What’s wrong with retailers’ content?
Rich, creative content is said to be critically important for marketers propping up blogs, e-zines, e-mail campaigns and other digital communications. And yet, according to surveys, engaging content is getting bogged down by slow turnarounds, vague ROI, and ambiguity about what works.
A recent survey of 380 U.S. content marketers from a range of industries by Rundown, a content marketing software start-up, found most marketers still relying on intuition, rather than empirical evidence, to determine the success and value of their content marketing initiatives. Marketers also struggle to justify their budgets.
Although 79 percent believe their teams produce content their audience loves, just 18 percent report a clear understanding of the ROI their content delivers.
Among the other findings:
- Only 48 percent indicate “my team has a clear understanding of what works and why”;
- Just 28 percent of content ideas and concepts come from research, with the majority coming from more intuition-driven areas such as meetings (88 percent) and brainstorming (76 percent);
- Asked about their biggest content creation challenges, marketers cite complex workflow (71 percent) and limited resources (68 percent).
A survey last fall of online marketers at 200 major retailers by Zmags, which develops digital catalogs, found 49 percent indicating that content — or “creating rich media experiences” — is the most critical factor in getting consumer attention online.
The biggest challenge, according to the survey, is a lack of time in creating those experiences, cited by 40 percent. Nearly a quarter are taking a month or more to launch online campaigns. Other challenges include dependency on agencies or third-party IT companies (23 percent) and the need for stronger technical skills and knowledge (22 percent).
In an interview with Advertising Age, Wanda Gierhart, chief marketing officer, Neiman Marcus, said the luxury chain’s access to designers helps it deliver an insider’s perspective on trends while its platform, “Make Some Noise,” moves beyond product to celebrate “bold women with bold voices.” Recently, its largest successes have been around personalizing product recommendations, personalized search, and e-mail personalization.
- 2016 Content Report – Rundown
- Minority of Content Marketers Say They Know Their Content Production Costs – MarketingCharts
- 49 Percent of Retail Marketers Say Rich Media Content is Critical to Gaining Consumer Attention Yet 40 Percent Lack Time – Zmags
- Retailers, How to Get the Right Fit with Content – Advertising Age
- Make Some Noise – Neiman Marcus
Source: blog.neimanmarcus.com
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How would you rate the quality of digital content from retailers? Are there any retailers that have impressed you with their content? Why do some seem to be doing well with content while others struggle?
Poll
BrainTrust
Ryan Mathews
Founder, CEO, Black Monk Consulting
Ron Margulis
Managing Director, RAM Communications
Retailers are under pressure today to create high-quality digital content that competes with pure online alternatives like Amazon. Historically, retailers have built their expertise around in-store design and print content, so digital continues to be a relatively new challenge for them.
Retailers that are investing in digital content today are poised for success as shoppers expect a very high-quality experience. Leading retailers are treating digital content as a strategic asset as opposed to a cost item on their to-do list. In the grocery industry, Lowes Foods is a great example of a retailer that is investing and taking a leadership role in creating high-quality digital content.
What gets measured can be managed and changed.
These two stats from the article are profound:
One huge advantage of selling online is the capacity to test rapidly. Not only can retailers like Amazon rapidly measure response rate to content, they can measure the ROI in conversion rates and AOV in the cart on a DAILY basis.
The elephant in the room regarding retailers’ content is the source. Retailers are highly dependent on ad photos and rich content videos from the suppliers of products. Consumer product manufacturers are even more stressed for time and resources and measure very little in terms of their content supplied to retailers.
It varies, of course, from retailer to retailer but — as a class — I guess I’d give it a C-minus.
What in my mind separates the good from the mediocre is the ability to fully embrace the limits of the digital ecosystem, telling stories in ways best told in an online environment, using tools, imagery and content specifically designed for the Internet.
If all you are doing is digitizing content you’ve sort of lost the point, especially in a world where tools such as community-building, interactivity and multimedia programming are so readily available.
The biggest challenge here is the disconnect between the people generating the content for the retailer (in-house or agency) and the customer. As I recently noted, marketers often seem to live in their own little world, interacting only with other marketers. They’ve lost, or maybe never had, a feel for what customers really want and how they want to be communicated with.
It’s also worth noting the retailers that have made that connection with their customers, like Starbucks and Amazon, did so through a series of experiments, some of which worked and others not so much. This is still a nascent field so retailers need to throw a lot on the whiteboard to see how customers react.
Seems to me digital content isn’t any different than analog content. Depends upon the message and the channel. Not all digital channels are equal just like analog. Leading retailers in digital are mostly those that execute well in analog because they have a solid marketing-communications platform. Their message and distribution mixes are based upon deep customer understanding.
Successful retailers distribute a blend of rational and emotional messages that are relevant to their target. (Amazon, Target, H&M, Walgreens) Those that struggle do not clearly understand their customers and what will motivate them to shop regularly and frequently.
During this time of austerity rational messages predominate however those retailers that omit RELEVANT emotional messages put their brands at risk by not expanding the cognitive linkages with their target.
Or as we like to say, “retail ain’t for sissies.”
The right people and the right amount of time, spun with real experiences is what creates great content that makes people spend money. Some large retailers have agencies that are just lost. They have writers that do not get exposed to the right people in the company, thus they do not gain the right tone or quality in their writing. I have a pro copy writer in my family and this is his main beef with retail jobs.
Some retailers also depend too much on pictures and no money on words.
REI is a fav of mine. Their have their market nailed.
Retailers producing digital content are overly promotional. The best produce content that is about the consumer. Maybe it’s new and different ways to use the product. Maybe it’s featuring customers. What it is not is overly promotional.
Here is a thought. A customer can consume content (read, viewed, etc.) or a customer can participate in the content. Make the content relevant and engaging.
Retailers with focused assortments tend to do better when it comes to online content creation and curating. Those with vast and fast-changing assortments are never caught up and they tend to rely on mechanized processes (yes, this includes Amazon.com).
The reasons may be self-evident. Custom product imagery and descriptive copy require hands-on attention from content pros. A comprehensive online catalog with thousands of items presents an overwhelming creative challenge.
In CPG categories there are specialists, like Gladson and Klee Studio, who provide standardized product image databases. For technical products like electronics, there are firms like Webcollage, who publish manufacturer specs in a format that may be embedded within e-commerce sites.
Providing accurate product views and traits, however, does not meet the additional requirement to present products in conformance with the merchandising idiom of the web site. Here is where limited assortment fashion sites tend to shine best — when there are only a few hundred items to curate at a time, there is time to focus on presentation values.
Just like in the “real” world, small boutiques have refined merchandising style, while mass merchants struggle just to keep the price signs accurate.
The best electronic content is beautiful and engaging. This is neither inexpensive nor easy to create. While digital images can be fleeting and quickly changing, the logistics of getting samples, staging the merchandise, shooting, and editing is anything but.
It certainly doesn’t happen by accident. Those who do well undoubtedly place a high value on their digital image and make it a corporate priority devoting both time and money to making it right.