“The old adage that content is king has gone by the wayside, because everything is content,” said Daniel K. Lobring, vice president of marketing communications at rEvolution. “Competition for mindshare means that brands and others who deploy content marketing have to be smarter.” The days of pulling in consumers with mindless product platitudes may be over. Content marketing is revolutionizing the way brands are connecting with customers through two-way conversations in social media channels. As the conversations unfold, consumers are questioning the validity and authenticity of the messages. Technology is creating an audience that is experienced and increasingly tech savvy, smarter and much more likely to challenge the honesty of the message. They are beginning to judge brands solely on the authenticity of their content.
Content marketing got its start to dominance as traditional advertising began to lose favor with consumers. Over saturation of feature and benefits messaging and the unabridged proliferation of pitch and persuade advertising produced increasingly exhausted consumers. They were skeptical and tuning out in record numbers. An emerging digital revolution is providing an opportunity for marketers to reach infinite numbers of potential customers more easily, quickly and economically than ever before. A recent survey reveals that 84 percent of customers prefer and trust online reviews of personal influencers when making a purchase decision.
As the popularity of content grows, its continued success is becoming dependent upon it not falling victim to the same pitfalls manifested upon traditional advertising. Content marketing is approaching a point of oversaturation as advertisers pursue a policy of more is more by sacrificing quality of message to quantity of messaging. Consumer experience and understanding of content marketing tactics is leading to a lack of trust and eroding confidence in brands. Those companies that fail to make authenticity the cornerstone of their content offerings risk serious, long-term damage to the brand’s reputation.
Effective content is original, conversational in tone and punctuated with humor and personal antidotes. Pitches of a brand’s name and product features and benefits should be avoided. Overt prose of self-promotion will be seen as the messenger having an ulterior motive. Avoid gimmicks and questionable claims and above all, don’t fake it. When asked about the success of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah said, “The secret is authenticity. The reason people fail is because they’re pretending to be something they’re not.”
Geoff Beattie, Cohn Global Practice Leader of Corporate Affairs believes, “A brand that has values and morals and stands by them no matter what while honestly divulging its practices (flaws and all). In fact, the thing people most wanted was open and honest communications about products and services. And that finding was consistent around the world.”