Branded Content

1. Be current

What's hot and what's not? Writing for the present and what's of interest to your audience will only help you be recognized as a source of credible/useful information and assist in your search results (SEO or otherwise). People will find you! 

2. Brand don't sell

Connecting with the brand and don't sell. Generate content of interest (relates to above on being topical). Create your own distinctive personality.

From our friends at Content Marketing Institute

1. Your content is all about you

2. Your fear of failing paralyzes you

3. You’re setting the bar too low

4. You’re not sourcing correctly

5. You operate in silos

6. You don’t seek out discomfort

7. You do not have calls to action

8. You are too focused on one particular channel

Custom Content continues to grow across all organizations, large and small.  An article tellallmarketing.com has found that the custom content spend is actually "exploding!"

Companies spent an average of $1.6 million on branded content over the past two years, according to a survey by the Custom Content Council and ContentWise. That’s a 13% increase over the last survey.

At DCP we are continuing to focus on the latest and greatest in Tablet App development for our clients.  We have some very exciting news coming within the next 10 days!  To further support our investment into tablet app platforms for publishing a new data shows that tablets to hit 100M shipments in 2012: study By Lauren Johnson August 27, 2012

From Luxury Daily:

From Adobe Research: Results from the Adobe 2012 Mobile Consumer Survey show that consumers are using their smartphones and tablet devices to connect with brands in a variety of ways, but there is significant room for improvement in the user experience.
In March 2012, Adobe surveyed more than 1,200 mobile users in the United States to learn what mobile devices they use, how they interact with websites and applications, and what they want most out of their mobile experiences.

A study from the Custom Content Council/Content Wise reveals the following:

As other forms of content marketing evolve, it appears that printed custom publications (which were the original form of content marketing decades ago) are evolving as well, toward a more substantial, richer magazine format with greater page counts and circulation, and lower frequency.

A report presents the results of a study conducted by Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communication for the Custom Content Council shows CMOs Increasingly Value Custom Content. This report measured increases over five years from 2006 to 2011. 

Close to nine in ten CMOs say that they see value in the service provided by custom content (87% say custom content is very or somewhat valuable). This represents a 15 point increase from 2006.

In the past we've discussed the resource allocation to developing more custom content.  This survey backs what we've been stating about this dramatic shift in the throught process - the allocation of resources to creating branded custom content and content marketing strategies.

New Study Reveals Record Level of Resources Allocated to Content Marketing

Here's some great stats from the MPA.  The Associatiation of Magazine Media

Branded Video Leads Pack in Growth of Distribution Channels

While print still captures the majority of money spent on custom media – $23.6 billion – the combination of electronic, video, and other forms reached an all-time high spend of $16.6 billion in 2011, with 52% of marketers saying they now use branded video. Eighty-seven percent of companies use print to convey content, followed closely by web sites at 82%.