The value of content

1. campaignasia.com106 campaign JULY 2013
Asurveyofclient-side
marketersinAPACfinds
outhowbrandsare
developingtheircontent
marketingstrategies.
ByKateMagee
No, we
probably
need to but
it’s not in
place yet
41%
Does your organization have a content strategy
that covers areas such as: business objectives,
editorial team, content calendar, approval
process, publishing strategy, effectiveness
measurement?
Yes
53%
No, we do
not plan to
develop one
6%
What, if any, are the barriers to your organisation adopting or making greater use of content
marketing?
1st 2nd 3rd
Total
Not clear how it fits with overall marketing strategy yet 13% 9% 14% 36%
Not sure how it will drive sales results 18% 20% 19% 57%
Lack of skills or understanding to develop it 13% 17% 24% 54%
Lack of people to manage it 30% 29% 21% 80%
Lack of budget to implement it 23% 22% 19% 64%
When you run content campaigns, which of the following objectives are you looking to achieve?
1st 2nd 3rd
Total
Increase social media following 7% 10% 11% 28%
Increase website traffic 6% 9% 13% 28%
Strengthen relationships with customers 17% 17% 20% 54%
Improve brand reputation 23% 19% 12% 55%
Improve customer satisfaction 4% 5% 8% 17%
Generate new leads 12% 17% 14% 44%
Create brand buzz 18% 14% 7% 39%
Prompt sales 11% 10% 14% 36%
No, we
probably
need to but
it’s not in
place yet
41%
Does your organization have a content strategy
that covers areas such as: business objectives,
editorial team, content calendar, approval
process, publishing strategy, effectiveness
measurement?
Yes
53%
No, we do
not plan to
develop one
6%
What, if any, are the barriers to your organisation adopting or making greater use of content
marketing?
1st 2nd 3rd
Total
Not clear how it fits with overall marketing strategy yet 13% 9% 14% 36%
Not sure how it will drive sales results 18% 20% 19% 57%
Lack of skills or understanding to develop it 13% 17% 24% 54%
Lack of people to manage it 30% 29% 21% 80%
Lack of budget to implement it 23% 22% 19% 64%
When you run content campaigns, which of the following objectives are you looking to achieve?
1st 2nd 3rd
Total
Increase social media following 7% 10% 11% 28%
Increase website traffic 6% 9% 13% 28%
Strengthen relationships with customers 17% 17% 20% 54%
Improve brand reputation 23% 19% 12% 55%
Improve customer satisfaction 4% 5% 8% 17%
Generate new leads 12% 17% 14% 44%
Create brand buzz 18% 14% 7% 39%
Prompt sales 11% 10% 14% 36%
No, we
probably
need to but
it’s not in
place yet
41%
Does your organization have a content strategy
that covers areas such as: business objectives,
editorial team, content calendar, approval
process, publishing strategy, effectiveness
measurement?
Yes
53%
No, we do
not plan to
develop one
6%
When you run content campaigns, which of the following objectives are you looking to achieve?
W
hat is your content marketing
strategy? This is an increasingly
pertinent question for brands as
the explosion in owned and so-
cial media channels has sparked
a major shift in how companies
interact with customers.
A radical shift in marketing
budgets is occurring as companies increase invest-
ment in content to ‘feed the beast’ of these new, hun-
gry, digital channels. But this brings with it certain
challenges. How can a brand provide a continual
supply of fresh content such as videos, images,
tweets, Facebook updates, blogs, newsletters, white-
papers, testimonials, case studies, mobile apps, e-
magazines, podcasts, gaming, infographics and
more? Which of these are the most effective at en-
gaging with a target audience? And does content re-
ally improve the bottom line?
Ogilvy Public Relations and Campaign Asia-Pa-
cific decided to find out. From 10 May to 12 June, 218
online surveys were conducted with client-side mar-
keting and communications professionals from
across the Asia-Pacific region. Respondents came
from a range of sectors and more than 80 per cent of
them were marketing managers or above. The sur-
vey’s main objective was to understand the current
state of content marketing in brands. The survey de-
fined content marketing as the practice of creating
and publishing content in any media channel.
