Topical Content

Fan doing the Megan Rapinoe stance from her celebrating her team's first goal during the 2019 Women's World Cup quarter-final match between France and the U.S.

There are so many types of content out there nowadays so, what in the world is topical content? Topical content is relevant to current events or timely topics. Think about things that are currently trending. Writing, vlogging, news stories, videos or even advertisements can be done on trending topics. These would all be considered topical content pieces since they focus on current news/trends. So, let’s talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of writing topical content.

ADVANTAGES:

1.     Authority in your field: by staying current with trends and news in your field you set yourself up as a brand who has authority. It shows your brand researches relevant subjects often. This will help build trust with your B2B and B2C audiences.

2.     Requires less work: all it takes is a quick glance at sites and news stories to give you the ideas you need to produce topical content. This can save time and money when creating content. It can also help with creativity when at a loss for fresh ideas.

3.     Drives seasonal traffic to multiple channels: this can increase your audience reach because your topical content can gain traction over multiple points: social media, website, emails, etc.

DISADVANTAGES:

1.     Others are posting too: your competitors are probably posting on trending topics too, all the while spinning their own take on it. This can make it harder to stand out from the crowd. It can require a lot of time, effort and money to make yourself stand out, so if this is something you can’t commit to, then you may want to shift your strategies.

2.     It doesn’t benefit the long run for SEO: it can get you more traffic to your site in the short game but trust is built over time. This is where evergreen content comes into play, which we will talk about in our next blog.

Topical content has its place in the marketing and advertising world. It can provide relevant information on current affairs and can be a way to switch it up from the mundane. Ultimately, your marketing and advertising strategies should be a mix of topical and evergreen content. How much you choose to create topical content will also depend on what your business goals are and the audiences’ you’re trying to attract. Industry standard states that a mix of 1:4 is the general rule of thumb for the topical to evergreen content ratio. The first being topical content to every four evergreen content posts. Topical content definitely has its place but evergreen content is what’s needed to keep your audience behind your brand in the long haul.

Creative Ways to Advertise

Did you know that it typically takes 5-7 brand interactions before a consumer remember the brand? (Start Up Bonsai) We’ve written articles in the past on how to make your advertisements stand out from the crowd with the use of Interactive Advertising. We’ve also talked about what contributes to the effectiveness of an advertisement. Creativity will always win in advertising campaigns so why should the way that you advertise be any different? Not only should the advertisements themselves stand out, the way that you advertise should as well. Here are some creative and not so creative, but tried and tested, ideas to get you started.

1.     Magazines. This type of advertising is one of the oldest. Ads began in newspapers so this is similar. This can cost your brand anywhere from $500-$20K depending on which publication it is as well as the placement within the magazine. Ads in the back are typically better so they are going to cost your brand more. Cost will also be affected by the size and colors you choose.

2.     Sponsor local city maps. This one is a bit old school but tested to work. This will work especially well if your brand is located in a tourist destination.

3.     Use the space creatively. Put an ad on the celling of a building. On the floor or the staircase. Use the space creatively to draw attention to the campaign.

4.     Swag. Everyone loves free stuff and it helps your brand advertise. Think pens, tee shirts, reusable water bottles, stickers, bottle openers, etc. Keep costs low by ordering early, buying in bulk, shopping around for the best deals and also negotiate pricing.

5.     Vehicle wraps. We’ve all seen the bus side ads. It’s dynamic since the vehicle is always in motion. Many people will see the ad but make sure that it legible to read in motion. This type of advertising is also a bit costly ranging anywhere from $3K-5K. That being said, this type of ad generates 2.5x’s more attention than static billboards according to Sign Post. You can easily find companies in your area that specialize in vehicle wraps with a simple Google search. 

6.     Banner Ads. Banner ads are a great way to get your brand to the eyes of those that potentially are interested in what you have to offer. These are placed on specific websites that have similar interest to your business through publishers. This can help grow your audience big time. They should be animated to get the viewers’ attention immediately. Costs of this type of advertising varies. Some do 50cents per 1,000 impressions. Meaning that it will be displayed 1,000 times. Some charge one-time fees for a specified span of time.

These are some fun ways to mix up the ways that your brand is advertising. Not only should your advertisement be creatively sound, the way that you choose to advertise that campaign should be as well. We hope this helps give you some ideas to add diversity to your advertising strategies.

Advertising Effectiveness Contributors

What makes an advertisement effective? Take a second to think about it. We’ll wait…. Now that you’ve thought about it, we’re going to give you a hint. It’s not a cut and dry answer. As we’re sure you’ve guessed, it’s not just one thing that will make an advertisement effective, it’s multiple aspects. That being said though, turns out that creativity is still the most important part of advertising effectiveness. There are 5 other important contributors to advertising effectiveness. According to a study done by Nielson Catalina Solutions, creative lands on top at 47% but the other 5 include reach at 22%, brand at 15%, targeting lists at 9%, recency at 5% and lastly, context at 2%. It’s interesting to note that creative is still the top driver of advertising effectiveness, but this does not mean that brands can neglect the other 5 contributors. Let’s take a look at recency. Recency is a theory stating that advertising will have a greater sales impact when exposure occurs close to a purchase. Determining when your audience will buy will determine when to run your ad. If they buy on the weekend, then the ad should be run on Thursday or Friday right before their purchase. This article only touches on the topics that increase advertising effectiveness and each contributor could have an article of their own. It’s crucial for brands to understand what drives their advertisement effectiveness in order to increase sales.

Emotional Advertising

Of course, we all buy things out of necessity or want! However, as it turns out a lot of us buy things driven by emotions. A study done showed that “70% of viewers who experienced an intense emotional response to an ad were very likely to buy the product” (Unruly). This brings to mind that overly drawn out commercial for the SPCA. In the ad you’re shown sad faced, pitiful looking animals while Sarah McLaughlin sings in a melancholy tone the background. Yea, you know exactly which one I’m talking about. They’re really selling it home hard with triggering the emotional response here. This is the text book example of an emotional ad. Makes sense to advertise this way. IPA Research showed that, “ads with purely emotional content perform twice as well (31% vs. 16%) compared to those with only rational content.” It appears we are emotional beings rather than rational. Side note, Italians are the most emotionally engaged with brands at a whopping 65%. We thought this fact was interesting. Although very effective, it can be somewhat risky. There’s really no predicting if it will beseech the emotional response intended from your audience. This is why we believe user generated content should be a big part of every brands advertising strategy. UGC is one of the best ways to create emotional connections from brand to audience using the lens of the customer experiences. With an array of emotions and reactions through UGC video, it’s not a surprise that it is the most engaging. When you can sympathize with another “real” human who isn’t a paid actor, you build an authentic relationship with the brand and its mission. But don’t take our word for it, Frontify showed a statistic that 85% of people find UGC to be more influential. If your brand hasn’t already tapped into the infinite potential of UGC or sourced content marketing contact us to learn how.