By Catherine Berce
De-branding. Ad fatigue. Value-added content. Earned media. Have you  wondered what all these terms mean? Consumers are growing tired of traditional advertisements and marketing strategies and are burned out on traditional selling techniques. As a result, many companies are taking a different approach to enticing buyers to choose their products. They are focusing on third party evaluations and expert content to reach consumers instead of relying on traditional advertisements and marketing techniques.

Placing value on editorial content is nothing new for EMG or our B2B clients. It helps that a Nielsen study confirms the effectiveness of editorial content over pure advertisements. Commissioned by InPowered, a San Francisco-based tech advertising firm, the Nielsen study was conducted to understand how buyers are motivated by information and how the sources of information affects them throughout the purchase process.

The study found that expert content and third-party articles and reviews had the highest positive impact on a person’s buying decisions for a range of products, from cars and smart phones to appliances and insurance. It turns out that expert content or earned articles are far better at convincing people to buy than branded content or even user reviews, according to the study.
This is good news for public relations in general because PR specializes in developing informative editorial content and then placing that content with the appropriate media outlets. Much of our daily work here at EMG centers on getting our clients’ messages out to the right audience in the form of well-placed interviews, contact with editors and publishers and with feature article pitches to trade publications and trade show organizers.

No matter what the industry, we position our clients as leaders in their respective fields with thought leadership commentary, real world case studies and timely interviews around trending topics. That isn’t to say that advertising and marketing aren’t effective or needed, but rather that smart PR plays a special role in the buying process, for both the consumer market and B2B markets.

So instead of de-branding initiatives or hiring special consultants on retainer to tell clients what the Nielsen study proved, EMG focuses on what we’ve accomplished and known for years – showcasing our clients’ strengths and what they can do best for their customers is the best and most effective way to reach an audience. The reason? Because authenticity always works best.

— Catherine Berce is a PR Associate for Eclipse Media Group where she manages social media channels for multiple clients, ghostwrites thought leadership articles and writes press releases, blogs and other marketing collateral.