Content_L360Brief

CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 -The Loyalty Marketer’s Association

The value of content.
• Content marketing is a relatively small slice of
the marketing pie, but is expected to grow.
• Most marketers surveyed say they are doing
a Good or Excellent job on content, but struggle
with keeping it exciting, fresh and relevant.
• There are stark differences between how
Travel/Hospitality and Financial Services/
Banking marketers approach and view the
success of their content strategies.
•Accuratemeasurementandattributionisdifficult.
Senior-level support and budget allocation for
content may hinge on establishing accepted
measurement standards.
OVERVIEW

3 Powered by Loyalty360 • LOYALTY360.ORG
“Understanding how to effectively use and administer
content to drive value is a very timely topic for our
members. Content is a huge opportunity for marketers
today, but also presents a number of challenges. The
market is abundant with new and established technologies
and solutions to create, curate, personalize, target,
deliver and measure content. Figuring out how to utilize
all of these options to create a content strategy that
efficiently and effectively drives results is challenging
and time consuming. Simplicity is critical, because
brands that make the problem more complex and make
it more difficult for consumers to engage with them
will see content as a “challenge,” rather than a marketing
lever to pull.
Many organizations struggle with content because they
aren’t built to strive in this type of environment; many
organizational cultures don’t embrace and empower
true dialogue with customers, and marketing efforts are
expected to deliver results in the short term.
Content should create an honest and effective method
of engagement with consumers. Brands know there is
a revenue opportunity associated with creating unique,
unbiased content, yet those that trust their instincts
and who have consistent organizational-based content
objectives – where financial benefit can follow –
deserve plaudits!”
-Mark Johnson | CEO & CMO | Loyalty360
We are excited to present this Executive Brief, which shows a broad
view of how marketers are approaching and executing content
strategies, as well as the challenges they face along the way.

Consumers today are bombarded with
content from digital technologies that
weren’t widely used a generation ago,
including email, social media, and
websites, along with longstanding
mediums like TV, print and radio. Most of
this content can be accessed by multiple
screens, wherever consumers go. Often,
too many choices can be a burden and
this rings true for consumers’ access to
content. Brands understand that their
content must add value and be relevant
to their audiences, but it’s a challenge to
deliver on that promise and do so in a
way that creates measurable results.
We tend to think of content as a trendy
and buzzworthy topic of late, but the truth
is that content marketing has been around
for as long as there has been media to
distribute it. The idea that content can
influence consumer behavior is not a new
one. It seems that the conversation paid
to content ebbs and flows, with now
being a time where the discourse is
flowing liberally.
The struggle to deliver content that’s
relevant and provides value to consumers
but also drives top line results isn’t a new
one. It’s worth recalling that content was
also a popular topic back in 1996 when Bill
Gates popularized the phrase “content is
king.” Gates penned an article where he
predicted that much of the “real” money
to be made on the internet would come
from content. His discourse corresponded
with the announcement that Microsoft
was entering into a partnership with NBC
to jointly own the cable news network
MSNBC and the interactive online news
network MSNBC.com. All of this was
happening when Google was still in its
infancy, Netscape was the most popular
web browser, the term “blog” had not yet
been coined and Apple was five years
away from releasing the first generation
iPod. In many ways it was a generation
ago, but the question of how to monetize
and measure the efficacy of content is still
a real one.
In this executive brief, we’ll examine current
trends in content marketing, including
budgets, goals, and channel strategies
based on findings from a survey of 124
marketing professionals. We’ll also provide
insights on the impact of content on
consumer behavior, tenets for a successful
content strategy and guidance for the
future, based on commentary from
Loyalty360 members.
INTRODUCTION