The results were fascinating. Marketers believe
that content marketing will become increasingly
important in the next 12 months. Just over half (53
per cent) of respondents already have a content mar-
keting strategy in place, with a further 41 per cent
saying they thought they probably needed to have
one, but it was not in place yet. Only six per cent said
they did not need one.
TheValueof

2. campaignasia.com JULY 2013 campaign 107
“Proactiveengagement
willpayforitselfifthe
qualitylevelishigh
enough”
DanSloan,Nissan
Which of the following platforms are you most likely to focus on for public relations driven content?
Focus on now Focus on over next 12 months Focus on over next 12 - 24 months Can’t say No answer
Your own website 74% 12% 6% 6% 2%
Facebook 50% 17% 7% 21% 5%
YouTube (or equivalent) 25% 25% 13% 29% 7%
Twitter (or equivalent) 33% 18% 13% 29% 7%
Photo sharing sites (e.g. Instagram, Pinterest) 18% 21% 13% 40% 8%
Product review websites (e.g. Tripadvisor) 21% 18% 10% 43% 9%
Total % of confidence
How confident are you working with content when it comes to...?
Not at all confident Somewhat confident Very confident Can’t say No answer
Content strategy development 9% 56% 28% 7% 1% 83%
Content creative idea generation 15% 55% 25% 5% 1% 80%
Content production quality 13% 58% 25% 4% 0% 83%
Publishing strategy/platforms 15% 61% 19% 5% 0% 80%
Setting measurement KPIs 29% 49% 16% 6% 0% 65%
Connecting content with business results 29% 47% 13% 10% 1% 60%
And which of these areas do you want to understand better?
1st 2nd 3rd
Total
Content strategy development 24% 16% 25% 65%
Content creative idea generation 12% 21% 10% 44%
Content production quality 6% 6% 7% 18%
Publishing strategy/platforms 10% 14% 18% 42%
Setting measurement KPIs 23% 18% 20% 61%
Connecting content with business results 25% 25% 20% 70%
Which of the following platforms are you most likely to focus on for public relations driven content?
Focus on now Focus on over next 12 months Focus on over next 12 - 24 months Can’t say No answer
Your own website 74% 12% 6% 6% 2%
Facebook 50% 17% 7% 21% 5%
YouTube (or equivalent) 25% 25% 13% 29% 7%
Twitter (or equivalent) 33% 18% 13% 29% 7%
Photo sharing sites (e.g. Instagram, Pinterest) 18% 21% 13% 40% 8%
Product review websites (e.g. Tripadvisor) 21% 18% 10% 43% 9%
Total % of confidence
How confident are you working with content when it comes to...?
Not at all confident Somewhat confident Very confident Can’t say No answer
Content strategy development 9% 56% 28% 7% 1% 83%
Content creative idea generation 15% 55% 25% 5% 1% 80%
Content production quality 13% 58% 25% 4% 0% 83%
Publishing strategy/platforms 15% 61% 19% 5% 0% 80%
Setting measurement KPIs 29% 49% 16% 6% 0% 65%
Connecting content with business results 29% 47% 13% 10% 1% 60%
And which of these areas do you want to understand better?
1st 2nd 3rd
Total
Content strategy development 24% 16% 25% 65%
Content creative idea generation 12% 21% 10% 44%
Content production quality 6% 6% 7% 18%
Publishing strategy/platforms 10% 14% 18% 42%
Setting measurement KPIs 23% 18% 20% 61%
Connecting content with business results 25% 25% 20% 70%
Which of the following platforms are you most likely to focus on for public relations driven content?
Focus on now Focus on over next 12 months Focus on over next 12 - 24 months Can’t say No answer
Your own website 74% 12% 6% 6% 2%
Facebook 50% 17% 7% 21% 5%
YouTube (or equivalent) 25% 25% 13% 29% 7%
Twitter (or equivalent) 33% 18% 13% 29% 7%
Photo sharing sites (e.g. Instagram, Pinterest) 18% 21% 13% 40% 8%
Product review websites (e.g. Tripadvisor) 21% 18% 10% 43% 9%
Total % of confidence
How confident are you working with content when it comes to...?
