Cracking the content code Guidelines for maximising content marketing ROI ©The Economist Group 2019 1 Guidelines for measuring Introductioncontent marketing ROI The dialogue of content marketing— return on all that they’ve invested. However, just as technology and the the relationship it allows brands to foster “People retract and play it safe in times internet have rendered marketing more with customers over the long term— of uncertainty,” says Adam Morton, complicated, they have also made makes sense in our always-on digital managing partner, client services at our understanding of its effectiveness age. The average consumer is exposed media and advertising agency UM more nuanced and meaningful—taking to up to 10,000 brand messages a day, London, whose clients include Johnson big chunks of guesswork out of the interacting with a brand six to eight times & Johnson, Premier Inn, Rockstar Games equation. “Marketing ROI is not only before becoming a customer. Content as well as The Economist. here to stay, but is going to get more allows advertisers to cut through the The ROI problem in marketing is nothing sophisticated and ever-more important,” noise by focusing on their audience new. An advert for JWT, one of the first says Michael Brunt, chief operating rather than on themselves. That means officer and publisher of The Economist. being helpful rather than promotional advertising agencies in the US, reads: “Guesswork publicity belongs away back and adapting the narrative for each step With this in mind, and as part of our in the early nineties, in the Dark Ages of a customer’s journey. ongoing efforts to improve the delivery of Advertising”. The nineties referred to of ROI for our clients, The Economist “Content solidifies the brand’s relevance are the 1890s; the advert ran in 1915. and involvement in people’s lives, Group’s analytics and insights team essentially demonstrating why they With countless new players in marketing analysed the performance of our might care,” says Alison Tyrrell, head of today, from in-house content studios content marketing programmes content at Spark Foundry, a full-service to consultancies, and so many more produced over 12 months: more than 50 Publicis Media agency with clients touchpoints—display advertising, microsites created for clients across ranging from King (Candy Crush) to native advertising, paid social, the US, EMEA and APAC and all Avon and Marriott. “This is achieved organic social, newsletters, email lead industries—luxury, consumer, tech, via personalised, contextual and fluid generation, etc.—the issue, put simply, finance, professional services—as well as experiences that build upon traditional is infinitely more complex. all media units. messaging whilst leveraging relevant The trend is only set to continue. This paper will highlight our five key media environments.” According to Ms Tyrrell, “Over the next findings to achieve more successful few years we’ll see a continued evolution In other words, content marketing content marketing campaigns. programmes done properly are a heavy in how we make narratives even more Brands can use these insights pre-, lift, requiring time, money and resources personalised and relevant, leaning mid-and post-campaign to maximise to manage. Marketers seem hesitant to more into the behaviours and needs marketing ROI. initiate content marketing programmes of the audience and further offering a because of the difficulty proving value exchange.” ©The Economist Group 2019 2 How to approach the marketing ROI challenge 40% higher average time spent by visitors driven to the site by on-domain amplifications compared with visitors coming from 1. Promotion in trusted environments performs best for engagement off-domain or social amplifications Click-through rate on Programmes mainly focusing social promotions — on paid social deliver a high reach but lower engagement higher than on-domain 3x media units higher than A 50/50 split between off-domain social and on-domain trac media units drivers delivers higher reach 4x and higher engagement A mix of of on- and o-domain VISITS trac drivers delivers lower On domain reach and lower engagement Programmes promoted through on-domain trac On domain drivers tend to deliver On+o domain a higher engagement on site but lower reach On+off domain Social+on domain Social+on domain Social Social Page views <> Page views DWELL TIME Based on an analysis of more than 50 microsites created for The Economist Group clients over 12 months (2017-2018). While there have been many articles in recent years The Economist Group found that content promoted on about the death of the banner ad, the first insight from our domain, regardless of the brand on the content, gets better comprehensive analysis found that on-domain traffic drivers— engagement than when retargeted elsewhere. “Some of that Economist.com, Digital Edition (our weekly classic app) and has to do with the mindset of the audience and the credibility the Economist Espresso app (with our daily news briefing)— of