Content Should Provide Value and
Be Non-promotional
“The definition of content is wider than
ever before, particularly due to the wide
variety of options available to consume it.
Content is any document or resource used
to convey information. It can take many
forms (for example, hard copy, digital,
audio) and can be disseminated using any
number of channels (print, web, mobile,
podcast, video).”
-Crystel Figaro | Marketing Manager
Exchange Solutions
“Content marketing, typically described
as communications to customers that are
neither promotional in nature nor offer-
related, is an approach that marketers ap-
ply in pursuit of more relevant interactions
and brand experiences for customers.
In the loyalty context, content market-
ing takes cues from Member behaviors,
preferences and attributes, and supports
the value exchange between Members
and the brand without the use of points,
rebates or discounts.”
-Scott Robinson | Senior Director of Loyalty
and Consulting Solutions | Maritz
“Content is anything we publish that
speaks to our brand, our potential guests
and guests, and the travel experience. It
can be text, image or video.”
-Kevin Scholl | Social Media Manager
Red Roof Inn
WHATISCONTENTANDWHONEEDSACONTENTSTRATEGY?
The Content Marketing Institute defines
content marketing as:
Content marketing is the art of communicating
with your customers and prospects without
selling. It is non-interruption marketing.
Instead of pitching your products or services,
you are delivering information that makes
your buyer more intelligent.
When we ask our members to define content for us, nearly all agree that –
at its core - content provides value to an audience and is non-promotional
in nature. But disagreement sets in when we explore if and how companies
should leverage content.

Ccontent
CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association What is Content and Who Needs a
Content Strategy?...continued.
Experts Disagree on the Efficacy of
Content Marketing for Some Verticals
“All industries and all verticals have
customers. As long as customers are
using social media- brands that have
customers should have a content and
social media presence regardless of
type of industry or verticals.”
-Dave Cook | Vice President
Access Development
“Yes, all brands should have a content
strategy. I believe that if brands do not
engage and provide content to their
customers, whether it's B2B or B2C, they
lose the opportunity to gain awareness
and curiosity on who they are and what
they can do.”
-Tara Murray | Senior Marketing Manager
Fresherized Foods
“Yes, all brands should have a content
strategy. It's much more holistic than
marketing strategy; it's reputational,
builds goodwill and license to operate.”
-Gwen Migita | VP Sustainability
& Community Affairs
Caesars Entertainment Corporation
“Not all brands need a content strategy.
Every brand needs to assess what kind of
relationship their audience is looking for
and then they should focus on delivering
the right message in the right way to their
audience. Content needs to be authentic
and valuable to the end-user. The last
thing the world needs is more content. It
needs more relevant content.”
-Adam Trisk | Head of Marketing
CrowdTwist
“There isn’t a brand I know that doesn’t
have a content strategy. From local power
companies telling consumer how COOL
it is to be an energy efficient person or a
major water company that tells you when
it is HOT to drink more water. The better
question is who has a content strategy
now that would be better off dropping it.”
-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising,
Global Partnerships | dunnhumby

Content is a Small but Growing Slice of
Marketing Pie
The commentary on content may be widespread
currently, but as a marketing strategy it is a rela-
tively small slice of the pie for most companies.
Our survey findings show that nearly half (44%)
of those polled are spending less than 10% of
their marketing budgets on content and nearly
three-quarters are spending less than 20%.
While spend is relatively low now, our findings
show that companies may increase the priority
placed on content as a marketing strategy in the
near future. Over half (56%) of those surveyed
say they plan to increase budget allocated to
content in the next fiscal year. A budget increase
of more than 10% is planned by one-third (33%)
of respondents.
CURRENTTRENDSIN
CONTENTMARKETING
Q:
$What percentage
ofyourmarketing
budget is
allocated
toward content?
Less Than
10%
10% - 20% 21% - 40% 41% - 60% More Than
60%
Q:
How do you
anticipate budget
allocation toward
content will
change in the
next fiscal year?
No Change Increase by Less
Than 10%
Increase by
10% - 25%
Increase by
25% - 50%
Increase by More
Than 50%
Decrease by
Less Than 10%
Decrease by
10% - 25%
Decrease by
More Than 25%
23%
26%
6% 6%
37%
1% 0%
44%
29%
19%
4% 4%
1%

