Is content marketing a lie?

by Stratton Craig

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We recently saw content marketing described as ‘a lie’. It made us sit up and think. Is it a fair assessment of marketing’s latest favourite flavour?

YES, it’s fair

The message and call to action in ‘traditional advertising’ is never obscured. See Creative Bloq’s 25 must-see examples of billboard advertising for some great examples of this. The same can’t be said of content marketing. The idea behind this approach is to give audiences something interesting to read or look at that doesn’t interrupt their daily browsing. But behind the quite genuine purpose of entertaining and informing is a hidden motive; to build brand loyalty and inadvertently get someone excited by a service or product, ultimately it’s selling an idea to them.

NO, it seems a bit harsh

Isn’t calling content marketing a lie insulting to audiences? After all, it’s assuming the audience isn’t savvy enough to see through the piece of marketing and make the conscious decision to either enjoy the piece of content for what it is, or to buy into whatever it’s selling

To get people talking about your brand, the conversation starts with Stratton Craig: +44(0)207 5934104 [email protected]