CONSUMER YOUR BRANDED CONTENT MUSE

H O W T O M A K E T H E

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INSPIRATION CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE. A GOOD IDEA CAN HIT YOU WHEN YOU’RE IN THE SHOWER, PLAYING PING PONG AT THE OFFICE, OR AT HAPPY HOUR WITH YOUR TEAM.

But most great ideas are ignited by a deep understanding of your audience. How do they live? What motivates them? What inspires them? A strong foundation of consumer knowledge provides creatives with the quality canvas they need to paint inventive, compelling and impactful branded content concepts.  

It’s time to open up your creative process and let the consumer become your muse. Here are the four best ways to achieve your marketing goals by letting audience insights guide your branded content.

I N S I G H T N E E D

I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT I HAVE THE RIGHT TONE AND VOICE FOR MY CONTENT.

I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N

Get there by understanding how

various categories of content impact

user mindsets. With this understanding

you can aim to speak to a consumer’s

positive mindset with more uplifting

content, and avoid the negative.

S E E I T I N A C T I O N

DreamRite is a natural, over the counter sleep-aid to help adults with sleeping issues. DreamRite’s main

objective is to position themselves as a leader in health and wellness.

Based on AOL research, DreamRite learned that the health and wellness category evokes both positive and

negative feelings in consumers. It can give users feelings of calm, tranquility, and peace, but it can also elicit

negative mindsets — like confusion or feeling overwhelmed.

Based on these insights, DreamRite created content that made consumers feel empowered or peaceful,

steering away from content that would confuse or overwhelm them.

For example, let’s say Jenny jumps online to find out why she’s been having trouble sleeping.

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Align your brand with positive feelings on health

by creating content that makes Jenny feel more

empowered and assured.

Examples:

• Guide to relaxing before bedtime

• Ways to improve sleep

Use concepts that feed Jenny’s negative

mindsets, thus making her feel more confused

or overwhelmed by her health concerns.

Examples:

• Ways to know you have sleep insomnia

• Reasons why you can’t sleep

DO DON’T

I N S I G H T N E E D

I WANT TO MAKE CONTENT THAT IS RELEVANT FOR THE MAJORITY OF MY AUDIENCE.

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I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N

This can be accomplished by leveraging

not only demographic and behavioral

insights, but the full scope of motivations

that drive people to interact with certain

types of content.

Based on AOL’s “Content Moments”

research, we know that eight moments

define consumer content experiences.

By planning around consumer behavior

in these various moments, advertisers

can develop content that drives them

toward engagement.

Through what we call a “portfolio

approach,” you can expand your reach

by developing content for the different

moments consumers are likely to be

immersed in.

S E E I T I N A C T I O N

Again, DreamRite wants to position themselves as a leader in health and wellness. To better understand

how audiences interact with health content, we uncovered the top content moments within the category,

encompassing specific motivations, emotions and outcomes.

Consumers are overwhelmingly in the FIND moment when consuming content in the health and wellness

category. But to maximize touchpoints with consumers, DreamRite created relevant content in multiple

moments, including COMFORT and INSPIRE. DreamRite developed a portfolio of content to reach users in

these key health content moments, including:

• 5 Ways to Get Better Sleep Tonight [FIND]

• Why Millions of People Need Help with Sleep [COMFORT]

• These Celebrities Say Sleep is Key to Happiness [INSPIRE]

Not only did DreamRite’s concepts resonate with audiences based on their motivations, but they expanded

reach by developing relevant content across multiple key consumer moments.

MOMENTS

FIND45% of online content moments

COMFORT17% of online content moments

INSPIRE17% of online content moments

MOTIVATIONS

Seeking answers and researching something specific

Seeking support and insight

Seeking fresh ideas, ready to try something new or think from a different angle

Focused and motivated

Tense, frustrated and anxious

Relaxed and inspired

EMOTIONS

Ready to act

Feeling a better sense of understanding

Primed for further action

OUTCOMES

I N S I G H T N E E D

I WANT TO KNOW WHICH TOPICS MY TARGET AUDIENCE CARES ABOUT MOST.