Current Trends in Content Marketing...continued.
Four Distribution Vehicles Clearly Lead the Pack and All Are Digital
A clear “big four” of content distribution vehicles emerges from our survey findings.
Email, Website and Facebook are used by more than three-quarters of all
companies, followed very closely by Twitter, which is used by 71% of
companies. Usage rates for other vehicles are much lower, with just less than
half of companies using Newsletters and Direct Mail.
More recently developed social media platforms – Pinterest and Instagram – are
being used by 25% and 19% of companies, respectively, showing that marketers
have been relatively quick to build and execute strategies for these platforms.
The four leading distribution vehicles are all online, which is not a surprise given
the cost and flexibility benefits. The relative infancy of these technologies may
point to why marketers are still struggling to solve some of the challenges of
optimizing content creation and delivery.
Goal Percentage of Respondents
Email 86%
Website 86%
Facebook 77%
Twitter 71%
Newsletter 48%
Direct Mail 44%
LinkedIn 40%
Online Video 40%
Blog 35%
Mobile 35%
Pinterest 25%
Google+ 21%
Other Social Media 21%
Instagram 19%
Advertorial 12%
Other Video (Not Online) 11%
Whitepaper / E-book 11%
What vehicle(s)
do you currently
use to feature
content?
Q:

Efficacy Lags for Social Media
For delivering content in a way that helps reach goals, Website and Email are the clear
winners, while Facebook and Twitter fall to the middle of the pack. Very few say that
Instagram and Pinterest are most effective at delivering content, perhaps because
marketers haven’t yet been able to conduct several cycles of testing various tactics on
these platforms to see which are most effective.
What vehicle is
most effective at
helping achieve
your content
goals?
Email 31%
Website 24%
Facebook 9%
Twitter 9%
Newsletter 6%
Direct Mail 6%
LinkedIn 4%
Online Video 3%
Blog 3%
Mobile 2%
Pinterest 1%
Google+ 1%
Other Social Media 1%
Instagram 1%
Advertorial 0%
Other Video (Not Online) 0%
Whitepaper / E-book 0%
Q:

Sales/Revenue is Top Goal of Content and a Frequently Used Measure of Success
The most important content goal for over one-quarter (27%) of respondents surveyed
is sales or revenue. Customer engagement is a close second, followed by lead genera-
tion. Web traffic and sales/revenue are the most widely used metrics for measuring the
effectiveness of content.
Sales/Revenue 27%
Customer Engagement 22%
Awareness 16%
Lead Generation 11%
Thought Leadership 8%
Customer Service 6%
Loyalty 5%
Prospect Engagement 5%
Other 1%
What is the
most important
goal of your
company’s
content strategy?
Q:
Metric Percentage of Respondents
Web Traffic 60%
Sales or Revenue 59%
Open Rates 33%
Number of Followers 31%
Number of Incoming Leads 30%
Number of Shares or Likes 29%
Downloads 21%
Referrals 20%
Opt-out Metrics 15%
Other 7%
What are the
metrics used by
your company to
measure the
effectiveness
of content?
Q:

