Marathon Marketing

Marathon Marketing: The Business Case for ContentSara Fraser, EVG | 3.20.13

@sarakfraser

Fact:Consumers are savvy —

they no longer

trust messages

straight from

advertisers and

brands..

Fact:The Internet has changed everything —

including the way we buy.

Old Marketing Model

For decades, marketing was about three critical moments:

Pre-shopping was only for big-ticket items like cars, homes or expensive electronics.

Potential customers are online.

Everyone performs web searches.

If they can’t find you (or worse, they find bad content), you’ve already lost your ZERO MOMENT OF TRUTH.

Fact Overload:• 90% of all purchase decisions begin online

• 75% of consumers shop online before they buy offline

• 85% are looking for an independent review

• 78% of people trust the recommendations of other people

Positive perceptions of companies increase by +36% if they have a blog on their website.

Image source: http://www.hubspot.com/

New Marketing Model:

Consumers research everything they buy. The pre-buy is the Zero Moment of Truth.

The Zero Moment of Truth all boils down to content.(But not just any content.)

Kick-ass, smart, on-target content.

Hard Fact:You can’t control the online conversation about your brand.

(But you can join it.)

Image source: businessgrow.com

Content Marketing is producing and distributing relevant, valuable, focused content that drives consumer action.

Image source: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/content%20strategy

Not this.

Relevant Content:[rel-uh-vuhnt]Adjective; connected with the matter in hand; pertinent.

[kon-tent]Noun; substantive information or creative material.

Image source: http://barnraisersllc.com

Content marketing is storytelling.That’s the most effective way to deliver a message.And at the end of honest storytelling, there’s success.*

* A lot of it.

“You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story.”

Anthony De Mello

“The stronger the dialog, the stronger the brand; the weaker the dialogue, the weaker the brand.”

Larry Webber

Coca-Cola’s Content 2020 ad strategy puts content at the core:

"All advertisers need a lot more content so that they can keep the engagement with consumers fresh and relevant, because of the 24/7 connectivity. If

you’re going to be successful around the world, you have to have fat and fertile ideas at the core."

But what’s the payoff?

Google places high value on website content that is:

• Frequently updated• High-quality, original, and trustworthy• Composed with the users’ needs in mind• Regularly shared

(Good) content marketing means:

• More leads and conversion• More brand awareness• More loyalty• More engagement• More organic sharing

Source: blog.eloqua.com

Per lead cost:

Source: blog.eloqua.com