What is the True Nature of Content Marketing? Special Session Report: "WOM Marketing Summit 2014"

On July 11th, at the "WOM Marketing Summit 2014" (hosted by the WOM Marketing Council) held in Aoyama, Tokyo, Dentsu Inc. Creative Director Akiko Gunji and Dentsu Inc. Communication Designer Yoji Sakamoto presented a special session titled "The True Nature of Content Marketing: Neither Campaign Nor Viral Video." Gunji published the translated book Epic Content Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Attracts Customers in June.

Special Session Overview

 

	 
Ms. Gunji	 

Mr. Gunji first reflected on the era when content marketing was still a vague concept, stating, "We believed there was a new place for how companies spend their marketing communication budgets, and we used to call it the 'third place.'"

As he explored this "third place" concept—building warm relationships between customers and companies primarily through social media—Mr. Gunji realized, "The keyword 'content marketing' was exactly what we wanted to do."

Using the common request, "Make a viral video for content marketing," as an example, Sakamoto explained using multiple corporate content examples that content in content marketing doesn't solely refer to videos, nor does using video necessarily mean aiming for virality. "A collection of information that customers and potential customers want to see. That is undoubtedly the 'content' in content marketing," Sakamoto stated.

 
 	Sakamoto

He also addressed another common request: "We want to run an interesting campaign for content marketing." He emphasized that "content marketing is not a short-term campaign."

Sakamoto analyzed that the true nature of content marketing lies in its "never-ending effort," calculated backwards from achieving the goals set by the company through continuous distribution of content and campaigns using appropriate channels.

So what can be gained from practicing content marketing? Mr. Gunji listed three points.

First, because content marketing has the potential to attract a wide range of potential customers, it creates "connections with potential customers."

Second, it creates "asset-worthy content" because accumulating content provides opportunities for repeated exposure, treating this exposure as an asset.

Finally, content marketing holds the expectation of guiding a brand to a leadership position, representing "a future of leadership." Being recognized as a useful information source means, conversely, that the information you consistently share becomes noteworthy. As a result, you gain recognition as an industry leader and eventually as a societal leader beyond the industry.

Content marketing is the entire, never-ending effort of continuously publishing content to achieve business objectives. It is also an endeavor where, through persistence, one can expect to gain connections with potential customers, build asset-worthy content, and secure a future as a leader.

Once you understand its essence, the world of content marketing is surprisingly simple yet profoundly deep. It was the summit's most prominent keyword. How it will be implemented going forward and what new case studies emerge are developments we can't take our eyes off.

Detailed report here. Digital × PR information site "DIGITAL BOARD"
http://dentsuprdigital.com/contents/wom2014.html