AN INVESTIGATION OF IMPACT OF CONTENT MARKETING ON CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

As the digital ecosystem changes, building relationships with customers using content marketing becomes an important practice for organizations. Unlike advertisements, where products and services have a direct focus on selling the product, and crafting an enticing message to 'persuade' the consumer to make a purchase, content marketing approaches advertising creatively to forge a relationship with the prospective customer and/or existing customer, by providing 'value' and/or 'relevance' and/or 'useful' and/or 'entertaining' and/or 'informative' content (includes sponsored articles) that customers can use to make an informed decision about a product or service. Using the dimensions of quality, relevance, interactivity, and consistency, the purpose of this research study is to quantify the impact of content marketing on customer engagement by assessing the impact of the mentioned dimensions. Content marketing (use of digital advertisements) and customer engagement relationships and/or the influence of demographic variables (moderators) were measured using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive, correlational, and two-way ANOVA statistical techniques. In conclusion, it is prudent to posit that content marketing is an important part of a programmer's marketing activities that can increase customer engagement, and that demographic variables (moderators) such as age and education, can influence the patterns of engagement. The practical and theoretical findings of this study can help marketers implement and optimize content marketing to enhance customer engagement and loyalty, and to develop and/or increase the long-term equity of a brand.