From Content to Commerce: Investigating the Role of Content Marketing in Driving Sales and Brand Engagement

Rini Hadiyati

doi:10.62207/sntdc635

Authors

Rini Hadiyati Universitas Muhammadiyah Luwuk Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62207/sntdc635

Keywords:

Sales, Brand Engagement, Marketing Strategy, Marketing-Sales Relationship, Literature Analysis, Empirical Study, Challenges and Obstacles

Abstract

This research examines the role of marketing content in driving sales and increasing brand engagement. Through literature analysis and empirical studies, the relationship between marketing content, sales, and brand engagement is explored in depth. The research results show that quality marketing content plays an important role in increasing sales and strengthening brand ties with consumers. In addition, strategies and tactics in implementing marketing content, as well as the challenges and obstacles faced in its use, are also discussed. By taking these findings into account, companies can optimize the use of marketing content to effectively achieve sales and brand engagement goals.

References

Adetunji, R., Rashid, S., & Ishak, S. (2019). The mediating effect of brand image on the relationships between social media advertising content, sales promotion content and behaviuoral intention. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 13(3), 302-330. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-01-2018-0004

l., D. (2022). Analysis of the concept of content marketing. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 9(5), 47-59. https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2022.05.006

Alamäki, A. and Korpela, P. (2021). Digital transformation and value-based selling activities: seller and buyer perspectives. Baltic Journal of Management, 16(2), 298-317. https://doi.org/10.1108/bjm-08-2020-0304

AL-Mashrafi, S. and Khan, Z. (2022). Impact of advantageous campaigns on customer-brand relationship building through social media marketing. Journal of Business and Management Studies, 4(1), 34-41. https://doi.org/10.32996/jbms.2022.4.1.5

Asnawati, A., Nadir, M., Wardhani, W., & Setini, M. (2022). The effects of perceived ease of use, electronic word of mouth and content marketing on purchase decision. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 6(1), 81-90. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2021.10.001

Bowden, J. and Mirzaei, A. (2021). Consumer engagement within retail communication channels: an examination of online brand communities and digital content marketing initiatives. European Journal of Marketing, 55(5), 1411-1439. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejm-01-2018-0007

Buckley, A. (2015). Getting it to work for marketing: exploring collaboration between marketing and it functions for the delivery of marketing innovation. Journal of Direct Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 16(4), 285-307. https://doi.org/10.1057/dddmp.2015.29

Cao, G., Duan, Y., & Banna, A. (2019). A dynamic capability view of marketing analytics: evidence from uk firms. Industrial Marketing Management, 76, 72-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.08.002

Chaniago, E. and Ariyani, N. (2023). Marketing management's view of integrated marketing communications. Journal of Social Research, 2(2), 589-595. https://doi.org/10.55324/josr.v2i2.668

Chauhan, K. and Pillai, A. (2013). Role of content strategy in social media brand communities: a case of higher education institutes in india. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 22(1), 40-51. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610421311298687

Cheung, M., Pires, G., Rosenberger, P., & Oliveira, M. (2020). Driving consumer–brand engagement and co-creation by brand interactivity. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 38(4), 523-541. https://doi.org/10.1108/mip-12-2018-0587

Dash, A. (2019). Influence of content type over online engagement on facebook brand pages of smes. Sedme (Small Enterprises Development Management & Extension Journal) a Worldwide Window on Msme Studies, 46(4), 264-272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0970846419894744

Delbaere, M., Michael, B., & Phillips, B. (2020). Social media influencers: a route to brand engagement for their followers. Psychology and Marketing, 38(1), 101-112. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21419

Deng, Q., Hine, M., Ji, S., & Wang, Y. (2020). Consumer engagement with brand posts on social media: current state and research agenda.. https://doi.org/10.24251/hicss.2020.500

Enyinda, C., Opute, A., Fadahunsi, A., & Mbah, C. (2020). Marketing-sales-service interface and social media marketing influence on b2b sales process. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 36(6), 990-1009. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbim-01-2019-0053

Ernst, H., Hoyer, W., & Rübsaamen, C. (2010). Sales, marketing, and research-and-development cooperation across new product development stages: implications for success. Journal of Marketing, 74(5), 80-92. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.74.5.080

Farhat, K., Mokhtar, S., & Salleh, S. (2020). Linking brand engagement to customer-based brand equity and role of brand experience, brand personality, and brand affect: a case of automobile market of pakistan. Management Science Letters, 2237-2248. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2020.3.012

Geng, R., Wang, Q., Chen, X., Song, D., & Yu, J. (2020). Content marketing in e-commerce platforms in the internet celebrity economy. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 120(3), 464-485. https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-05-2019-0270

Gong, T. (2017). Customer brand engagement behavior in online brand communities. Journal of Services Marketing, 32(3), 286-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm-08-2016-0293

Hamzah, Z., Wahab, H., & Waqas, M. (2021). Unveiling drivers and brand relationship implications of consumer engagement with social media brand posts. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 15(2), 336-358. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-05-2020-0113

