Brands have a significant opportunity to improve their content marketing, with News Corp Australia research finding just 34% of Australians believe brands are meeting their content needs.
The Power of Brand Content study, which surveyed 1,000 Australians, was commissioned by the publisher’s content agencies; Medium Rare, Storyation and Suddenly, and was conducted by insights and strategy consultancy firm Crowd DNA.
The study found that awareness of brand content and engagement is high, with 43% of Australians surveyed engaging with brand content at least daily, 73% engaging with brand content weekly and that increases to 90% for 18 to 24 year-olds.
Brand content is also driving brand preference, with three in four consumers feeling more positively towards a brand that provides them with valuable content.
“Consumers understand and truly value content marketing,” says News Corp Australia’s managing director, commercial content Mike Connaghan.
“They have given brands permission to present them with premium content directly on their own channels. They expect it to be useful, educational, inspirational and even entertaining – and, if it fulfils this criteria, brand content will flatten the path to purchase.
“Make no mistake, the rise of content marketing represents the kind of opportunity for brands to turn their customers into fans. As the research tells us, consumers are now marketing savvy and they see the two way exchange of utility content as a win-win. ‘Advertising is the sell, content is the tell.’”
However, just 34% of Australians surveyed believe brands are meeting their content needs, opening up a “huge” opportunity for brands and content marketers to improve their offering.
Crowd DNA managing director for APAC Elyse Pigram says shifts in consumer expectations, accelerated through COVID, are driving demand for brand content.
“In a post-COVID world, exploring new ideas and experiences has never been more important, and brand content is becoming key to facilitating new discoveries,” Pigram says.
“70% of consumers agree that brand content helped them discover new brands and three quarters expect brands to deliver relevant content.”
The research also found that brand content is a key entry point to a brand ecosystem for 70% of consumers, two in three agree that brand content makes it easier to decide what brands/products to buy, and 84% took some form of action (buy, share, follow, save), with 34% purchasing a product, after engaging with a recent piece of brand content.
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