Advertising that captures people's hearts

Content marketing, also known as content, can be pure text, or text and moving images, a movie or a Tiktok.

For a publisher, content is something that is primarily presented as an article with text and moving images. The article uses editorial tools and is clearly marked as advertiser content. It can be distributed via the website's front page and SoMe channels, for example.

Content is a powerful tool. In what ways do we see it?

Most forms of advertising can have both a sales triggering and brand-building effect, and the same applies to content. However, we would argue that the most important task content should solve for an advertiser is to increase knowledge about the brand, product or service.

In a brand funnel, such as the one we use in the Aller Effekt brand measurement, the task of content will find its place in the upper/middle part of the funnel.

At Aller Media, we have measured the impact of content over time, and methodically* we have done this by asking readers how they experience what they have read. With reference to Alf Bendixen's contribution in an industry debate at Kampanje last spring, advertising similarity is important for advertising attention and sender identity.

To quote Camilla Kim Kielland in the same debate, "it's hardly a disadvantage to create communication that people like."

Our experience is that readers largely like what they read, and as many as 3 out of 4 have a positive liking for the content across industries, categories and advertisers.

Content and articles have different tasks. This also means that they will create an effect in different ways. Some are intended to inform, others to inspire and some to touch the reader emotionally. The experiences the reader most often recognizes are:

These are descriptions that help create trust in the content and a good reader experience. These are good prerequisites for learning and increased knowledge to occur, or for an advertiser to influence changes in behavior or attitude.

New or increased knowledge is often the prerequisite for a brand to enter the choice set, and then we quickly approach the purchase-triggering part of the funnel. For advertising to be able to drive sales, it must first create a desire for the product or service.

It is therefore gratifying to see surveys that show that more than half (!) are generally tempted by the content they have read.

Remember: Content marketing is advertising by choice. It's not necessarily the most powerful form of advertising, but it has the strongest ability to reach a reader or potential customer. If you can reach them, you can also win their hearts!

Our measurements show that many succeed in doing just that. By only looking at the average level referred to in this article, it is easy to get tunnel vision. It is important to consider each advertiser's circumstances (position, brand strength, market share, category, low interest/high interest, etc.

In short, we see very strong indications among many of our advertisers that content marketing delivers on the task. On its own or in conjunction with the entire media mix used.

Want to read more about how we've created success with some of our customers? Take a look at some of our case studies here.

Want to know more about the opportunities to create great content at Aller Media? Read about Aller Concept Store here.