue Officer at Forbes Media. In this role, he is responsible for the U.S. and European digital and print sales organization, marketing and advertising solutions. Previously, he was SVP of Digital Advertising Strategy. Howard also held the position of SVP and VP of Digital Advertising Sales for Forbes Media, overseeing the global sales team in its online sales efforts as well leading the Western Region team in its integrated sales efforts. Howard joined Forbes Media as a Regional Sales Manager in 2002. During his time at Forbes, he has also served as West Coast Digital Sales Director and Western Region Director of Integrated Sales. Prior to joining Forbes Media, Howard held sales positions at Inc. and Fast Company magazines, as well as E-Trade Financial. He began his career as a media planner at Anderson & Lembke.
Note: This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights.
Also in this series:
Q&A: Mike Kisseberth, Chief Revenue Officer of Purch, on Creating Native Advertising Content
Q&A: Edward Menicheschi, VP & publisher of Vanity Fair, on Creating Native Advertising Content
Q&A: Edward Menicheschi, VP & Publisher of Vanity Fair, on Creating Native Advertising Content
This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights… If you want to learn more, keep an eye out on our site for more interviews. Today’s Three on Three interview is with Edward Menicheschi, VP & publisher of Vanity Fair, on Creating a Native Advertising Content.
Q: Describe the importance of quality content in the Native Advertising value proposition:
A: Quality is everything in generating content for our audience and Native is no exception. Part of the filter that our in house agency, VF Agenda, applies is: does this have a rational reason to be within our brand? Will our audience find value in all of this? Does it propel the storytelling process around the subject matter?
Q: Describe the way in which your organization handles the creation of Native Advertising content:
A: We receive multiple requests on a monthly basis for Native Advertising content creation. As a company, we made a decision to enter this space last year. We pass on a fair number of requests if we feel we don’t have something great to offer the consumer or something that makes sense within our brand voice. An example of something that worked particularly well was the Hennessy Native content program we produced last December. The “Hennessy Original Film” about car racing felt like a natural fit for our readers.
Q: What types of marketing initiatives lend themselves best to leveraging Native Advertising and how can they be designed to better deliver on their objectives?
A: We always think of story line first in considering how Native Advertising can support a brand’s marketing initiative. Is there something new to discuss, is there context that works beyond a traditional ad message that leads to discovery? Is there relevant subject matter that will lead an audience to want to find out more? Those are the benchmarks that we think marketers should be asking themselves beyond the traditional KPI’s.
Don’t enter the space for the sake of saying you’re in it. Really think through the implications for your brand. Transparency is paramount in communicating that Native Advertising is sponsored content. The consumer is way too plugged in to assume that you can blur the lines and they won’t know. Be up front. Tell a great story. Set the bar high. And use great content creators who know how to land a message with the consumer.
Edward Menicheschi has been VP and publisher of Vanity Fair since August 2006. He previously was president of WWD Media Worldwide. He first joined Condé Nast in 1986, working at GQ. He also served as executive editor of Vogue for two years before being named associate publisher in 1994. Menicheschi also was the president of IAM.COM, a talent-search website.
Note: This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights.
Also in this series:
Q&A: Mike Kisseberth, Chief Revenue Officer of Purch, on Creating Native Advertising Content
Q&A: Mike Kisseberth, Chief Revenue Officer of Purch, on Creating Native Advertising Content
This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights… If you want to learn more, keep an eye out on our site for more interviews. Today’s Three on Three interview is with Mike Kisseberth, Chief Revenue Officer of Purch, on Creating a Native Advertising Content.
Q: Describe the importance of quality content in the Native Advertising value proposition:
A: Quality is of the utmost importance when it comes to native. Consumers are smart and discerning. They will quickly disregard content if it isn’t providing value or enhancing their overall experience. Quality content, regardless of the source, also ensures publication integrity long-term. Without that, you’re not a credible venue for any type of promotion.
