Lessons learned in 2015 from PR, COMMS & Marketing Perspective

As we close out 2015 from a marketing, public relations and communications perspective, here are a few things I have learned, a lot of which came from the recent PRSA International meeting…

The internet of things is becoming the internet of analytics. While we can generally divide web content from a marketing standpoint into the buckets of paid, earned, owned and shared, content is still king.

It’s estimated that 80 percent of decision makers prefer articles versus ads when they are researching a vendor or product to purchase. This would indicate that brand journalism is not the same as content marketing.

Internet search is the number one source of information and certainly strongly influences both consumer and business decision making. Because paid results are highlighted as such, savvy buyers may look beyond those. Banner ads are currently averaging a paltry 2.7% response rate. It’s thought the customer journey is based on solutions instead of brands.

While content is still king it’s said context is queen. Is there third party validation? Does the context of the content support the message? Is the key decision making information coming from a relevant, trusted online source?

The best content marketers have direct relationships with their consumers because the relationship provides real value to their fans. A good brand is a promise made; a great brand is a promise kept. Thoughts, questions, comments? I’d love to hear from you. Happy New Year!