KEY INSIGHTS

USE YOUR DATA TO GUIDE THE WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN

“Every Guardian Labs project is designed to resonate with and target readers wherever they may expect to see a type of content,” Adam Foley, Guardian Labs Dir./Sales & Strategy told Digiday. “That's partly thanks to the commercial team getting access to in-house data-analytics tools used by the editorial team.” The Labs has an audience team of editors who analyse data to determine where, when and how content should appear in order to be of interest to the right target.

CONTENT MARKETING BOOMING

“Ad spending is declining across the media industry, except in content marketing. From native posts to ebooks and even lush print magazines, the form is booming,” wrote Tony Silber, former VP at Folio, in Forbes.

IT CAN BE HARD AND EXPENSIVE

However, creating branded content can be hard and expensive. Brian Tolleson, Head of Content at branded content studio Bark Bark said, “Great branded content is really tough. I've been in this space for 15 years and the biggest mistake I've made or seen people make is thinking that it's simple.” FIPP

IT CAN BE TIME-CONSUMING AND EXPENSIVE

These campaigns also require multiple steps of approval, which complicates and extends the process. Further, clients and agencies demand high-quality multimedia content, which in turn requires expensive equipment and writers.

DON’T SERVE CRAP

“While creating great content might look easy, it's not. And just as people will hate your brand if you bombard them with annoying ads, they'll feel exactly the same if you waste their time serving crap content.” — Stéphanie Thomson, Editor and Content Strategist at Google speaking to Digiday

A DELICATE BALANCING ACT

“In some situations, the content really overemphasises the brand and makes it all about them,” said Thomson. “That can end up sounding like a repurposed press release. It's also possible to fall short on the other side of the equation, where you're telling a really great story but there's no connection to the brand. The idea is to fall in the middle, where your content provides value to the audience while also having a clear brand connection.” FIPP

AVOID BRIGHT SHINY THINGS

Sometimes the allure and pressure of including bright shiny new things can be tempting. Graham McDonnell, Creative Director at The Times' T Brand Studio said, “Some clients come to us and say they want AR and VR. They want all the bells and whistles, and all the flashy toys. But we tell them it's much more important to think about the story first, and then how to tell it.” FIPP