Paid Media in a Changing Digital Environment

Traditionally when we think of digital marketing, we can break it into three categories:

1. Owned– The channel your brand owns and controls. These come in two flavors: fully owned, like a website, and partially owned, like a Facebook page.
2. Earned Think of word of mouth marketing or vital marketing. This is when your message is shared by users or outlets free of charge.
3. Paid– Traditional advertising like display ads or paid search. Your brand is paying to leverage the power of another channel

It is important to understand the different types and how they work together to create your strategy. For instance paid can drive traffic to your owned platforms. Or owned platforms can encourage earned media. It’s important to have the right balance to reach your objectives.

Some argue though that these three classifications come with too many boundaries that may actually hurt your marketing efforts. Instead there are arguably only two categories we should think about: Paid and shared. Paid remains the same as above. Shared on the other hand is a mixture of owned and earned. Both company websites and earned social media marketing fall under the new shared space. The attitude is both the marketer and the customer work together to create the brand and it’s image. Marketers are encouraged to allow more user-generated content on their websites and ways for customers to engage. This also requires a more hands on approach to earned media. As it is now most of that responsibility is put on the customer. Marketers should be working to encourage and cultivate earned media and supporting earned media once it is created.

Obviously this approach requires finding the appropriate balance and execution.

Much of digital marketing, including paid media, is based on cookies, pieces of code that track and remember online behaviors.

We have cookies to thank for Amazon product suggestions or Netflix knowing what kind of movies we like. Cookies could be a thing of the past though. With the rise of increasing information collection cookies have come under fire in the name of  privacy concerns. The European Union has answered these concerns with a new law that reduces the use of cookies on European websites. The law says cookies must be on an opt-in system. This stands to threaten e-commence,  “smart-websites” that understand what we like, and digital marketing. Similar laws have not yet crossed the pond but there is a chance we could be seeing these laws in the future.

Due to this threat some are preparing for a post-cookie world. Some companies have already started using statistical IDs, registered user data and location-based targeting as a part of their strategy.

Native marketing or content marketing may also be an answer. As you may already know, content marketing is creating great content that builds an audience and sense of authority for your brand. A form of inbound marketing, customers are much more likely to positively receive and engage with such messages over a traditional sales pitch.

But not everyone is convinced this is the complete answer either. Content marketing can be costly and time-consuming to make. It is also difficult to measure the effectiveness of or place in the right context.

Where should digital marketers turn?

A cool new emerging approach falls under the umbrella of  paid media. This new approach could revolutionize the way marketers buy and choose online ad space. It is called “Programmatic Media Buying”. Here is a quick video to introduce the idea:

 

Or as Mike Shields from Adweek puts it “Programmatic takes multiple data points and makes decisions [about] what screen an ad should be on, what is the most effective strategy at a given moment, and lets you do all the non-manual decisions.”

Simply put it is a way for brands to match their goals, consumer data and ad formats with the right audience, in the right context at the right time. It takes most of the messy, busy work and data sheets out of media buying and puts all the work into the hands of a machine. Programmatic buying is not simply about automation, at its heart it aims to make marketing smarter and more effective for every dollar spent.

In the ever-changing digital world there is no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. In many ways digital marketing is plagued  by the Red Queen Hypothesis. The idea that you have to keep running faster and faster just to stay in place as an opposing force is always developing new ways to get the better of you.

With new laws, regulations, software and changing consumer attitudes there is a lot to stay in front of. Every brand should employ a diverse set of strategies to meet their marketing objectives and stay on top of new methods of online advertising. Only than may we stay in place.

Content Marketing- Building Audience and Authority

Content marketing, also called native marketing, is a form of inbound marketing. In this case it’s about creating great content that people value that leads them to your business. Sounds familiar right? Content marketing focuses on building audience and establishing authority. Authority is important because people will naturally gravitate towards the business they feel like is the most knowledge and appears to be the leader in the industry. It’s a way for customers to minimize their risk. Creating authority can be done by supplying valuable information for free and turning your website or blog into an information hub for your industry. People will come to see you as the industry expert which leads to trust and loyal customers.

Content marketing can be highly effective because it’s based on permission. Your content isn’t bombarding people or interrupting them. Instead it’s there when they need it and seek it out. Overtime instead of buying access to your audience through traditional media outlets more and more of your audience is coming to you of their own free will. You almost become a media outlet.

A passage in Scribe’s ebook, The Business case For Agile Content Marketing, made me realize that content marketing is also about telling stories. People are hardwired to engage with stories because for most of our existence people were given information in this form. Here is the passage:

“Content must answer their questions, alleviate their fears, encourage their desires, but most of all…it must inspire and challenge them to transform their lives away from the ordinary to the new experience that your solution provides.”

If your familiar with the work of Nancy Duarte this is almost exactly how she describes persuading  people through the power of storytelling in her book Resonate. Here is her story arc for you:

 

It’s not enough to give people lots of helpful information. People want to engage with information that is presented in the way they like to digest it. Think of how powerful your content marketing will be if your 1. giving them quality information they would have paid for and 2. presenting it in a way they feel most comfortable with and are eager to engage with. Pay attention to the type of material your audience seems to be engaging with the most. Is it info-graphics? Video? Pictures? Figure out what’s working and frame new content in this way.

To wrap up I wanted to share some businesses that are producing great content marketing.

The first is F-Secure, an anti-virus and computer security company from Finland. On the 25th anniversary of the first computer virus, they released a short documentary they made about the story of the virus. In the film they track down the brothers that wrote it and interview them.

This film is directed at people who are looking for software to protect their computer. This film could appeal to two types of people. Those who already know a bit about computers and those who have no idea. I think the first group would understand and appreciate  the significance of the film. The second group may not understand everything in the film but I think they would be impressed non the less.

I think the film is effective for both groups because the content is in the form of a story, gives useful information and demonstrates their dedication and know in their industry. It presents F-Secure as an authority figure. These are the hallmarks of good content marketing.

The second is from Whole Foods. The company releases a seasonal booklet full of recipes, ideas and tips. Of course many of the recipes call for foods that one can find at Whole Foods.

This is targeted at individuals who want some extra help in the kitchen and is usually released near holidays, the one time that people who don’t usually cook, cook.

This content is effective because it is offering free and valuable information when people need it the most (like before Thanksgiving when they are despite). By helping people when they need it the most they are starting to build liking and trust with the customer. They are also positioning themselves as an authority on food and cooking. Now when people need help Whole Foods comes to mind as a source for information. Conveniently information and ingredients becomes one-stop-shopping and suddenly a loyal repeat customer is born.

If you need some help with content marketing NewsCred, a content marketing firm out of New York is working on creating their own newsroom. This will consist of 500 journalists ready to create original content for your brand. Don’t just take my word for it. This is proof that content marking works and is a valuable addition to your marketing toolkit.