Customers Act on Thought Leadership Articles

AdFusion, the article-based ad network recently published some research on how articles that contain brand information are more likely than banners, popups, emails or any other means of online advertising or content to drive customers to act.

Granted, this research is sponsored by AdFusion, which has a vested interest in the success of their article based ad network.  That said, it points to a growing trend and opportunity for marketers to put out content and information that’s of some value, rather than just slapping up a banner ad or dropping email with nothing of substance for the intended reader.

According to AdFusion, respondents said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to read and respond to:
• Articles that include brand information: 51 percent
• Email offers: 47 percent
• Sponsored search engine links: 39 percent
• Banner ads: 25 percent
• Pop-up ads: 13 percent

Why is this?  Well, there are a few reasons to be sure, but most likely, it is that articles, and I would add “thought leadership content”, have a unique ability to instill trust in the company publishing them because they’re sharing something of value before execting the propect to transfer value (money) to them.  This is the premise behind Paul DiModica’s book “Value Forward Marketing”. Delivering some amount of value in exchange for attention is how future marketers are going to succeed in getting their message across.  As explained in this article from iMediaConnection in 2004, we’re situated squarely in the middle of the “attention economy”

As a result, attention has become today’s most valuable currency. And because consumers control the inventory, it has become one of the most complex. A variety of environmental forces, such as cultural changes, relationships and personal lifestyle habits, all combine to influence unpredictable attention spans.

In a nutshell, we have embarked upon the “attention economy,” as author Esther Dyson explains in her book “The Economics of Attention.” She claims it’s not that marketers don’t have data to support actionable insight, but that they have been slow to adjust to the needs and habits of users in this new economy. Marketers are being forced to think the way consumers think — in modes, not channels. Few companies have truly revolutionized their communication approaches to catch up with consumer patterns.

Moreover, articles and thought leadership content inspire, at least at some level, a bit of trust.  At least, a bit more trust than the average ad inspires. Geoff Ramsey, CEO of eMarketer in his latest e-book, Digital Marketing Now:
Seven Strategies for Surviving the Downturn, highlights “engendering trust” as one of the key strategies that digital marketers need to employ in a downturn.

The fundamental undercurrent perpetuating the current
economic climate is an eroding sense of trust.This lack of trust
permeates not only our financial institutions but also consumer
confidence—in their investments, in their ability to purchase and
in their very future.

Well before this current recession, though, consumers were
becoming increasingly skeptical of advertising messages.

The net of all of this, and going back to our initial premise that articles and thought leadership help drive sales, means for marketers that it’s time to show customers and prospects that you’re not just another ‘pretty ad’.  It’s time to deliver value before the purchase, it’s time to share to gain trust and put real content and real substance where they may formerly have been only marketing fluff.  Now is the time to write, speak, and get your message out in a way that customers actually place value on your ideas (and you publish ideas that are worth valuing).