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Introduction: Rise, role and meaning of content marketing
Literature:
A. Book chapters 1, 2, 3
B. Inaugural lecture Ed Peelen
C. Järvinen, J. and R. Taiminen (2015). Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content marketing.
Industrial Marketing Management, 54, 164-175.
Chapter 1 – The fame and the marbles
This book describes how content marketing developed and what this means for current
practice.
Fame - how content marketing grew from publishing and custom publishing into a fully
developed field that is an integral part of our market and society. Content marketing
hype is now over and it has acquired a stable position in our strategic and operational
marketing ideas and actions.
Marbles – Based on the present trends, we draw a number of distinctive lines to the expected
future of content marketing, in which developments like automated journalism,
conversational chatbots and interactive storytelling play a role. Not so much from a
fascination for digital innovations or gadgets, but purely from the developments and
disruptions that are already clearly present themselves today.
Hence, while fame refers more to the theory around content marketing, marbles refers to
the practical elements and implications.
Chapter 2 – The playing field: From content publishing to content marketing
In an academic sense, content marketing is often positioned within the discipline of
communication
The prefix content – basically refers to the whole of (textual or visual) content
We are talking about tangible communication that we want to seek, broaden or deepen
with our target groups
The message that feeds the communication between brand (sender) and audience
(recipient) traditionally forms the domain of communication
The suffix marketing – looks for returns, positive forms of conversion, in the broadest
possible sense of the word: Conversion into more sales, for instance, or more brand
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, awareness, more proposition recognition, more traffic on own or purchased media
channels, or more action perspective In short, marketing is all about more
It is a bridge discipline that brings together business, customer, market and
environment at a strategic, tactical, operational and infrastructural level
With a focus on optimising one’s own brand position and (commercial or non-
commercial) conversion
Outside the academic environment, in the market, we see a similar phenomenon. For many
businesses and governments, content — thus, content marketing — is an organisational part
of the communication discipline. This is not necessarily problematic, specially not if it
concerns an integrated Marketing & Communication department. But in practice,
content marketing as an activity within a separate communications department quickly
leads to an inefficient and ineffective silo mentality, in which strategy, brand management,
marketing, sales and customer care lack synergy and have insufficient input into the
ultimate design, use and conversion strategy of the content marketing. It is a waste of
money and effort, as well as a missed opportunity.
® Silos do not allow for a whole vision of the marketing department
® You need to have your marketers to think like a team! Find a common denominator!
2.1 Brand-wide integration
In order to prevent the loss of unity and conversion in the broad spectrum of customer-brand
communication, a content marketing approach that is both proactive and reactive is
crucial. So, by definition, silos are at odds with a consistent, congruent and successful
use of content marketing.
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,Content marketing aims to use relevant content in such a way that, with the longest
possible lead time and the least possible people and resources, the most communicative
efficiency is achieved in the breadth of brand, strategy and organisation.
2.2 Custom publishing
Content marketing is still a young field, but somewhere between 2005 and 2010, the
phenomenon became visible in the triangular domain of marketing, communication and
publishing. Until then, the primacy in ‘non selling/non-persuasive content’ was primarily in
the field of custom publishing
In custom publishing, the fundamental pillars under the discipline of content
marketing as we see it today were laid and unclear
It partially explains the problematic silos
Custom publishing is a centuries-old tradition in which brands try to strengthen
their positioning and marketing objectives by providing their (potential)
relationships with informative, interesting or activating editorial content that
supports the proposition of the brand This editorial approach explicitly
distinguishes publishing content from the more sales-oriented content such as
advertising
2.3 From paid to owned content
At its core, custom publishing does what every classic publisher does:
A. You select and define a potentially more or less coherent community — consisting
of a group with more or less common interests
B. This community is not or insufficiently served by other publishers in terms of content
C. For this community, you expect broad interest based on market knowledge, research
and/or business intuition
If these assumptions are correct and there is sufficient audience to actually appreciate this
content, you can expect two money flows to arise:
1. From subscription fees
2. From advertisers
Classic publishers
The content itself is the core product
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, This results in readers (subscribers) who appreciate the content to the extent that
they are willing to pay for it
Paid media
Here, brands who want to reach these content consumers, purchase a position in the
publishing domains created by the publisher through advertisements or native
content
Owned media
The content channel
It is not a tool to acquire advertisement or subscription fees, but this content is a tool
to engage the consumer in the world in which their brand operates
In both cases (paid and owned), it can be argued that the content user pays — if not
with money, then with personal profile data or at least with the willingness to proceed
with a desired action or behavioural change.
2.3 Owned content as content optimisation
The Allerhande/Savory case (p.10) clearly illustrates the difference between the original
magazine (custom publishing) and the current cross-media content domain, which maintains
and strengthens a 24/7 dialogue via a wealth of media — in print, digitally and locally —
with consumers who want to be inspired in their daily cooking and purchases.
® The content marketing power is reflected in the fact that a large part of shoppers
allow Allerhande/Savory to affect their meal choices
® E.g. Broccoli supplier can gain an important advantage on its competitors via
such an owned content domain: A true growth hack and a great example of brand
publishing!
2.4 Scope and definition of content marketing
Content marketing can functionally be considered a spin-off or an innovation of custom
publishing. The development of custom publishing into content marketing is progressing in
the same way as the trend in which brands purchase exposure from public and professional
titles less often and less automatically (hence the steady market-wide decline of advertising
revenue), but instead develop their own content domains, whether or not with like-minded
content partners, in order to reach and captivate their target groups.
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