Why is authenticity so important in content marketing?
Modern consumers are smart. After being inundated with traditional and online advertising for years, they quickly realize when someone is trying to sell them something. In fact, most people barely notice advertisements anymore, regardless of how appealing they are.
As a business, garish, flashy advertisements should no longer be your media of choice if you want to connect with your audience. Rather, authentic content marketing will help you build a loyal, invested clientele that not only buys your products and services, but believes in them.
“Your marketing needs to be completely honest, congruent, authentic and real,” according to Inc.com. “It needs to feel real, or else young people will have a ‘B.S meter go off.’”
Effective content marketing is difficult
You may already know the value of authenticity, but knowing it’s important and being authentic are two different things.
In fact, while most businesses believe marketing customized for their customers is fundamental, many don’t know how to implement it. That’s why asking for help is essential — and common practice, as “55% of firms primarily develop and manage content using internal resources that are supported by external services,” according to marketing data company Aberdeen.
When you ask for help from content marketing experts, such as NativeAdWorks, you’re more likely to craft consistently high-quality materials for your desired audience.
Authentic marketing has key features
What is it about content marketing that makes it so valuable, yet so difficult to execute? There are two crucial aspects:
First, it should blend in. Rather than creating a pop-up window or inserting a banner ad where people can easily ignore it, effective content marketing flows with whatever platform the audience is using.
Social media posts, blogs, infographics, checklists, memes, how-to guides, and videos are a few of the many ways brands share their messages. Each of these is sewn organically into the environment it’s found in. A “sponsored” label or other disclosure, as required by law, lets the audience know that content is paid for and prevents them from feeling deceived by a sales plug.
Second, it should offer value. Traditional marketing asks consumers to offer something, i.e., money, before they get something else in return. With authentic content marketing, the audience finds value, whether that be knowledge, entertainment, or positive emotional feedback, before they’re asked to invest in a product or service.
Unlike traditional marketing that consumers tend to avoid, your content marketing can become something people actively seek out.
People will look for valuable content
Most people “appreciate learning about a company through custom content,” according to marketing software company Demand Metric, and more than half will search for a product after reading about it.
Additionally, you will spend less.
“Per dollar spent, content marketing generates approximately three times as many leads as traditional marketing,” Demand Metric says.
An additional benefit of valuable content marketing is that people who enjoy it are more likely to share it, spreading your message to a bigger audience paired with what amounts to a testimonial from someone they know.
Crafting an effective, authentic content marketing campaign doesn’t happen overnight. You’ll need to put in consistent, thoughtful effort to reach an audience with content that enriches their online experience. When done right, the result is worth the investment.