That’s why our editorial leadership is deeply involved with decisions regarding programs that could be considered native. When content creation is a part of the project, they will provide high-level direction to assure the approach will resonate with the audience. Since page design plays a huge factor in whether that content achieves the engagement the marketer is striving for, our editors will also work with our design and analytics teams to make sure the data says we got the experience right.
Finally, of course, is our passionate community of over 78 million readers worldwide. They keep us honest and let us know what they like or don’t like. They’re our best assets for quality control.
Q: Describe the way in which your organization handles the creation of Native Advertising content:
A: We’ve been hosting native campaigns, advertorials, and other forms of custom content, for years.
We have a very rich tool set to achieve a wide variety of objectives – from the beginning of the sales cycle to the final design. As a publisher that works in both programmatic and highly-customized campaigns, our direct sales team plays a tremendous role in providing potential buyers and clients with the deep contextual grounding and insight that is needed to develop and execute a standout, impactful campaign right from the start. They are backed by a product marketing team that has built out a proprietary content discovery platform that works across all of our sites and our partner sites. That team also project manages the programs from start to finish to assure flawless execution.
If content creation is part of the project, we call upon our editorial leadership for direction and thought leadership. We develop the content with a team of subject matter experts outside of the editorial team. All content requires the approval of our editorial leadership.
Recently we have become most excited by the mix of Brand Impact and Direct Response Performance that we have been able to achieve by optimizing page design of our own in-market content. In some cases, this can include wiping all the ads off the page to focus the audience’s attention on the action the marketer is striving for, even if that is just deeper consideration of the content. We have seen performance for many of these pages out stripe that of any marketing tactic our customers engage.
Q: What types of marketing initiatives lend themselves best to leveraging Native Advertising and how can they be designed to better deliver on their objectives?
A: It really depends upon the marketer and the media property that will host the content. Brand themes, thought leadership, even demand generation can be accomplished by a Native Advertising effort. The most important thing to consider is how you can serve the target audience first with the content you are delivering. If you can deliver value to the audience and your marketing objectives, then you can achieve performance that is hard to match through most any other marketing effort. Marketers and publishers who are considering sponsored content as part of their overall marketing mix need to get the order right though, serve the audience first with content that will be of genuine interest.
As Chief Revenue Officer, Mike oversees Purch’s (formerly called TechMedia Network) multiple advertising revenue streams. Most recently, Mike was the President and CEO of International Data Groups (IDG) Consumer & SMB division, where he led the growth of PC World and Macworld, evolving both to digital media and more than doubling the audience size. He also launched a new brand, TechHive, built a marketing services business “Content Works” and dramatically expanded IDG’s mobile and paid product offerings. Prior to IDG, Mike held high level positions at CNET Networks, Inc serving as SVP/Corporate Sales and Operations, where he led sales efforts and played an active role in implementing business strategies for every brand under the CNET Networks umbrella.
Note: This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights.
Also in this series:
Q&A: Edward Menicheschi, VP & publisher of Vanity Fair, on Creating Native Advertising Content
New OPA Study Reveals Native Advertising Best Practices, Marketer Goals and Metrics
The Online Publishers Association (OPA) has released “Premium Content Brands Are Native Naturals” a research study of native advertising offerings by premium content brands which includes marketer goals, metrics and best practices. Among the findings are that 81% of OPA members find marketers are primarily using native advertising on their sites to increase consumer engagement with advertiser brands and 81% also want to leverage publisher brand equity to achieve brand lift. The study, which includes quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with OPA members, was conducted by Radar Research in May 2013 and is available now available.
OPA members also shared best practices for editorial, sales, marketing and legal, which include:
- Provide as much value to the reader as regular content
- Label native advertising content to guarantee transparency and clarity
- Ensure that native content mirrors discoverability of editorial through search and social media
- Develop clear editorial standards and practices, for instance training marketers if they are providing content, or for monitoring audience posts or comments
To view the Press Release with a longer summary click here.
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