Last week’s (Part-I) article on ‘A CMO’s New Arsenal’ on Outside In focused on the use of Digital Mediums for better connect and engagement with Customers – https://outsideinlens.substack.com/p/a-cmos-new-arsenal-use-of-digital. This week we explore the trends and illustrations in a Part-II article towards revitalizing Quality Content that acts as a Brand Differentiator in a customer’s mind. Without further ado, let’s jump right in…
CMO’s Priorities Today (Recap)
Build a unique and persistent connect with their customers
Identify ways to deliver regular and relevant communications to maintain a customer’s engagement with the brand
2nd Idea in a Nutshell – Content Revitalization
Content: Experiential Contextual Data/Marketing is becoming a key theme going forward
Channels: Define value (of Content) for each Event, at each stage of the Customer Journey
HP Point of View: Their Digital Marketing Ops team works as an In-house Agency that oversees Content Optimization, Media and Rev Optimization, E-mail nurturing, Enterprise nurturing, SME nurturing – Digital initiatives arm which even includes a team of Data Scientists working on things like Propensity Models, Segment Targeting Etc.
Let’s now look at some industry use cases that not only showcase ways of using revitalized Content is used as a Brand Differentiator, but even serve as a roadmap for impactful initiatives going forward…
Use of Quality Content for Brand Differentiation
1) Content Enabled Digital Ecosystems – Life99 Initiative by HDFC Life
In partnership with Zirca Digital, HDFC Life has come up with a platform dedicated to the Pension Segment. They realized a need for the pensioners who were looking to manage investments and generate income post retirement from work – which is considered to be one of the hardest problems in personal finance. And the key difficulty towards planning for this issue is identified as the lack of information, tools and guidance on a single platform
To meet this objective, HDFC Life created a Category-first Solution in the form of Life99:
One-stop destination for all retirement-planning needs
Including all the tools and calculators needed
Expert guidance for investments, tax savings, employer benefits, etc.
Solutions and Content for financial as well as non-financial needs
Content Approach
They adopted a 3-step approach:
They mapped different life-stages/age-groups
As Step-2, they tailored content across interest areas while addressing their goals and aspirations
As Step-3, they adapted the content to the best formats suited for each palate. This meant compiling a mix of articles, infographics and animated videos distributed via a mix of e-mailers, whatsapp messenger and social channels (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram). One message was rendered across a variety of devices - PCs/Laptops, Mobiles and Tablets
The Content Made It Count
Easy-to-absorb and engaging educational content broke down complex financial concepts and lead to smarter decisions for customers
Content pre-empted FAQs and provided answers for them
Content lightened up heavy topics and concepts
It delivered on being an interactive platform
Users were enabled to become active role players rather than passive observers
More engagement is pursued with a series of webinars
Plans are afoot to build a community of financially aware individuals and growing user generated content (UGC) for the platform
2) Other Notable Examples of Content-driven Differentiation
Jeevansathi.com: It saw its traffic and registrations go up by 30% during the pandemic. Since people were at home, they were investing in their Life Plans. They decided to adapt their ‘Life Partner Search’ Content to align with this ‘Mind-space’ appropriately
Orchestration of Omnichannel Campaign – Ladka Acha Hain – with the key focus on Business Metrics rather than Qualitative Metrics (since they are a Digital-only Business)
Since Parents and Grandparents are very important influencers, the Content of the Campaign was focused on them
A granular mix of communications was designed with insights from the Product/Data Science Teams – a set of 49 Creatives were targeted at 180 Niche Cohorts over 3 Weeks
Main TVC played on TV to build campaign salience, but they used YouTube extensively to reach/connect with the lower end of the Customer funnel
Magicbricks.com: Consumers found themselves stuck in their homes for such a long duration, for the first time ever, and they didn’t really know what to do with it. Using a mix of Online as well as Offline Data Insights, they decided to focus on delivering Contextual Content
It led to development of a ‘crowd-sourced’Ghar Par Rehkar Ghar Ko Dekha Campaign
Riding on an insight that 67% of home buyers wanted to continue to buy a home post-pandemic, the film beautifully captured how the time spent during the lockdown made us think about the little extras we wanted in our current homes
It used visuals of candid moments of friends and families of its employees and partners, shot at home by them during the lockdown. The images were then stitched together with powerful poetry that evokes our aspirations of owning a dream home. The brand film were amplified across all digital mediums
You can check the Campaign at:
CarDekho.com: They saw increasing consumer trends moving from Shared Mobility to Independent Mobility. They refreshed their Digital Marketing to reflect this new reality.85% of their customer journeys are the same across the 9-10 pieces/touch-points of Content – which address the key question which car you want to buy? The next important question for them was to answer is how their content was being consumed and helping them with their decision making?
Targeted a lot of their SEO towards Car Searches
Built vernacular content addressing the rural markets where 2-wheelers sales were expected to spike after the pandemic
They invested in positive brand building of the Gaadi Store – a retail auction model for pre-owned cars
Check the campaign here at:
Airbnb: When people could not travel due to the pandemic, it brought Travel/Places back into people’s homes with their Content Campaigns
It worked with influencers of Art, Yoga, Calligraphy, Etc. to showcase a variety of ‘Online Experiences’ and brought their content to people in their Homes – thereby fostering a deeper people-to-people connect
It drove campaigns like Go-Near which are at driveable distances to build consumer confidence, support local communities and promote domestic travel. In India, they have signed partnerships with SEWA, Princess Diya Kumari Foundation, and Nagaland Tourism to promote community-based tourism
It launched an Independence Day special Virtual Tour of India – which featured shows on Jaipur City, India Street Art, Flavours of India, Tour of Taj Mahal with an Expert and Taste of India-Chai/Samosa Specials: https://news.airbnb.com/en-in/this-independence-day-go-on-a-virtual-tour-of-india-with-airbnb/
It drove campaigns like Live Anywhere (work from a Goa Villa) and even got Designer Masaba to do some promotions from Goa before the release of her film on Netflix
In Conclusion
OP (Old Process) + NT (New Technology) = EOP (Expensive Old Process) – Someone in one of these conferences had articulated this formula as wisdom. Unless, new technology is blended with new processes – like ‘revitalized Content’ in this case – it won’t necessarily create an impact in the Digital Age. I readily agree. All CMOs need to be cognizant about this
According to a Gartner study, emerging trends on Content will be centred around Voice and Vernacular Content – 30% of content will be searched using Voice (without screens) and building for Vernacular languages will be key
There’s this truism that is spoken about in many Industry forums – For building superior customer Experiences, every organization must cultivate the capability to deliver Personalized Experiences at Scale. And, the next focus area would be the realization of Individualized Experiences. I believe these efforts can start with Quality Content Delivery and create an immediate Impact. It is the most versatile tool in a CMO’s Arsenal…
References and Sources
1) My Notes from ET MarTech Summit and IAMAI Marketing Conclave
2) HDFC Life Session at IAMAI Marketing Conclave
3) Magicbricks Campaign: https://www.exchange4media.com/advertising-news/magicbricks-crowd-sources-content-for-latest-brand-film-during-lockdown-104711.html
4) Airbnb Go Near: http://bwhotelier.businessworld.in/article/Airbnb-launches-new-summer-campaign-Go-Near-promoting-domestic-travel-/16-06-2020-287773/
5) Airbnb Independence Day Virtual Tour of India: https://news.airbnb.com/en-in/this-independence-day-go-on-a-virtual-tour-of-india-with-airbnb/