After six months or a year of consistent content marketing, something becomes clear.
That is, "there are always people watching" (including readers of this series—thank you so much for your continued support!). When you consistently share information and people regularly engage with it in some way, you strangely start to feel like you've become acquainted. When there's no engagement, you might wonder, "Hmm, maybe this content wasn't very valuable," or "Perhaps they're too busy to read it."
It seems readers feel something similar too, as I increasingly get greetings that start like we've known each other for ages, even when we've just met.
I believe what content marketing fundamentally cultivates is this "feeling like we've somehow become acquainted." This becomes the source of what we call "loyalty" or "engagement." It's precisely because of this "vague sense of closeness" cultivated over time that people end up buying. Aiming for this is one approach for future marketing.
But is this "feeling like we've known each other for a while" actually emerging from the content or the site? Simply chasing metrics like NPS, time spent on site, average page views, or engagement rates won't reveal it easily. Furthermore, if you become overly focused on improving these numbers during operations, subsequent actions tend to skew toward minor site tweaks (which are certainly important too) and become less likely to translate into improvements in marketing or content itself.
That said, numbers are crucial in business. No matter how great your content is or how strong the relationships you build, it's meaningless if that's where it ends. Ultimately, unless you translate these relationships into numbers, you can't truly gauge their correlation with business success.
In the past era of web marketing, where we honed site conversion rates (CVR) and cost per acquisition (CPA), chasing numbers alone and boosting metrics was often seen as success. However, in the coming era of digital marketing, where contributions to the brand—like enhancing brand loyalty—and building relationships through engagement are increasingly valued as outcomes tied to overall marketing, we must consider not just numbers but also lifting spirits.
For example, even if you run massive giveaway campaigns to boost traffic or sign-ups, will those people stop coming once the freebies run out? Are you cultivating a good relationship where they keep coming back regardless?
Or, while sending frequent newsletters might boost traffic, are recipients finding the frequency annoying?
These concerns have always lingered somewhat, but I think they were often overlooked in the face of the numbers. However, in the digital marketing of the future—where we provide information and communicate with each individual in a way tailored to them—we need to look at the numbers while also imagining how the recipients feel.
Content can contribute to both metrics and sentiment, depending on how it's planned, how the title and layout design are finalized, and how it ultimately resonates. At each moment, we must decide which to prioritize. Those planning content must carefully consider this each time.
Last week, Dentsu Inc. announced the establishment of its Digital Marketing Center. I will be taking on a role within this center starting next January. In our future content marketing efforts, I intend to pursue even more deeply what constitutes content planning that truly contributes to marketing.
From the Front Lines of Content Marketing [21]