“Our mission is to change the way people
think about and eat food, and we do that
every day in our restaurants through our
ongoing commitment to serving food
made with better ingredients from more
sustainable sources. We create content
and experiences that invite our custom-
ers to have a conversation with us about
food and food issues. “The Scarecrow” is
our latest project to present complex and
challenging issues—such as the industrial
food system—in an engaging, entertain-
ing way. For us, content allows us to have
a conversation with customers and talk
to them about why we are committed to
better food from more sustainable ingredi-
ents. We believe that the content we
create impacts loyalty, especially as more
and more people are paying attention to
where their food comes from.”
-Danielle Winslow | Public Relations
and Marketing | Chipotle
“Content can have a positive and potential
negative impact on a customer’s relation-
ship with a brand. A well-executed
content strategy can promote customer
loyalty when it provides customers with
relevant, brand related content that eases
or enhances an individual’s experience
with the brand. For this to have a positive
impact however, the content must be
seen as valuable, relevant and aligned to
the brand. Content can also negatively
impact loyalty if it is not thoughtfully
executed. For example, content strategies
where a customer is plied with the same
content multiple times with little review
of relevancy or response can decrease a
customer’s desired engagement with a
company. It is important to meet your
customers in the channels that they want
to engage with you in and to ensure the
content is relevant and valuable for them.
Otherwise, you are just creating more
noise in an already busy and cluttered
world and actually risk decreasing loyalty.”
-Kirk Johnson | Partner | Lenati
While driving sales and revenue is the ultimate goal of any marketing strategy,
the role that content plays in it varies by company. Companies like Chipotle
emphasize content as an engagement mechanism, while others focus on
post-purchase experience and customer loyalty.

“We’ve seen some great examples of the
correlation between consuming content
and engagement with the brand. And
not surprisingly, those with higher
engagement arenotjustbettercustomers, but
better influencers for the brand. So if the
goal is to measure the value of engaging
with content, we have to measure who is
doing it. And we have to know that person
is the same person who later looked at
a product at GNC.com and then finally
came to our store and made a purchase.
To do this well you have to invest in the
data environment to capture it all, and
then build that content consumption into
an attribution model. A good example is
our Protein Number tool. Nearly 1 million
customers used it to find their protein
number (how many grams of protein
you should consume per day). And while
this may not lead to someone rushing
out to buy more protein, it does lead to
more consumption of the protein powder
you already own, which will then lead to
a purchase sooner than without having
used the tool.”
-David R. Sims | VP CRM | GNC Holdings
“It is very tricky to measure true direct
return on investment (i.e. sales generated)
when employing a complex content
marketing strategy. Most successful
companies leverage some form of revenue
attribution model to measure success,
unless they have highly sophisticated
integrated systems in the background.
To be successful with attributions, it is
critical to identify the customer journey
variations that might be taken and build
a data history of what interactions a
customer has had with the brand.
It is important to be able to develop a
360°degreeviewofyourcustomer/prospect’s
interactions with your company and
create ways to gather more information
in each interaction. For example, it is far
better to ‘gate’ the valuable content and
capture critical customer information
(email address, etc.) that can be attributed
back to a specific customer and can
help build the customer story. Only by
implementing ways to identify customers
throughout their journey with the brand
and then utilizing analytics to build a
customer profile, can you truly tie ROI
back to the content strategy.””
Industry experts suggest that measuring
the success of content is not easily boiled
down to a single metric or two, but rather
should be based on a holistic view of the
consumer decision journey to understand
the effectiveness of content at different
stages of the journey. Engagement is
important, and it should eventually create
purchase and advocacy behaviors.
Measuring the Value of Content is a Struggle
Even though our research showed that companies are using an average of three different
metrics to gauge the performance of content, the accuracy of those metrics to truly
capture the value of content is doubted or questioned by most. Nearly one-quarter of
respondents say the metrics used are not capturing the true value of content and an
additional 38% say they are not sure. Nearly 40% of total respondents say the metrics
in place are accurate.
Yes No Not Sure
Q:
Do you think
the metrics you use
accurately capture
the value of your
content?
38%38%
24%

