Jun 4, 20164 min read

This Week in Content Marketing: Content Marketing Now Scientifically Proven

PNR: This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose can be found on both iTunes and Stitcher.

In this episode of This Old Marketing, Robert and I are encouraged by a venture capitalist’s take on content as an asset that compounds in value. A key to creating this value? Evergreen content. Next, we ponder Apple’s next move, which doesn’t appear to include an acquisition of Time Warner (or Disney). We encourage listeners to look for assets they can acquire to build richer customer experiences. Finally, we’re genuinely excited about university research that proves excellent content builds trust (warning: the opposite is also true). Rants and raves include a historic meeting between Pope Frances and leading YouTube stars, and a partnership between programmatic ad data providers that appears to be missing an important element. This week’s This Old Marketing example is from Thomas Chippendale.

This week’s show

(Recorded live May 30, 2016; Length: 1:00:52)

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1. Content marketing in the news

Content marketing and compounding returns (6:55): Tomasz Tunguz, a venture capitalist at RedPoint, explains his theory that content marketing delivers compounding returns. Like a bank account, its growth rate starts slow. But with consistent investment over time, it can grow to be quite valuable. He also recommends a balance of evergreen and temporal (news and current events) content; the latter can deliver a lot of traffic over time, while the former can lead visitors to respond to calls to action or to engage with additional content and resources. We agree that the real value is in creating a collection of content, consistently created over time. A short-term content “campaign” doesn’t deliver these compounding results.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 4 Practical Tips to Win With Evergreen Content

Apple wants to go Hollywood – but isn’t interested in Time Warner (18:35): Even if Apple never made an actual move to buy Time Warner, a tentative discussion from last year shows that the iPhone maker is serious about getting into media content, according to Ad Age. As iPhone sales slow, Apple is under pressure to show that it can grow in other areas, particularly in services. Robert and I agree that hardware technology companies always see a flattening of revenue as their devices become commoditized. We also agree that CMOs need to keep their eyes and ears open for companies or assets they can acquire to create richer customer experiences.
Scientific support for content marketing (28:00): Research conducted by the Stockholm School of Economics demonstrates that brands that continuously offer value to consumers in how they communicate — for instance, by being useful, interesting, fun, or creative — will over time build a kind of trust capital called “advertising equity.” Robert points out that this can work both ways, however: Excellent, informative, consistent content can build relationship value, but bad content can also erode it.Excellent, informative, consistent #content builds relationship value; bad content erodes it via @robert_rose Click To Tweet

2. Sponsor (37:54)

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3. Rants and raves (40:24)

Joe’s rave: I love this article from TeenVogue magazine that describes how Pope Frances recently met with 11 YouTubers to start a discussion about using the internet for good. During the meeting with the Pope, these creators raised topics they hope to continue exploring as role models, including how to counter online hate through tolerance, empathy, and education. MatPat, who spoke at Content Marketing World 2015, was one of the participants.
Robert’s rant: Robert is intrigued by this article from AdWeek that describes how two technology companies, Krux and Servata, are joining forces to enable advertisers to not only interview consumers online about their wants and needs before a campaign launches, but after it begins running, too. The idea combines traditional market research with automated ad buying and real-time tweaking when it comes to targeting. It all sounds impressive – but it has absolutely no value without an audience.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 12 Audience Considerations for Your Real-Time Content

4. This Old Marketing example of the week (52:15)

Thomas Chippendale: Thomas Chippendale was a London-based cabinet maker, furniture designer and interior decorator who lived in the mid-18th century. He didn’t have much success until he published a book titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director, in which he shared the work behind his designs. The first edition was published in 1754. The book went “viral” for its time in the design community. Catherine the Great and Louis the XVI both possessed copies of The Director, and it became widely used by other cabinet makers. Chippendale received at least 26 commissions from dukes and other aristocrats because of the book. Today, Chippendale is used to describe the style of English Rococco furniture first popularized by the designs featured in The Director. What’s the lesson for us? So many service firms are afraid to give away their “secret sauce.” Thomas Chippendale did so almost 300 years ago and his business and influence grew immeasurably as a result. This is an awesome example of This Old Marketing.