Not at all confident Somewhat confident Very confident Can’t say No answer
Content strategy development 9% 56% 28% 7% 1% 83%
Content creative idea generation 15% 55% 25% 5% 1% 80%
Content production quality 13% 58% 25% 4% 0% 83%
Publishing strategy/platforms 15% 61% 19% 5% 0% 80%
Setting measurement KPIs 29% 49% 16% 6% 0% 65%
Connecting content with business results 29% 47% 13% 10% 1% 60%
And which of these areas do you want to understand better?
1st 2nd 3rd
Total
Content strategy development 24% 16% 25% 65%
Content creative idea generation 12% 21% 10% 44%
Content production quality 6% 6% 7% 18%
Publishing strategy/platforms 10% 14% 18% 42%
Setting measurement KPIs 23% 18% 20% 61%
Connecting content with business results 25% 25% 20% 70%
The budget allocated to content marketing is also
set to increase in the coming year, as brands become
more sophisticated in its use. There will also be a
shift from creating content on a brand’s own sites to
a greater focus on external, and more visual, social
media channels. But a key barrier to the adoption of
content marketing is the ability to measure its im-
pact. “In this experimental phase with content for
many marketers, the major challenge is assessing
the effectiveness of a content strategy and how to
connect it to overall business objectives,” says Mari-
on McDonald, MD of strategy and measurement at
Ogilvy Public Relations
Here are some of the survey’s key findings:
Who is using content?
More than half of the survey sample (53 per cent)
said they have a content strategy, and the vast ma-
jority of those who did not have a strategy (41 per
cent), were considering implementing one.
Currently, 41 per cent of respondents allocate less
than 10 per cent of their total marketing budget on
content, and 37 per cent allocate 10 to 30 per cent.
But this was expected to rise in the following 12
months, to 43 per cent allocating 10 to 30 per cent,
and a further 20 per cent allocating up to 50 per
cent. But while 40 per cent of PR budgets are spent
oncontentovertraditionalPR,veryfewrespondents
say they spend even 30 per cent of their overall mar-
keting budget on content.
Content creation tends to focus on a brand’s own
website (74 per cent). Perhaps not surprisingly, this
was followed by very established social media sites
Facebook (50 per cent) and Twitter (33 per cent). But
this was expected to change in the coming 12
months, with significant interest in more visual-fo-
cused sites such as photo-sharing sites (Pinterest,
Instagram) and YouTube.
content

3. campaignasia.com108 campaign JULY 2013
Why are brands using content?
The most important objective for a content strategy
was to help improve brand reputation, followed
closely by strengthening relationships with existing
customers. Generating new leads and prompting
sales also came high on the list.
“It is clear the public relations industry is invest-
ingincontentaheadofothermarketingdisciplines,”
says McDonald. “However we have a disconnect be-
tween reputation and relationship objectives and
how we’re actually measuring content’s impact. Our
commitment is to help PR clients develop content
that moves from creative and popularity experi-
ments to become a real, proven revenue generator.”
Dan Sloan, editor in chief of Nissan’s Global Me-
dia Centre, says there is an opportunity for brands
that create interesting stories and content to take
advantage of a reduction of resources in traditional
media outlets, as well as the newer digital channels.
“Brand storytelling has become a mantra for corpo-
rates and creative agencies, but efforts also come at
atimewhentraditionalmediahavethinnerresourc-
es to report and online bloggers and pages need con-
tent flow to keep them from becoming static.”
How to create the right content strategy
Around 65 per cent of respondents say they want to
better understand how to develop an effective con-
tent strategy. PR agencies were identified as among
the first specialists to call when considering how to
develop content, behind digital agencies and ahead
of integrated agencies. Respondents said the main
advantages of a public relations agency was their
ability to drive brand messaging and reputation (80
per cent), their ability to create greater engagement
with a target audience or stakeholders (67 per cent)
and their storytelling skills (64 per cent).
Dell’s regional marketing director Prashant
Agarwal says: “We follow an 80-20 rule while man-
aging content; 80 per cent of the content should be
entertaining, education or informative, while 20 per
cent is product or transaction orientated. We devel-
op a variety of content, including quizzes, games,
videos, whitepapers and infographics. But typically
photos, videos and interactive posts enjoy the high-
est engagement rate on Facebook, while content on
technology and industry updates are very popular
on Google+ and LinkedIn.”
