Outbrain Masterclass Series: Building Content Strategies Around Specific Outcomes

This is the second edition in a series of blog posts where we cover some great examples of content built by brands in the Financial Services industry.

In our previous article, we looked at some best practices around using content to highlight social issues and dived deep into the ANZ award-winning “Equal Future” campaign and key factors that made it successful.

Today, we are going to look at some tips that will help you align your content marketing strategy to specific outcomes – from building trust, to educating your audience about your product, and driving more measurable intent.

Here’re some of the takeaways from the conversation during our first Finance Masterclass in Sydney.

First, we discussed building content strategies around specific outcomes, and how it is essential to produce content that isn’t just about your product. You also need to take a position on certain issues as that’s what builds trust, gives your brand a human voice, and makes your content something people can relate to.

For FSI brands, in particular, we addressed how education is another important outcome. When you’re selling complex products, you need to create content that allows people to visualize how these products or services can help them solve a problem or add value to their lives, which can effectively turn an interested lead into a customer.

In the video above, Schalk van der Sandt, Head of Digital at PHD Media, who worked directly with ANZ (Australia & New Zealand Banking Group) on the Equal Future campaign, shares tips to help you align your content marketing strategy to specific outcomes.

We are now going into what some have defined the “post-demographic targeting era”, where you’re no longer profiled as relevant audience based on your gender, age or where you live. Media strategies have evolved too in order to be able to target audiences based on intent.

But how do you drive, and subsequently measure, intent through content?

Well, there are 3 main engagement ‘moments’ you can leverage:

1. Search: The first and probably easiest moment you can leverage is people who are actively searching for your brand.

2. Remarketing: Then, the people returning to your site or content through remarketing ads. They have shown interest in your product by interacting with your content, visiting your website, etc. but didn’t ultimately complete the action you wanted them to complete. The limitation of this strategy is that you’re just reacting to a behavior, rather than proactively doing audience outreach.

3. Content Discovery: By distributing your content using platforms like Outbrain, you can engage with your audience when they’re most reactive to content. They are reading the news, reading their favorite blog and are in a discovery mode, making them more willing to engage with your content so long as it creates a contextual experience. And that is the most powerful signal of an audience member’s genuine interest.