Harris, L. (1998). Barriers to market orientation: the view from the shopfloor. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 16(3), 221-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634509810217336

Heiens, R. and Narayanaswamy, R. (2021). The impact of digital social legitimization on website visits and web sales. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 12(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.7903/ijecs.1865

Herstein, R. and Jaffe, E. (2013). The challenges of nigerian agricultural firms in implementing the marketing concept. Competitiveness Review an International Business Journal Incorporating Journal of Global Competitiveness, 23(1), 55-67. https://doi.org/10.1108/10595421311296623

Hollebeek, L., Glynn, M., & Brodie, R. (2014). Consumer brand engagement in social media: conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(2), 149-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2013.12.002

Holliman, G. and Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 8(4), 269-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-02-2014-0013

Homburg, C., Jensen, O., & Krohmer, H. (2008). Configurations of marketing and sales: a taxonomy. Journal of Marketing, 72(2), 133-154. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.72.2.133

Jang, S., Chung, J., & Rao, V. (2021). The importance of functional and emotional content in online consumer reviews for product sales: evidence from the mobile gaming market. Journal of Business Research, 130, 583-593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.027

Järvinen, J. and Taiminen, H. (2016). Harnessing marketing automation for b2b content marketing. Industrial Marketing Management, 54, 164-175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.07.002

Johnson, D., Muzellec, L., Sihi, D., & Zahay, D. (2019). The marketing organization’s journey to become data-driven. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 13(2), 162-178. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-12-2018-0157

Kelemen-Erdős, A. and Molnár, A. (2019). Cooperation or conflict? the nature of the collaboration of marketing and sales organizational units. Economics and Culture, 16(1), 58-69. https://doi.org/10.2478/jec-2019-0007

Koob, C. (2021). Determinants of content marketing effectiveness: conceptual framework and empirical findings from a managerial perspective. Plos One, 16(4), e0249457. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249457

Kosiba, J., Boateng, H., Amartey, A., Boakye, R., & Hinson, R. (2018). Examining customer engagement and brand loyalty in retail banking. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 46(8), 764-779. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm-08-2017-0163

Lee, D., Hosanagar, K., & Nair, H. (2017). Advertising content and consumer engagement on social media: evidence from facebook. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2290802

Leung, F., Gu, F., Li, Y., Zhang, J., & Palmatier, R. (2022). Influencer marketing effectiveness. Journal of Marketing, 86(6), 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221102889

Liadeli, G., Sotgiu, F., & Verlegh, P. (2022). A meta-analysis of the effects of brands’ owned social media on social media engagement and sales. Journal of Marketing, 87(3), 406-427. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221123250

Liu, S. (2021). The impact of influencer marketing on brand engagement: a conceptual framework.. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211220.383

Luca, L., Herhausen, D., Troilo, G., & Rossi, A. (2020). How and when do big data investments pay off? the role of marketing affordances and service innovation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(4), 790-810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-020-00739-x

Menon, R., Sigurdsson, V., Larsen, N., Fagerstrøm, A., Sørensen, H., Marteinsdóttir, H., … & Foxall, G. (2019). How to grow brand post engagement on facebook and twitter for airlines? an empirical investigation of design and content factors. Journal of Air Transport Management, 79, 101678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2019.05.002

Meunier-FitzHugh, K. and Massey, G. (2019). Improving relationships between sales and marketing: the relative effectiveness of cross-functional coordination mechanisms. Journal of Marketing Management, 35(13-14), 1267-1290. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2019.1648310

Meunier-FitzHugh, K. and Piercy, N. (2010). Improving the relationship between sales and marketing. European Business Review, 22(3), 287-305. https://doi.org/10.1108/09555341011040985

Mishra, A. (2019). Antecedents of consumers’ engagement with brand-related content on social media. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37(4), 386-400. https://doi.org/10.1108/mip-04-2018-0130

Nieves-Casasnovas, J. and Lozada-Contreras, F. (2020). Marketing communication objectives through digital content marketing on social media. Fórum Empresarial, 57-82. https://doi.org/10.33801/fe.v25i1.18514

Okyere, N., Agyapong, G., & Nyarku, K. (2011). The effect of marketing communications on the sales performance of ghana telecom (vodafone, ghana). International Journal of Marketing Studies, 3(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/ijms.v3n4p50

Pažėraitė, A. and Repovienė, R. (2016). Content marketing elements and their influence on search advertisement effectiveness: theoretical background and practical insights. Management of Organizations Systematic Research, 75, 97-109. https://doi.org/10.7220/mosr.2335.8750.2016.75.7

Pažėraitė, A. and Repovienė, R. (2018). Content marketing decisions for effective internal communication. Management of Organizations Systematic Research, 79(1), 117-130. https://doi.org/10.1515/mosr-2018-0008

Plessis, C. (2017). The role of content marketing in social media content communities. Sa Journal of Information Management, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/sajim.v19i1.866

