Just two seconds to make an impression

Julia Hutchison, COO, APA, on the value of content marketing…

Research shows that brands have just two seconds to make an impression when targeting the email inboxes of prospect customers. Added to this is the depressing statistic that over half of people will delete the email without even opening it.

The research, undertaken by Litmus for the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), tracked more than four million opened emails over hundreds of marketing campaigns.  The results made worrying reading for the email marketing community, with just 51% spending less than two seconds looking at the email, and even in the best campaigns only 77% read the message in full.

Time is an issue that crops up time (!) and time (!) again. The burning conundrum for marketers today, in this constantly switched on and evolving world is how you get customers to give up their most precious resource and engage with your brand. There sadly isn’t a panacea, but the answer lies in finding a trade off – time for entertainment, time for quality, time for information. In essence time for added value.

This is something that has played directly into the hands of the 25 minute medium – editorialised branded content. Through customer magazines, editorially led websites, apps, TV channels and a number of other media, consumers are entertained, informed and ultimately given something valuable in return for their time. That’s why it is still a growing channel, when all around it others are in decline.

25 minutes… that’s almost half an hour with a customer. Imagine what you could do with that. In context that’s the same as 50 30-second TV slots or 187.5 poster views, 75 radio ads and 3,000 web views – powerful stuff! Few other media channels can offer this type of engagement, while slotting so easily into an integrated campaign.

Branded content is clearly a hugely compelling way for marketers to have engaging interactions with consumers. Customer magazines alone can increase brand loyalty by 32% (APA Advantage Study), with readers more likely to hold positive views on the brand after this engagement. This is incredibly valuable in a world where advocacy and word of mouth are seen to play such a significant role in a brand’s success. Regardless of what sector or industry you are in, these facts put forward a compelling case for the value of content marketing.