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Content marketing and native advertising have become an important part of Santander Consumer Bank and they are working towards building their own content powerhouse. Jeppe Madsbad Lauritzen, Nordic Marketing Director and speaker at Native DAYS17, tells us why.
How can a digital bank like Santander benefit from creating a content powerhouse? How does native advertising fit into this?
Well, we know from different consumer studies that up 70% of the decision is made before you contact any brand directly. Therefore, it is important for us to be a part of the dialogue that goes ahead of actually applying for a loan.
Content Marketing is the perfect tool for that. If we, for example, can start a dialogue with a growing family by providing them with a test of the “best choices in station cars right now”, we will – not only – be one step ahead of our competitors when the “shortlist” of financing partners is chosen, we will also be able to build trust!
On top of that, a strategic approach to content marketing and native advertising should allow us to work with a more Nordic approach, which again will mean that we are becoming more agile and optimized when developing and producing content for the four countries we are active in.
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What have been your most important learnings when doing native advertising campaigns for Santander?
That the core of our content has to as close as possible to our services and products to obtain a substantial effect.
It is easy to be “seduced” if agencies address you with all kind of “celebrity-sponsor-cool-stuff-based” activation driven content! But when you are battling in the tough ballgame like “selling money” you should be aware that – at the end of the day - it will hardly build you anything but awareness.
Concerning native, I believe you can accelerate relevance by distributing through media -- or sections of media -- supporting your content whether it is about personal savings, cars or other areas.
We are very much aware that the phenomenon “viral distribution of content” probably has, or very soon will, come to an end.
How much will native advertising be part of your marketing strategy?
More and more! We are very much aware that the phenomenon “viral distribution of content” (with the number of participating players) probably has, or very soon will, come to an end.
Therefore, all forms of paid distribution and/or acceleration are things we are looking into, trying to master, or at least keep up with.
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Also, it can make us able to “move the battlefield” and face our competitors at other places than Google, where the best search words will just continue to become more and more expensive. (Meaning that there is only one winner: Google...)
We truly believe that relevant content distributed through relevant media (relevant for the customers, that is!) is the key to establish and guide through a digital customer journey.
What is the future for Santander when it comes to content production and native advertising - how will you activate your sponsorships?
The future is bright! We are on a pan-Nordic basis continuously shifting more and more from push to pull and we see a quite near future where it will all be pull.
Again, we truly believe that relevant content distributed through relevant media (relevant for the customers, that is!) is the key to establish and guide through a digital customer journey where you, as a marketer, will have fewer and fewer possibilities to interact ahead of the actual buying decision.
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