Companies Say They are Doing a Good Job on Content, but Customers
May Not Be So Delighted
Companies may be glossing over some of the challenges they are facing on content and
it seems that consumers take notice of performance gaps. Over half of respondents say
that their companies have Good (52%) or even Excellent (9%) performance on content
strategy. Just 10% says content performance is Poor.
Based on those numbers, it would seem that creating and executing on a content
strategy is rather straightforward and painless; however, our research indicates that
challenges are widespread in nearly all aspects of content, from creation and/or curation,
to delivery, to measurement. Two issues that directly impact the consumer experience
were cited as the biggest challenges by our survey respondents: Quality & Quantity (in
other words, keeping content fresh and engaging) and Relevancy.
Q:
Please rate the overall
performance of your
content strategy.
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
9%
52%
29%
10%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Quality & Quantity
Relevancy
Budget
Metrics & Measurements
Senior-level Buy In
Cross-channel Consitency
Attribution
Cross-functional Support
What is the
biggest challenge
your company
faces related
to content?
Q:

“A recent Forbes.com and IPG study showed that
readers were 41% more likely to share branded
content when they read it on Forbes.com versus
on the brand’s own site. There is still appetite
within customers for a perceived impartiality of
the brand message. Content and context can
build your customers into advocates, but on the
flip side, see what happens when you send a
household a message about Nestle, when they are
loyal to Cadbury. Personalization is key to loyalty,
whether in content or otherwise. Customers that
perceive brands to be loyal to them (e.g. looking
out for the best offers and sending relevant ones
to their customers) will become and remain loyal
to these brands.”
-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising,
“Global Partnerships | dunnhumby
What’s more, when we asked our Twitter
community how often they – as
consumers – receive relevant messages
from their favorite brands, most people
responded by saying “never” or “hardly
ever.” Customers appreciate recieving
relevant and personalized messages and
it can often be the difference between
driving a purchase and even building a
loyal customer.
Providing content that’s frequently updated, but of a quality that will continue
to excite and engage the target audience is the biggest challenge faced by
one-third of those surveyed. Delivering relevant content to customers is the
biggest challenge faced by 17% of respondents. Essentially, companies say
they are struggling to deliver a delightful experience to customers.

Industry Differences: Travel versus Financial Services
We see stark differences in how the two biggest groups of survey
respondents by industry, Travel/Hospitality and Financial Services/Bank-
ing, approach and describe their content strategies. As a whole, Financial
Services/Banking is spending a larger portion of the marketing budget on
Content, but far fewer are saying performance is Good or Excellent.
The differences between the two industries may indicate the varying
degrees of confidence and flexibility with which both approach content.
Financial Services/Banking is a more strictly regulated industry in many
ways. The regulations may inhibit marketers from freely expressing the
brand’s voice in creating and curating content, and it has likely caused
the industry to be slower to adopt online content delivery mechanisms,
like Facebook and Twitter. While most companies in the industry are now
on those platforms, the sophistication of their strategies, capabilities and
metrics may still be lagging behind others.
Leveraging content to drive sales is a lofty goal and perhaps one that is
easier to accomplish for some industries, like Travel/Hospitality, where
consumers are open to and expectant of content that is aspirational
and inspirational. While Travel/Hospitality marketers expect content to
directly drive sales/revenue, Financial Services/Banking marketers expect
content to come into play at the top of the sales funnel – building brand
reputation and awareness – and at the end of the sales funnel – as a
post-purchase customer service channel.
Travel/Hospitality FinancialServices/Banking
Average Spend on Content
(as % of marketing budget)
Less than 10% 10% - 20%
Most Important Goal of Content Sales/Revenue
Customer Service,
Awareness and
Lead Generation
(3-way tie)
Percentage of Respondents who
Ranked Content Performance
“Good” or “Excellent”
95% 53%
Percentage of Respondents who
Ranked Content Performance
“Poor”
0% 18%
Most Frequently Used Metric Sales/Revenue Web Traffic
Do the Metrics You Use
Accurately Capture the
Value of Your Content?
63% say Yes 17% say Yes
Do You Use Direct Mail as a
Distribution Vehicle?
26% say Yes 65% say Yes

