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What’s the next step for content marketing?
According to the 2016 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper report, product information — both from retailers and other shoppers — is only increasing in its importance as an e-commerce tool for buyers. Yet only 57 percent of shoppers are satisfied with the ability to see user-generated content or uploaded consumer images.
Asked about the influence of different types of content on a retailer’s website, product reviews ranked first, with 77 percent of respondents finding them influential, up from 73 percent in the 2015 study.
But the influence of content grew significantly in just over the last year in several other areas as well. These include:
- Q&As: 54 percent finding them influential, up from 48 percent in 2015;
- Photos submitted by consumers: 49 percent versus 42 percent the prior year;
- Product and brand videos: 49 percent, up from 47 percent;
- Communities/forums: 40 percent versus 31 percent;
- “Trending now” products: 35 percent versus 30 percent;
- Retailer’s blogs: 34 percent, up from 28 percent;
- Podcasts: 29 percent, up from 22 percent.
The study, based on a survey of 5,330 comScore panelists in January and February, found that the younger the audience the more likely they are to be influenced by product reviews, Q&As, photos submitted by consumers and videos.
A survey of marketers earlier this year by ClickZ Intelligence found content marketing to be the most significant digital marketing trend in 2016, agreed to by 24.6 percent.
In the report, ClickZ said content marketing has been gaining momentum in the last five years and expected it to reach maturity as a discipline in 2016.
“Evidence of a more grown-up approach will include greater adoption of dull-but-necessary processes, organizational structures and measurement rigor as companies seek to scale their content activities,” wrote ClickZ. “The reality of ad blocking will ensure that advertisers focus more on native formats. The growing challenge of getting content seen and heard will increasingly make paid-for distribution of content via publishers and social networks an essential part of the mix.”
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What further investments or changes should retailers make to capitalize on the growing popularity of digital content with consumers? Where do you see the biggest challenges?
Poll
BrainTrust
Bob Phibbs
President/CEO, The Retail Doctor
Ian Percy
President, The Ian Percy Corporation
Great timing for this post and question, with the annual advertising awards gala in Cannes, France. At Google News, if you search “Cannes Native Advertising” you will see a variety of announcements made there by publishers and brands about launching content studios. The New York Times CEO said the Times is booking $60 million in revenue from its efforts. Obviously, with large newspapers especially concerned about losing revenue from retail free-standing inserts, I have been talking to newspaper execs about their innovations, and many focus on what they call “content hubs” surrounded by product promotions. For instance, a beauty content hub surrounded by beauty products offered by the retail advertiser. Look for these studios to flourish this year.
Just a brief interruption to say welcome, Kim, to the BrainTrust panel. Great to have you officially on board!
Thanks much Rick. I’m humbled to be in the company of your team and the rest of the panel.
Retailers need to do an immediate self-assessment of their content strategy and their ability to execute on it. That’s where I see the disconnect with several organizations. A good thing to do is take a look at the obvious innovators in the biz and see where they are getting the most recent activity. These content channels should be where you start to augment your own capabilities. If you are not certain where to start, just do a simple Google search for one of your key products and see who pops up at the top with paid search and organic. Click on those links to see what content is ranking them so high.
First, this article has truly excellent content! A great deal of relevant information here succinctly told. Thanks Tom.
“Content” is such a cold, clinical word in itself. A landfill for the mind. Since the beginning of time, commerce has been about “the story.” It’s ALWAYS about the story.
The problem is that most stories are pathetically told. Seldom is content created from the perspective of the reader or viewer. The creator makes huge leaps in logic because s/he has filled in the gaps in their own mind, not realizing the audience hasn’t made the leap with them. The creator is so familiar with the issues they no longer see what might intrigue and engage those being introduced to those issues for the first time. And don’t get me started on the use of jargon and acronyms! Finally, even if your content is about building a compost pit in the garden, put some passion into it! Engage the heart and you’ll be a winner.
My best suggestion for those wanting a great story told about their product or service is to hire someone who just retired from the National Enquirer!
The next step for content marketing is video. Entertainment is merging with commerce. If you only have a shopping cart, you’re only speaking to the 1 percent committed to buying. For that reason, retailers looking to ride this trend are adding entire pages of video to their sites with unique URLs like tillys.tv.
The challenges are the same as Big Data — a lot of interest but where do we pull the money from when sales are soft?
Bob, you know I always agree with you! However I’m puzzled by the common perception that it’s “video” that will rule. Of course I’m talking about substantive content not the puppy and kitten stuff. I can read in seconds and minutes what a video takes twenty minutes to tell me. Who has the time to watch videos for their information? Not me.
I suggest five key areas where retailers can focus to improve their approach to content marketing.
Content and social media marketing strategies are meant to establish the brand as knowledgeable, authoritative, helpful and friendly, leading to creation of trusted bonds between brand and consumer.
The byproduct of this trusted relationship is winning share of mind with current and potential customers. One day, maybe today, next month, or next year, that share of mind can pay off as the consumer gives an unconscious “right of first refusal” to the brand when ready to make a purchase.
Shoppers use YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram to explore, educate and compare products and services as well as learn numerous DIY projects. Video is a great vehicle to tell stories. Given all the mobile camera devices almost everyone is a producer. Add to this the aforementioned distribution channels, we all can be publishers.
There are tremendous opportunities for brands to develop content that leverages these channels. Content development agencies/studios that combine creative, a unique understanding of these channels for both online and in-store shopper value and behavior, content curation and cross-channel publishing along with content efficacy analytics will thrive in the forthcoming years.
Today’s customers expect personalized content and they want as much information as possible so customer reviews, friend’s comments, instructional videos, etc. are all critical to giving customers the information they expect. The next big step in content marketing is taking real-time information and marrying it with consumer-generated content to truly personalize the customer experience. Real-time capabilities and analytics enhance the customer experience based on customer context. Customer context — the interrelated factors of customer insights and environmental conditions the make the shopping experience relevant — allows retailers to personalize the shopping experience based on preferences, purchase history, their closet, their most recent online browsing history, time of day, weather, events and their physical location — all based on real-time information. Customer context brings together the digital and physical experience for the customer and enables the retailer to better reach their customer to create true intimacy and brand advocacy.
Content marketing is serious business and serious for business. Consumers will no longer tolerate out-of-date or missing product images, inaccurate data and descriptions, or lack of meaningful information. For years we have seen organizations try and cobble together disparate data sources in an attempt to pass them off to consumers as coherent. I believe those days are over and it’s high time content is taking seriously and managed more intelligently.
Excellent work by UPS! The challenge is one of restraint. With the mediums of broadcasting (and narrow-casting) content proliferating, it will be all too tempting for retailers to inundate shoppers with irrelevant promotional content. This is a walk-before-you-run proposition where helpful content (product information and store navigational assistance for example) should take precedence. Based on my conversations with retailers, many are frustrated by brand marketers’ one-off approaches and lack of strategic content planning. I see retailers starting to take an “if you want something done right….” approach which is unfortunate given the opportunity for brand marketers to forge deeper content collaborations with retailers.
Tom, why are you asking us? You’re the writer, editor, publisher, etc…so what’s the next step?
Let me imagine your response….
I guess the point I am making here is that the integration of publishing into retailing will transform the retail model and it will probably happen in a messy way, but the point, I suppose, is to start. When I was involved in the early days of eCommerce I led efforts to integrate content creation as part of the supply chain — that was 16 years ago. Maybe it’s time to revisit Web Ready Merchandise.