Sloan says the quality of content is key to success
in this new form of ‘do it yourself’ journalism by
brands. “Proactive engagement will pay for itself if
the quality level is high enough. We have intention-
ally hired former journalists, including myself, to
No
52%
Yes
48%
Are you able to measure the effectiveness of
the content you produce?
How do you assess the effectiveness of the
content you produce?
Increased social media following 66%
Increased website traffic 75%
Improved brand reputation 45%
Improved brand buzz 39%
Improved customer satisfaction34%
New leads generated 61%
Increased sales 52%
Other measures6%
Lack
appropriate
tools and
methodologies
68%
Other
3%
Lack of
time
7%
Lack of
manpower
10%
Lack of
budget
13%
What is the key barrier you experience when
attempting to measure the impact of content?
No
52%
Yes
48%
Are you able to measure the effectiveness of
the content you produce?
How do you assess the effectiveness of the
content you produce?
Increased social media following 66%
Increased website traffic 75%
Improved brand reputation 45%
Improved brand buzz 39%
Improved customer satisfaction34%
New leads generated 61%
Increased sales 52%
Other measures6%
Lack
appropriate
tools and
methodologies
68%
Other
3%
Lack of
time
7%
Lack of
manpower
10%
Lack of
budget
13%
What is the key barrier you experience when
attempting to measure the impact of content?
No
52%
Yes
48%
Are you able to measure the effectiveness of
the content you produce?
How do you assess the effectiveness of the
content you produce?
Increased social media following 66%
Increased website traffic 75%
Improved brand reputation 45%
Improved brand buzz 39%
Improved customer satisfaction34%
New leads generated 61%
Increased sales 52%
Other measures6%
Lack
appropriate
tools and
methodologies
68%
Other
3%
Lack of
time
7%
Lack of
manpower
10%
Lack of
budget
13%
What is the key barrier you experience when
attempting to measure the impact of content?
No, we do
not plan to
hire in the
future
6%
No, but
plan to
hire in the
future
41%
Yes
53%
Have you hired staff either fully or partially
dedicated to managing content?
Which if any of the following would you turn to,
to learn about content?
Media 58%
Conferences 52%
Agency training 45%
Industry associations 48%
Colleagues/peers 44%
Blogs 37%
Other2%
Which of the following specialists would you
turn to first to develop effective content?
Advertising
agency
10%
Public
relations
agency
20%
Digital
specialist
29%
Did not
answer
1%
Other
7%
Integrated
agency
18%
Direct/CRM
specialist
8%
Production
house
7%
No, we do
not plan to
hire in the
future
6%
No, but
plan to
hire in the
future
41%
Yes
53%
Have you hired staff either fully or partially
dedicated to managing content?
Which if any of the following would you turn to,
to learn about content?
Media 58%
Conferences 52%
Agency training 45%
Industry associations 48%
Colleagues/peers 44%
Blogs 37%
Other2%
Which of the following specialists would you
turn to first to develop effective content?
Advertising
agency
10%
Public
relations
agency
20%
Digital
specialist
29%
Did not
answer
1%
Other
7%
Integrated
agency
18%
Direct/CRM
specialist
8%
Production
house
7%
No, we do
not plan to
hire in the
future
6%
No, but
plan to
hire in the
future
41%
Yes
53%
Have you hired staff either fully or partially
dedicated to managing content?
Which if any of the following would you turn to,
to learn about content?
Media 58%
Conferences 52%
Agency training 45%
Industry associations 48%
Colleagues/peers 44%
Blogs 37%
Other2%
Which of the following specialists would you
turn to first to develop effective content?
Advertising
agency
10%
Public
relations
agency
20%
Digital
specialist
29%
Did not
answer
1%
Other
7%
Integrated
agency
18%
Direct/CRM
specialist
8%
Production
house
7%
Case Study KleenexCottonellePinToMakeaDifference
Despite being the first
toilet tissue in
Australia to gain FSC
(Forest Stewardship
Council) accreditation,
it’s sustainability
status wasn’t reaching
its target audiences;
mums could not see a
compelling reason to
pay more for a boring
household basic.
So rather than focus
on the accreditation,
Ogilvy PR and Kleenex
turned the story into
being about making a
difference in the
home, creating a halo
for Kleenex Cottonelle.