WHYISCONTENTIMPORTANTANDHOWDOESITIMPACT
CONSUMERBEHAVIOR?
For brands, the risks and rewards of content can be hefty. It can and should
represent the voice of a brand and a way to convey the brand identity to cus-
tomers. Only when customers understand a brand’s identity can they build
a relationship with the brand. Content requires a large investment from
customers to take the time to engage and perhaps understand the nuances
of a message, but when done well it can create a foundation for longtime,
profitable relationships with customers.
Content Builds Brand Loyalty
“I frequently contend that loyalty programs today lean far too heavily on monetary
means of influencing Member behavior. While points and discounts are certainly
effective in influencing the behavior of many Members, the challenge is that these
monetary forms of influence are not especially differentiating, and brands do not have
endlessly deep pockets into which they can reach to repeatedly ante-up and outspend
their competition.
Content marketing on the other hand, holds much potential as a non-monetary means
of elevating the relevance of Member communications in loyalty and, in turn, of influencing
customer behavior. And while content marketing alone may not entice new customers into
a brand, content marketing does present itself as an opportunity for loyalty initiatives to
engage and retain existing customers, in ways that are evolved beyond the monetary,
into new territory that is authentic, emotionally rich, and brand-aligned.”
-Scott Robinson | Senior Director of Loyalty and Consulting Solutions | Maritz

CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association Why is Content Important and How Does it
Impact Consumer Behavior?...continued.
Content Inspire and Motivates
“Our content helps us become and stay
engaged with our guests during the
entire cycle of travel, from inspiration, to
research, through booking, stay and after
the stay. It allows us to inspire possibil-
ity, convert the buying decision, resolve
negative emotion and create lifelong
brand advocates through an honest and
transparent brand/guest relationship.”
-Kevin Scholl | Social Media Manager
Red Roof Inn
Content Creates Customer Relationships
“We’re educating and servicing our cli-
ents. Content goes hand-in-hand with the
merchandise we’re trying to sell. Women
love product, but they always want to be
learning more about it. We’re deepen-
ing that relationship and making it more
authentic.”
-Sarah Choi | VP of Beauty Insider | Sephora
Content Builds Brand Trust
“Good content is really a brand’s best
friend. Content that aims to help, enter-
tain or inform your customers rather than
simply pushing out marketing messaging
is going to provide value to your customer.
If they feel that you’re genuinely being
helpful and not too salesy, that will build
trust, which leads to loyalty.”
-Tiffani Allen | Marketing and Communications
Ciceron

MARKSOFAWINNINGCONTENTSTRATEGY
When we asked our members to name brands that deliver a strong content experience, similarities in
makeup and execution emerged. Together, these similarities make the brand more human; not just pro-
moting products and services, but by being a good “neighbor” and “paying it forward” they build equity
with customers. The brands our members named deliver consistently on these five traits:
Relevant
The topic of relevant content is almost as popular as the
discussion on content itself. Customers expect that when
brands reach out, the message will be relevant to their
recent browsing behavior, purchases, preferences, personal
interests, demographics, psychographics, household
members, purchasing power, and the list goes on. When
customers feel the information provided by a brand is
consistently relevant, the message is not only welcomed,
but is sought-after. American Express is an example of a
brand that provides relevant content to its audience seg-
ment of small business owners through OPEN Forum. By
understanding areas where small business owners need
support and thought-leadership, OPEN Forum’s content
helps fill knowledge gaps.
“American Express - provides me information that I feel is
relevant to me.”
-Michael Baum | Partner | Brightstone, Inc.
Exciting and Fresh
Establishing a brand’s point of view or “voice” and then
expressing it in new and exciting ways keeps consum-
ers entertained and coming back for more. Chipotle and
Kenneth Cole are examples of brands that are creating and
delivering content that expresses fundamentals about the
brand identity and seeks to shape the way customers view
specific topics, like food sourcing or homelessness.
“I am always amazed by brands taking a strong position
with content as it is such a double-edged sword. Either
it will really make people take notice or it will have some
special interest group asking consumers to boycott them.
Some of the best content these days is coming from Chi-
potle. They are creating very engaging, short and long form
content around why they choose not to use factory farms.
I also find myself on the lookout for what Kenneth Cole is
saying. This is one brand I find myself engaging with on
Twitter. There are no boundaries and you never know what
they might say. It’s a risky approach, but does position the
brand in an edgy way where you want to see what’s com-
ing. This risk is best mitigated by ensuring relevancy and
delivery of each message to those most likely to positively
react to it.”
-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising, Global Partnerships
dunnhumby

CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association Marks of a Winning Content Strategy...continued.
Unified Voice
Regardless of where the brand is talking or how the mes-
sage is being delivered, the voice of the brand must be
consistent. Kenneth Cole, for example, is a multinational
corporation, but the founder and CEO is the face of the
corporation and his voice comes through in content on the
brand’s website and social media properties.
Contextual Understanding
Customizing content and delivery techniques for each ve-
hicle is critical to customer engagement. While the same
customer may use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email
and other platforms, the platforms are utilized in different
ways, frequencies and for different reasons. The content
that’s featured on these various platforms should reflect
those differences.
Red Bull’s website is a wealth of very rich content that
is connected to the brand, but has very little to do with
promoting the brand’s products. Content focuses on the
interests of Red Bull’s core customers, such as extreme
sports, music and video games. Red Bull utilizes its social
properties to engage with customers and build awareness
for the content that’s featured on the brand’s website. The
messaging on each social property is unique and custom-
ized to provide the best audience experience on that site.
Educational
The best content provides value by way of informing or
educating, in addition to entertaining. The spectrum of
how a brand can educate customers is very wide; for
example, Nordstrom keeps shoppers informed about the
latest fashion trends, while Fidelity Investments educates
about managing money and investments.
“Nordstrom is an interesting retail brand that does a great
job highlighting the latest fashion trends and providing
tips that are relevant to their customer base. By having
information about existing purchases, they can tailor the
content to customer desires and provide targeted com-
munications with extremely relevant content.
Fidelity Investments utilizes educational content to con-
nect with their customers and develop a direct relation-
ship. Often customers who have a company provided
401k start with little direct interaction with the 401k
provider. By providing educational tools such as product
training, financial information and tips for how to use the
company provided research tools, they help a customer
understand how they can directly manage their investment
and in turn, build a stronger brand relationship with Fidel-
ity. This all results in positive returns for Fidelity because
as a customer explores other investment opportunities,
they will likely turn to where they have brand recognition
and loyalty.”

WHATSHOULDMARKETERSPLANFORINFUTURECONTENT
MARKETINGSTRATEGIES?
“Knowing your audience” will remain most critical.
“What needs to be considered when determining a
content strategy is actually quite simple. Know your audi-
ence. As with every aspect of marketing, this truism will
continue to remain the foundational crux of any content
strategy. Executing on the content strategy, now that can
be more of a challenge.”
-Crystel Figaro | Marketing Manager
Exchange Solutions
Consumers will increasingly expect content that
entertains and educates, rather than promotes,
and will reward the brands who provide it.
“Content should fill a consumer interest rather than push a
corporate agenda. Content should be focused not on sell-
ing, but on educating or entertaining.”
-Adam Trisk | Head of Marketing | CrowdTwist
The rapid change in consumer preferences and adoption
of technologies and platforms will not slow.
“It is very hard to think of content without a clear strategy
and that starts at the top. The more you can tie your con-
tent strategy to long-term goals and not just an isolated
campaign, the better. If that was not enough of a job,
you have to keep up with technology and how people are
consuming content. While one channel might be best now,
the younger demos are starting to engage with another.
This will evolve at a much greater rate than even a decade
ago. There is a great statistic from the US Chamber of
Commerce that has gotten much attention, that 90% of
the world’s data was created in the last two years. But the
bigger question is how to use that data to ensure content
is delivered at the right time, right place, right channel,
right context and to the right person.”
-Lung Huang | VP of Digital Advertising, Global Partnerships
dunnhumby
Expect an increase in customer self-service demand.
“Often the best way to personalize the experience is to al-
low customers to serve themselves. Many industries have
evolved into using a mixed model of services – allowing the
customer to do much of what they want online or through
a mobile platform, without engaging with a customer ser-
vice agent at all. And many customers prefer it this way.
Ensuring that your company has a strong content strategy
for enabling self service will be critical to business success
in the future.”