By further analyzing the MaxDiff data, you can also understand which topics drive incremental appeal, thereby

broadening the total appeal of the content within the program. Broad topics must go live first in order to build trust

and relevancy among the larger audience. Later, narrower topics can be introduced to niche targets.

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I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N

Pre-testing techniques like the MaxDiff

analysis are a powerful indicator of

which topics are likely to resonate with

consumers. The MaxDiff technique ranks

content ideas by assigning them with a

consumer interest score so advertisers

understand their appeal and relevance

against key audiences. This helps guide

and shape branded content programs.

S E E I T I N A C T I O N

DreamRite ran their content concepts through the MaxDiff analysis. Results from the pre-test showed that healthy sleep,

dreams and optimizing sleep ranked the highest in appeal and relevance, while sleep devices and disease ranked the lowest.

TOPICS

Healthy Sleep

Dreams

Optimizing Sleep

Devices & Sleep

Sleep & Disease

CATEGORY

What are the main components of healthy sleep? Does length matter more than quality? How does your age factor in?

For all that humans have discovered through science, there’s still so much we don’t understand about what goes on in our brains while we sleep. We likely stand to learn a lot about ourselves and our mental processes from studying our dreams.

From sleep aids to bedroom products, customizing and optimizing sleep has never been more possible. The science and tools are out there to help ensure that we sleep like babies every single night.

Nowadays, we’re always on. Devices permeate our living (and sleeping) spaces and we need to learn how to build our lives around them in a way that doesn’t hinder our health.

Many health conditions can affect our sleep. From ADHD to depression, learn about the relationships between disease and sleep.

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128

40

25

INDEX

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

Healthy Sleep

Optimizing Sleep

Devices & SleepTroubled

SleepSleepQuality

Sleep & Disease

Dreams

Bedtime

DreamRite maximized engagement among the broadest spectrum of their target audience first through these content categories.

After capturing trust and relevancy among the broadest part of their audience, they addressed their niche market interested in sleep devices and diseases.

I N S I G H T N E E D

I HAVE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS THAT WILL HELP CLARIFY AND STRENGTHEN MY BRANDED CONTENT.

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I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N

Custom category and brand research

can be deployed to answer specific

questions that are not available through

syndicated, industry or past research. The

beauty of custom research is that it can

be completely tailored to an advertiser’s

specific question or need.

Custom research strengthens the

discussion through further education, like

spotlighting the real issues consumers

experience in the marketplace. An example

of custom research is siphoning additional

industry insights that help shape content

concept ideas. Let’s take a closer look at

this tactic.

S E E I T I N A C T I O N

Through custom research on the health and wellness landscape, DreamRite learned that there is a public health

epidemic of sleep: 35% of respondents reported less than 7 hours of sleep during a typical 24-hour period.

Furthermore, 38% of respondents unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least once in the preceding

month. This has trickled into consumers’ everyday lives, with respondents reporting sleep-related difficulties like

concentrating on or remembering things.

Based on these industry insights, DreamRite recognized the need to create content that provides solutions to

consumers’ challenges. For example:

CONSUMER CHALLENGE

Concentrating on things

Remembering things

Sleeping Your Way to Better Concentration

How Sleep Benefits Memory

CONTENT IDEA

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C O N C L U S I O N

Audience insights strengthen content development by giving you a deeper look into the minds of

your consumers. By opening up your creative process to consumers, you can build the captivating

stories you know they’ll want to hear.

INSIGHT NEED

I want to create positive affinity with my brand.

I want to make content that is relevant for the majority of my audience.

I want to know which topics my target audience cares about most.

I have specific questions that will help clarify and strengthen my branded content.

Understand how consuming content in various categories impacts user mindsets, and align with the positive side.

Identify the various moments in which consumers engage with content, and utilize the portfolio approach to expand reach.

Utilize pre-testing techniques like the MaxDiff analysis to indicate which topics will resonate with consumers before the campaign is live.

Custom category and brand research can be fully tailored and deployed to an advertiser’s specific question or need.

INSIGHT SOLUTION

Where Audience Meets Authenticity: Partner Studio by AOL empowers brands by producing best in class storytelling infused with consumer insights. Contact your AOL sales representative for more information on branded content opportunities.

The data and brand in this e-book are not real and are for illustrative purposes only. ©2016 AOL. All rights reserved.