Content marketing isn't a new concept. It seems to appear throughout media and advertising history whenever a new medium, like TV, radio, magazines, and now social media appear. Brands are using this strategy to reach customers before the buying decision because they can finally reach you wherever you are through the social media networks you spend so much time with.

1. Content marketing has
become a big deal…but
Why?

2. This isn’t a new concept.
David Ogilvy used to write
articles for his clients that
were advertisements

3. 3
“It has been found that the less
an advertisement looks like an
advertisement and the more it
looks like an editorial, the more
readers stop, look, and read.”
-David Ogilvy

4. And some of the best ads
are repeats of previous
motifs

5. Schweppes – Commander
Whitehead
Dos Equis – The most interesting
man in the world

6. Content marketing (with
different names) seems to
reappear with the
introduction of new
mediums

7. John Deere – The Furrow
Magazines

8. Oxydol – Ma Perkins
Soap Opera
Radio

9. Kraft Television Theatre
Television

10. Display advertisements on
social media and mobile
phones don’t work, but this
problem has existed before

11. There were tons of ads in
newspapers
New York Times Pages 3 – 5, June 11, 1974
This is the only news on the page! So the display ad problem that plagues
the internet, used to exist in printed news as well

12. A lot of money is spent on
digital ads that don’t work
2012 2013 2014E
Display $14.8 $17.6 $20.6
Search $17.3 $19.6 $21.6
$-
$5.0
$10.0
$15.0
$20.0
$25.0
$30.0
$35.0
$40.0
$45.0
USD(Billions)
US Digital Advertising Spend
Source: eMarketer

13. Social media is a new
medium, and brands are
adopting it to reach their
audiences directly

14. Social media has overtaken search in
content discovery

15. Content marketing has
gained an enormous
amount of popularity and
investment in the last
couple years

16. B2B 2014 Spending B2C 2014 Spending B2B Marketers B2C Marketers
Source: Content Marketing Institute

17. Potential customers are
discovering solutions to
their problems rather than
being pulled by sales…
Why?

18. 66-90% of a buying decision is made
before a customer contacts a sales
person
Source: Forrester Research