Pornsrimate, K. and Khamwon, A. (2021). How to convert millennial consumers to brand evangelists through social media micro-influencers. Innovative Marketing, 17(2), 18-32. https://doi.org/10.21511/im.17(2).2021.03

Pour, M., Hosseinzadeh, M., & Mahdiraji, H. (2021). Exploring and evaluating success factors of social media marketing strategy: a multi-dimensional-multi-criteria framework. Foresight, 23(6), 655-678. https://doi.org/10.1108/fs-01-2021-0005

Puligadda, S., Coyle, J., & Ni, J. (2021). Are you engaged? the influence of brand schematicity on online brand engagement and brand purchase. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 15(4), 709-728. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-09-2019-0149

Raj, A., Shagirbasha, S., & Madhan, K. (2021). A model for lead conversions through cold calling in startup b2b services firms in india: a sense-making derivation. South Asian Journal of Business Studies, 11(3), 370-384. https://doi.org/10.1108/sajbs-04-2020-0128

Rather, R., Tehseen, S., & Parrey, S. (2018). Promoting customer brand engagement and brand loyalty through customer brand identification and value congruity. Spanish Journal of Marketing - Esic, 22(3), 319-337. https://doi.org/10.1108/sjme-06-2018-0030

Rezun, T. (2019). Company generated problem‐solving content on social media (sm) and online brand equity: designing and testing a model for its effectiveness.. https://doi.org/10.31124/advance.9923633.v1

Riski, M., Susilo, M., & Ardhanariswari, K. (2021). Social media marketing strategy in building brand engagement. The Indonesian Journal of Communication Studies, 14(1), 44. https://doi.org/10.31315/ijcs.v14i1.5071

Santos, S., Gonçalves, H., & Teles, M. (2022). Social media engagement and real‐time marketing: using net‐effects and set‐theoretic approaches to understand audience and content‐related effects. Psychology and Marketing, 40(3), 497-515. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21756

Sawaftah, D., Aljarah, A., & Lahuerta-Otero, E. (2021). Power brand defense up, my friend! stimulating brand defense through digital content marketing. Sustainability, 13(18), 10266. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810266

Schultz, D. and Peltier, J. (2013). Social media's slippery slope: challenges, opportunities and future research directions. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 7(2), 86-99. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-12-2012-0054

Senanu, B., Anning-Dorson, T., & Tackie, N. (2023). Social media insights for non-luxury fashion smes in emerging markets: evidence from young consumers. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 27(6), 965-987. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfmm-02-2022-0026

Shen, Z. (2023). Platform or content strategy? exploring engagement with brand posts on different social media platforms. Sage Open, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231219096

So, K., King, C., Sparks, B., & Ying, W. (2014). The role of customer engagement in building consumer loyalty to tourism brands. Journal of Travel Research, 55(1), 64-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287514541008

Stephen, A. and Galak, J. (2012). The effects of traditional and social earned media on sales: a study of a microlending marketplace. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 624-639. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.09.0401

Taiminen, K. and Ranaweera, C. (2019). Fostering brand engagement and value-laden trusted b2b relationships through digital content marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 53(9), 1759-1781. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejm-10-2017-0794

Valette‐Florence, P., Guizani, H., & Merunka, D. (2011). The impact of brand personality and sales promotions on brand equity. Journal of Business Research, 64(1), 24-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.09.015

Verbeke, W., Dietz, B., & Verwaal, E. (2010). Drivers of sales performance: a contemporary meta-analysis. have salespeople become knowledge brokers?. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(3), 407-428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0211-8

Vlachvei, A., Νόττα, Ο., & Koronaki, E. (2021). Effects of content characteristics on stages of customer engagement in social media: investigating european wine brands. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 16(4), 615-632. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-12-2020-0275

Wang, K. and Goldfarb, A. (2017). Can offline stores drive online sales?. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(5), 706-719. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.14.0518

Wang, P. and McCarthy, B. (2020). What do people “like” on facebook? content marketing strategies used by retail bank brands in australia and singapore. Australasian Marketing Journal (Amj), 29(2), 155-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2020.04.008

Waqas, M., Hamzah, Z., & Salleh, N. (2021). Customer experience with the branded content: a social media perspective. Online Information Review, 45(5), 964-982. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir-10-2019-0333

Wedel, M. and Kannan, P. (2016). Marketing analytics for data-rich environments. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 97-121. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.15.0413

Weiger, W., Wetzel, H., & Hammerschmidt, M. (2017). Leveraging marketer-generated appeals in online brand communities. Journal of Service Management, 28(1), 133-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/josm-11-2015-0378

Wold, R. (2022). Segmentation, surveillance, and automation: practical and ethical considerations for attracting, sustaining, and monetizing audience attention online. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 37(2), 103-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/10506519221143107

Yang, Y., Asaad, Y., & Dwivedi, Y. (2017). Examining the impact of gamification on intention of engagement and brand attitude in the marketing context. Computers in Human Behavior, 73, 459-469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.066