the domain that you are in,” says Mina Seetharaman, chief actually drive the highest engagement across all hubs. strategy and creative officer at The Economist Group. “We are a brand-safe environment. Our readers know they There is an inherent halo effect in doing a branded content can trust our editorial content and have also come to learn programme with a particular publisher. Both brand and that we put quality branded content in front of them as environment play into that, but not in the way that some well. As a result, that halo of trust translates into strong marketers might think. engagement with our client programmes.” ©The Economist Group 2019 3 2. Custom content delivers highest engagement This credibility carries through to bespoke content. As our on content types paired with placements and can provide analysis shows, content that is custom created by a publisher direction on demographic and psychographic trends. on behalf of a brand performs better in terms of engagement The ability to reach a global audience, with credibility and at than repurposed content from a brand. “If readers subscribe scale, factored heavily into our decision-making process.” to us or regularly return to our site,” says Ms Seetharaman, Mr Morton from UM urges his clients to work closely with “they come to us because they have a trust in the reputation publishers—“taking their advice, not trying to shape things and quality of our content.” They expect the same rigour from too much and make content too brand-centric”. He continues: commissioned content. “There needs to be an element of trust—providing brand One example is Expect the exceptional, a global programme guardrails to the publisher that aren’t too constrictive, for analytics firm SAS, that explored how data unlock new which allows the content to feel native to its environment.” possibilities in business, policy and beyond. “The programme “Brands get blinded by their own agenda,” adds Ms Tyrrell aimed to spark conversations around the power of data-driven of Spark Foundry, “and with all good intentions they can insights in unexpected areas with The Economist Group’s sometimes roll back into the comfort of traditional marketing global audience of business leaders and decision-makers,” says halfway through production and become less value-driven. Jennifer Chase, senior vice president, global marketing and If your content is helping to solve a problem, helping your shared services at SAS. “We wanted to transcend conventional audience and adding to their experience, then it will cut analytics conversations.” through the noise of competitors.” A dedicated hub on Economist.com included research-driven While a publisher’s distribution capabilities are important— thought leadership from The Economist Intelligence Unit on-domain drivers for content produced in-house by a brand (EIU) on the use of data and analytics for economic and social can help expand the brand’s audience and maximise the value development alongside SAS-branded custom content of its content investment—publishers can also offer (from slideshows and animated videos to video interviews unparalleled insights into their audience and provide a and articles). This content explored data’s impact on space psychographic match through custom content. exploration, connected health devices and more. Creative media executions—including SwipeStack interactive stories “We understand what our audience is most likely to read and Snapchat—promoted the site over a six-month flight. about, because we test this constantly on our own content,” says Mr Brunt. The programme was one of The Economist Group’s strongest-ever performing content campaigns, exceeding most benchmarks by more than 200%, including page views and total visits. A post-launch brand study found 52% of visitors left the site with an improved opinion of SAS. Ms Chase says that SAS anticipates expanding on the programme, particularly on mobile and social channels. “We wanted to “SAS invests in brand-to-demand strategies with trusted transcend conventional media partners to support our awareness and mindshare analytics conversations.” goals of relationship-building with our target audience in new ways,” she says. “We look for partners who are willing Jennifer Chase to experiment with new digital capabilities and create rich Senior Vice President experiences for our audience to not only experience the Global marketing and shared services content but to connect it back to SAS’s leadership in data SAS and analytics. We’re interested in partners who can also advise ©The Economist Group 2019 4 MAKING IT COUNT Proving ROI in marketing has always been dicult, but data analytics allow publishers and advertisers to measure—and maximise—the impact of content programmes throughout their life cycle. Data are central to content marketing Data-driven insights strengthen each step in the life of a content solutions programme. Data are continuously collected and analysed to deliver insights that refine a programme, creating a virtuous cycle.