CONTENT | An Executive Brief by Loyalty360 - The Loyalty Marketer’s Association What Should Marketers Plan for in Future
Content Marketing Strategies?...continued.
The importance of long-term measurements will be recognized.
“Of all of the challenges that we are hearing brands talk about with regard to content, measurement is one of the most
critical to get right but also one of the most approachable. A brand’s objective for content should not solely be focused on
driving short-term commerce, but increased collaboration with consumers and increased commitment from constituen-
cies should be considered. Creating long-term engagement and loyalty is the end result of a strong content strategy.
A unique set of measurements, both short- and long-term, should be established to reflect those goals. As with the
challenges of measuring social media and other emerging technologies, it’s tempting to focus on short-term measure-
able results, but there is a need to also look at longer-term less-defined pragmatic financial measurements that CFOs are
looking for today.”

“This pressure often causes organizations to implement overly complex processes for execution and measurement, but
we are seeing that – first and foremost – a few simple characteristics need to be achieved. As we saw with our Executive
Brief on Corporate Social Responsibility, it’s critical that your content is a natural extension of your brand’s mission and
charter, and it needs to be aligned with the way that your company conducts business from the top to the bottom. If
your organization achieves these two attributes, employees will be more empowered to engage with customers and
do so in the right way; so-called content “visionaries” will be less likely to cloud your good judgment; and you will better
understand how to measure the value of content by knowing your customers and what outcomes to expect.”
“It’s expected that companies will spend over $100 billion on content
marketing in 2014. As more companies throw serious money at
content, they will expect to see tangible results.”
CONCLUSION

About Loyalty360
Loyalty360 is an unbiased, market driven, voice of the customer focused
clearinghouse and think-tank that is committed to bringing loyalty to the
forefront as a critical marketing strategy. A trusted source for cutting-edge
research, best practices, and networking opportunities, Loyalty360 gives
members the expert insights and guidance they need to better understand
loyalty and develop programs that effectively engage their customers and
employees and build stronger relationships with them.
Loyalty360 offers you a roadmap to engaging customers and driving
loyalty through research, reports, webinars, conferences, news, expert
articles, multimedia and more. We pride ourselves on our ability to
continuously deliver relevant and timely customer loyalty and engagement
marketing best-practice perspectives and industry thought leadership
on a variety of topics.
About the Author
Emily Heitkamp, Sr. Director, Content and Business Development
As an experienced market researcher and consumer insights expert,
Emily has guided some of the most valuable brands in the world on
their marketing strategies. At Loyalty360, Emily’s research and thought
leadership provides organizations with an understanding of broad trends
in the marketplace, helping them develop strategies for creating profitable
and loyal customers.
Prior to joining Loyalty360, Emily held client services positions with The
Nielsen Company, where she advised clients on measuring and optimizing
advertising campaign effectiveness. Emily previously served as an
account manager at NM Incite – a joint venture between Nielsen and
McKinsey – helping brands measure and act on the chatter about them
on social media. Prior to that, she honed her analytics skills as a research
manager with Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a social media measurement solution,
starting in 2007 when social media was in its infancy. In her time at
Nielsen, Emily grew adept at packaging vast amounts of consumer and
market data into easy-to-understand and actionable insights for clients,
which makes her a valuable asset for Loyalty360’s members.

call 513.800.0360 | visit loyalty360.org | follow @loyalty360

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