7 reasons brands should prioritize content in 2015

Temperatures are cooling, leaves are dropping, and numbers are crunching. Yes, it’s budget season. Most of my clients are mapping out their 2015 marketing spends, allocating dollars to propel new SKUs and ignite consumers with compelling stories about their brands. If they’re lucky, the process feels like zig-zagging through an open-air corn maze. For others, it might feel like a trip through the haunted mansion of scary, dead ideas.

Stale marketing ploys are like vampires — they suck your budget dry and leave your brand to rot in a back alley. Content marketing, however, is life sustaining. It’s more cost effective, and more likely to create devotion among consumers for the brands that embrace it as a marketing philosophy.

Here are seven reasons why you should make room for content marketing in your 2015 budget.

  • Content marketing is preferred over advertising. Consumers are tired of advertisements. Traditional advertising continues to lose traction with consumers. Click through rates (CTRs) are at an all-time low of just 0.11 percent for display ads, meaning just a single person will click out of approximately 1,000 people who view. Plus, 80% of decision makers would rather make a purchasing decision based on a series of articles – not advertisements.
  • Content marketing is a more cost effective investment than traditional advertising. Consider that for the cost of placing one print advertisement in a national newsstand magazine, you can have a whole year’s worth of targeted content marketing.
  • Content marketing fosters long-term brand loyalty, not just the one-time purchase. Good content marketing shifts consumers from “sure I’ll try it,” to “I want this brand in my life.” That’s what I call devotion. Devotion = Not just buying but sharing your brand’s product and philosophy with others. Good content marketing has a ripple effect.
  • Content marketing increases the impact of other marketing spends, including PR campaigns, in-store demos, coupon programs, tradeshows, and other traditional marketing efforts.
  • Content marketing makes your business dynamic and responsive — two qualities that you need to thrive in today’s marketplace. Through content marketing channels, you receive feedback on your products and messaging in real time. Over time, the insights you gain through content marketing can save you big money on market research.
  • With content marketing you own your interactions with consumers. You are not “building on borrowed land” or paying for temporary reach. You are organically building highly targeted lists of subscribers and followers loyal to your brand. You are investing in long-term relationships, rather than broadcasting your message briefly and widely via expensive outlets and hoping that it sticks.
  • What you don’t say for yourself, consumers will say for you. Your image is at stake. It’s not enough to count on traditional media to deliver the right message. Consumer-generated product reviews and social media posts now drive perception of your brand. Content marketing is your chance to lead that conversation.

For more about content marketing in 2015, check out:

2015 B2C Content Marketing Trends (Content Marketing Institute)

Tell Don’t Sell: How to Use Content Marketing to Boost Your Business (Forbes)

50 Content Marketing Stats (Exact Target)