In the latest report from Outbrain, leading brands including Nissan, Renault, Huggies and EDF have revealed how they’re using content marketing to attract and retain consumers.
The results that content marketing is able to generate are unprecedented, with the ability to attract and retain audiences in a way that traditional advertising can’t. In the report, EDF Energy traffic manager Camille Servanton states that the content marketing activity through Outbrain is their best performing acquisition channel, outperforming social and display. Easy to understand when they reported over 500 conversions per month via content marketing.
According to a recent study by IBM and CMO Club, word is spreading. We are starting to see brands shift spending from traditional forms of advertising to content marketing with the largest portion of marketing budgets assigned to it - 13% of the budget, followed by digital advertising at 11%.
With 68% of US consumers describing online ads as “annoying,” and 54% believing that ads like web banners don’t work at all, the opportunity for content marketing to take a bigger share of the digital pie continues to rise. Earlier challenges around measurement and ROI are a thing of the past and instead content marketing has established itself as more cost-effective than other forms of marketing such as ads, whiles simultaneously brands are getting better at attributing dollar value to content marketing properly.
That being said, while content marketing can be hugely effective and is now seen as a minimum requirement for brands, without the right distribution channels all the good work could be for nothing..
Just buying traffic won’t cut it. You need to place your brand story alongside strong editorial content where your audience already resides. From the likes of the Guardian and The Telegraph to CNN, it’s access to these prestigious channels that will truly offer brands diverse and impressive results. It’s achieving a variety of goals with a single instrument: content.
Rand Fishkin, founder and of software firm Moz, said that in 2017, content marketing is going to be even more challenging than it is today. Our latest content discovery case studies show what results content is truly capable of delivering when brands get competitive and reach engaged consumers within their preferred editorial environments.
Well-distributed content can build audiences, create personalised experiences, increase brand awareness, and drive both consideration and conversion, whether that means sign ups or sales. To find out how leading brands are using content to drive results, download our report here.
Antonia Faulkner is head of European marketing, Outbrain
This advertisement feature is paid by Outbrain, supporters of the Guardian Media and Tech Network’s Publishing and Platforms hub.