They chose Pinterest
— the top site for
Australians to chat
online about
household goods and
the nation’s fastest
growing social network
among women.
And so, the ‘Pin to
make a difference’
campaign was born.
The campaign centred
around a branded
event in central Sydney
that invited Australia’s
most influential mum
bloggers and media to
network, pin and share
their sustainability
tips, and take part in
Australia’s first pinning
competition.
Ogilvy and Kleenex
created a branded
Pinterest account,
analysed Australia’s
most influential mum
bloggers, and invited
them to attend. A
media announcement
followed, seeding
anticipation and
outreach, and creating
a groundswell of
support, with media
applauding Kleenex
Cottonelle for its
leadership with
Pinterest, and for
driving an ‘Aussie first’.
The event took place
on 2 May 2012, with
26 influential mum
bloggers and
mainstream media
attending. Guest
speakers from
Kleenex Cottonelle,
the World Wildlife Fund
and the FSC inspired
the ‘make a difference’
conversations,
reaching more than
two million people and
fuelling 1.2 million
twitter impressions.
Post-event, the
momentum was
maintained via micro-
contests on the blogs
of target mums, who
cascaded the message
through their
networks, giving their
communities a
Kleenex Cottonelle
‘Make a Difference’
goody pack.
As a result of the
campaign, there was a
more than 1,100 per
cent increase of
conversations in
Australia about
sustainability in and
around the home
between 4 April and 28
May. Conversations
about Kimberly Clark
increased by 475 per
cent from three
months prior.

4. campaignasia.com JULY 2013 campaign 109
try to keep the self-satisfaction to a minimum and
the ‘so what’ level high.” A successful content strat-
egy is not just about sending out self-promoting ma-
terials. “We must be part of the news-making and
sharing process. We won’t do this at the expense of
our brands, but we have covered issues such as the
high yen and the island dispute between China and
Japan.Thesetopicsmaybetabooforsomefirms,but
we’ve found that by joining the conversation and re-
flecting real-world events, we have established
‘street cred’ and viewers return,” says Sloan.
How to measure it
The survey reveals a major gap between the use of
content marketing and the ability to connect it to
businessresults;57percentofmarketersreportthat
an inability to connect it to business results is a bar-
rier to greater use of content.
Measuring content’s effectiveness is marketers’
top priority (70 per cent), but only 13 per cent claim
they are “very confident” in their ability to connect
content to sales results. A further 68 per cent say
they lack tools and methods to link content to busi-
ness results. Over half say they are unable to meas-
ure effectiveness of content. Among the few who feel
they can, the top two measures were web traffic and
social media following, highlighting that ‘soft’
measures, not hard business results are used.
“Content marketing is primarily used by APAC
marketers to improve reputation and strengthen
stakeholder relationships, yet these were not in the
top three measured metrics, despite being cited as
the major objectives,” says McDonald.
Agarwal adds: “The question of business value
and ROI becomes even more significant if you con-
sider that only one per cent of people online are in
the purchasing mode. The key is how you keep the
other 99 per cent engaged. We found that customers
who engage with companies over social media,
spend 20 to 40 per cent more with those companies
than other customers.”
The search for talent
Finding the right staff to produce content is another
issue for marketers, with a ‘lack of people to manage
content’ cited as the major barrier to greater adop-
tion. A third of respondents had hired people to
manage content and another third planned to hire
content specialists in the next year. Nissan, for ex-
ample, has around 12 editorial staff in Yokohama
with experience in traditional media such as
Bloomberg, CNN, Time Magazine, Reuters, the BBC
and a five-person team in North America.
Both Sloan and Agarwal believe companies
should be using their existing staff as a content re-
source, as long as they are trained properly. “The
best ideas about possible content or stories usually
come from inside, and making those individuals
part of the process builds bridges and begets better
projects ahead,” says Sloan.
But this needs to be done in a controlled manner.
As Agarwal points out, “Organisations typically
struggle with helping employees channel their in-
terest in social media into clear programmes within
the company. We have tackled this head on by offer-
ing extensive training; 10,000 employees go
through various modules in our Social Media and
Communities University to increase their under-
standing of the power, guardrails, policies and capa-
bilities of working with social media.”
