Online video has the unique potential to combine a very low cost per contact with a high-quality relationship.
Low cost and high quality
That, in a nutshell, is the tour de force made possible by an intelligently designed and executed content marketing strategy.
Achieving a potentially very low cost per contact while enjoying particularly positive impact and quality of exposure: these are the goals you can reach when you rely on content that develops a story consistent with your brand’s values.
Keeping the cost per contact down
Content marketing is designed to be interesting in its own right, unlike advertising, which interrupts content viewers actually want to watch. Thanks to this particular nature, you no longer have to pay a media outlet to capture a share of its audience; your video becomes a centre of attraction that draws viewers to it.
In practice, the public still needs to be told that your programme exists. That information has a cost, though one far lower than traditional media buying (see The Effectiveness of Online Video on this subject).
If your content meets the expectations of your customer community, virality can bring the cost per contact down dramatically. The audience for content marketing is not bought, but earned through recommendation. Every viewer you win over can become an ambassador for your brand, passing your message along their network of contacts, offline and online.
Building a high-quality relationship
Your online video programme delivers cumulative benefits in terms of memorability and brand image that are out of all proportion to the effects of a classic advertising campaign.
One reason is an exposure to content marketing programmes that is longer than an advertising message. Browsing a site, playing a game or watching a video will often last several minutes, whereas bought media space offers a contact of thirty seconds at most.
A perfect demonstration of Permission Marketing: your programme’s audience makes a voluntary choice to watch. That voluntary step guarantees your message a level of attention far higher than that granted to advertising messages endured.
Unlike what happens with advertising, the audience of a content marketing programme is not passive. Most of the time there is an interaction of one kind or another (an in-depth site visit, a game, watching and re-watching a video, using the sharing and recommendation features…).
Content marketing programmes often draw on humour, innovation, surprise or self-deprecation. Although these editorial choices carry specific risks when used without discernment, they have the advantage of generating goodwill towards the brand.
These qualities specific to content marketing are important factors to take into account when evaluating the results and effectiveness of your communication. Reducing the effects of your programmes to the equivalent audience in TV or display media buying would distort your return-on-investment calculation, by leaving unvalued assets that traditional communication methods simply do not have.
Lowering the (financial) barrier to entry
The budget allocated to a content marketing programme is far less correlated with the expected audience than an advertising investment. Above all, it is the creative idea and the quality of the production that drive your programme’s success.
Budget does, of course, play a decisive role in creative choices and the quality of execution. Yet it is possible to reach a very large audience with reasonable, sometimes even tiny, budgets. Among many others, the success of the “Will it blend?” series is a textbook example. Produced on a shoestring, the series made its name with the episode in which the blender’s tester asks himself: “Will my Blendtec blend this iPhone?”. The answer is yes — and the result is nearly 10 million views on YouTube for that episode, and 150 million for the series’ 100 episodes as a whole.
That said, such spectacular success is not reproducible at will, since an element of luck comes into play in how the public responds to your communication.
The demonstration still stands: there is no real financial barrier to using content marketing. A limited budget is a handicap, but it is not an insurmountable obstacle. A motivated creative team will sometimes even find in it a source of inventiveness.
Building brand value with every stakeholder, starting inside the company
Content marketing has an editorial value of its own that makes it a centre of interest. One of the positive effects that follow is how it reflects on the employees of the brand that communicates this way. The value of the programme is transferred to the brand, and the brand’s aura contributes greatly to employees’ sense of pride.
A successful programme that gets people talking and generates goodwill helps consolidate team spirit. That feeling comes from the echo the programme receives — notably from employees’ family and friends mentioning it in conversation.
Video bonus
Below, watch the happy creators of the “Will it blend?” series tell their story, and how a few videos posted on YouTube sent their sales through the roof!
