From “Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital” P. 124

The problem is that marketers often see content marketing as another form of advertising and social media as other forms of broadcast media. Some marketers simply shift their advertisements to social media without significantly reinventing the content. They see content as the longer versions of advertisement.

We believe a major mindset shift is required. Content is indeed the new advertisement. But the two are totally different. An advertisement contains information that brands want to convey to help sell their products and services. Content, on the other hand, contains information customers want to use to achieve their own personal and professional objectives.

A 2015 study by Google of thousands of YouTube TrueView advertisements revealed the attributes of videos that viewers do not skip: they contain stories, human faces, and some sort of animation. It also revealed that including a brand logo in the first 5 seconds of an advertisement increases brand recall, but it also can decrease watch time. Marketers need to realize that their definition of good content might not be the same as the customer’s definition. Ultimately, it is the customer’s definition that counts.

In order to engage with customers consistently, sometimes marketers need to create content that might not directly contribute to their brand equity or improve their sales numbers but is valuable to customers.”

From “Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital” P. 121

Content is the New Ad, #Hashtag is the New Tagline

In a nutshell, content marketing is a marketing approach that involves creating, curating, distributing, and amplifying content that is interesting, relevant, and useful to a clearly defined audience group in order to create conversations about the content. Content marketing is also considered to be another form of brand journalism and brand publishing that creates deeper connections between brands and customers. Brands that are implementing good content marketing provide customers access to high-quality original content while telling interesting stories about the brands in the process. Content marketing shifts the role of marketers from brand promoters to storytellers.”

From “Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital” P. 11

With the internet, physical logistical constraints no longer exist for smaller companies and brands.

This inclusivity now enables companies to enter industries that they would not otherwise have entered in the past. This provides opportunities for companies to grow but poses significant competitive threats. Because distinctions between industries are blurring, it will be highly challenging for companies to keep track of their competitors. Competitors in the future will come from the same industry as well as from other relevant and connected industries.
…
To spot latent competitors, companies should start with customers’ objectives and consider potential alternatives that customers might accept to achieve their objectives.”

From “Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital” P. 46

In this transition and adaptation period to the digital economy, a new marketing approach is required to guide marketers in anticipating and leveraging the disruptive technologies. For the past six years, marketers have been asking for a sequel to Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit. In the book, we talked about the major shift from product-driven marketing (1.0) to customer-centric marketing (2.0) to ultimately human-centric marketing (3.0).

We now want to introduce Marketing 4.0. Marketing 4.0 is a marketing approach that combines online and offline interactions between companies and customers. In the digital economy, digital interaction alone is not sufficient. In fact, in an increasingly online world, offline touch represents a strong differentiation. Marketing 4.0 also blends style with substance. While it is imperative for brands to be more flexible and adaptive due to rapid technological trends, their authentic characters are more important than ever. In an increasingly transparent world, authenticity is the most valuable asset. Finally, Marketing 4.0 leverages machine-to-machine connectivity and artificial intelligence to improve marketing productivity while leveraging human-to-human connectivity to strengthen customer engagement.”