Getting approval from above is also crucial to the
success of content, because interesting stories re-
quire access. “Corporates, and particularly Japanese
corporates, are known for not opening doors to ex-
ternal media and Nissan’s Media Centre plan only
works if tales can be told, requiring R&D and manu-
facturing to allow filming and interviews in what
are often restricted environments,” says Sloan.
The future of content marketing
As Ogilvy’s McDonald says, “Content has to become
more visual as marketers move from reliance on
their own website (which 74 per cent focus on now)
to video and photo platforms like YouTube, Insta-
gram and Pinterest which drew greatest interest
over the next year.” This may require new skills on
teams and a different approach to content creation.
Greater differentiation between digital channels
will also change what content needs to be produced.
“Given that customers behave differently on differ-
ent social media platforms, organisations are likely
tomovetoacustomisedortargeted-contentstrategy
for different platforms, rather than a one-size-fits-
all approach,” says Agarwal. n
Thinking of public relations agencies specifically,
what are their main advantages in content
strategy and development?
Greater authenticity 28%
Storytelling skills 64%
Greater engagement with target audience/stakeholders 67%
Ability to drive brand messaging and reputation 80%
Ability to drive sales results17%
Influencing stakeholders 36%
Did not answer1%
Where are you currently based?
Australia & New Zealand4%
China9%
Hong Kong 34%
India6%
Indonesia1%
Japan2%
Malaysia4%
Philippines2%
Singapore 31%
South Korea1%
Taiwan1%
Thailand4%
Vietnam1%
In which of the following industries does your
company fall into?
2%
5%
18%
14%
4%
3%
2%
2%
11%
2%
11%
10%
7%
2%
7%
Association /NGOs
Automotive
Consumer Product
Finance
Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals
Legal
Logistics/Shipping/Transport
Property/Real Estate
Retail/Wholesale
Social/Government
Technology/IT/Telecommunications
Travel/Leisure/Hospitality
Media/Publishing/TV
Education/Training
Other
Where are you currently based?
Australia & New Zealand4%
China9%
Hong Kong 34%
India6%
Indonesia1%
Japan2%
Malaysia4%
Philippines2%
Singapore 31%
South Korea1%
Taiwan1%
Thailand4%
Vietnam1%
In which of the following industries does your
company fall into?
2%
5%
18%
14%
4%
3%
2%
2%
11%
2%
11%
10%
7%
2%
7%
Association /NGOs
Automotive
Consumer Product
Finance
Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals
Legal
Logistics/Shipping/Transport
Property/Real Estate
Retail/Wholesale
Social/Government
Technology/IT/Telecommunications
Travel/Leisure/Hospitality
Media/Publishing/TV
Education/Training
Other
Less than
US$100k
26%
US$100k-
US$1m
32%
Did not
answer
5%
More than
US$10m
11%
US$5m-
US$10m
6%
US$1m-
US$5m
20%
What is the size of your marketing budget?
PR
content
40%
Traditional
PR
60%
Thinking about your PR/communications
budget, what percentage do you devote to:
Less than 10%
Allocation in next 12 months
Current allocation
10% - 30% 31% - 50% 81% - 100%51% - 80% Did not answer
What percentage of your marketing budget do you allocate to content?
21% 43% 20%
41% 37% 1
US$100k-
US$1m
32%
US$1m-
US$5m
20%
PR
content
40%
Traditional
PR
60%
Thinking about your PR/communications
budget, what percentage do you devote to:
Less than 10%
Allocation in next 12 months
Current allocation
10% - 30% 31% - 50% 81% - 100%51% - 80% Did not answer
What percentage of your marketing budget do you allocate to content?
8%21% 43% 20% 6%
2%
6%41% 37% 13% 3%
0%
US$100k-
US$1m
32%
US$1m-
US$5m
20%
PR
content
40%
Traditional
PR
60%
Thinking about your PR/communications
budget, what percentage do you devote to:
Less than 10%
Allocation in next 12 months
Current allocation
10% - 30% 31% - 50% 81% - 100%51% - 80% Did not answer
What percentage of your marketing budget do you allocate to content?
8%21% 43% 20% 6%
2%
6%41% 37% 13% 3%
0%
“Thepublicrelationsindustryisinvestingin
contentaheadofothermarketingdisciplines”
MarionMcDonald,OgilvyPublicRelations