Short Term Sales, Long Term Profits: 5 Ways To Get The Most From Your Digital Content
Platforms and publishers are changing to accommodate the current surge in online video – think Facebook’s introduction of auto-playing ads. But testing and insights have to change too, as marketers still have trouble getting a reliable read on which bits of content are performing well – or even what “performing well” looks like.
Brands often rely on analytics and brand monitoring – reacting to the short term performance of their content. But that’s only giving them half the picture. The companies that make the most of this changing environment will be ones which understand the long term contribution their content makes to profitable growth.
The latest work by Peter Field and Les Binet for the IPA underlines this. By IPA estimates a staggering 72% of spend is on activation campaigns – where returns within 2 months is the aim. But Binet and Field confirm that it’s the campaigns with longer term goals that best drive profitable growth.
We want to help brands make sure their online content creates a short term sales spike and builds profitable growth beyond that initial lift. So we’re launching an industry first, System1 Digital Content Tracking, designed to keep pace with the tide of branded content and help marketers focus on long term profitability.
With System1 Digital Content Tracking we test every piece of online video content you and your competitors produce, and give you the content and the results on a secure, user-friendly dashboard.
System1 Digital Content Tracking helps brands win with their digital content by letting them do 5 crucial things.
- PREDICT LONG TERM PROFITABILITY. We’ve known for years that the more people feel, the more people buy. Our System 1 brains use emotion to guide and simplify decisions, which is why positive feeling accurately predicts profitable growth. So we measure emotional response to everything we test. Is one of your videos a 5-Star emotional blockbuster? You can find out quickly and plan investment accordingly.
- PREDICT SHORT TERM SALES. The intensity of emotional response also governs short term sales gain. Videos which hit the viewer with multiple emotions can create big spikes in short term activation and sales – even if they don’t move the needle long term. We identify which bits of content do that, letting brands allocate seeding and spend for short term wins.
- USE FLUENCY. Human beings are pattern recognition machines. The quicker we process something, the likelier we are to choose it and the higher we value it. This “Fluency” is vital for brand building and reaching new customers. We measure Brand Fluency and Recognition for every piece of content. Your content should have strong brand associations without compromising on emotional impact.
- DIG INTO DIAGNOSTICS. Want to know what’s driving emotion in a piece of content? We provide verbatim reasons. Want the widescreen view of what you and your competitors are doing? Over time our results build into a comprehensive picture of what’s working, and a league table of the best content which shows how you’re measuring up.
- PLAN AND RESPOND. The best way to ensure zero waste and get the most from your content is to test in bulk. The System1 Digital Content Tracking lets you test everything, quickly. With results available 24 hours after test, the data inputs into both immediate and long-range marketing plans, and lets you respond fast to new competitor activity.
Brands need to tap the massive potential for activation in digital content while not losing sight of long term goals. Linking accurate short term and long term prediction is the best way to do that, achieving profitable growth with zero waste. Digital is a marathon and a sprint, and yes, you can win both.