Understanding the Subtle Tactics That Make Content Marketing So Effective for Brand Awareness and Customer Engagement
One day, a few years ago, as someone who immigrated from Ghana to the United States in the late 90s, I found myself wondering why soap operas were called "soap operas." Back in those days, my earlier days in the U.S. were spent sitting around, waiting for my green card to be processed.
I had a lot of time on my hands, and my days often consisted of switching between watching the iconic Susan Lucci doing her thing on whatever show she was on—was it "All My Children" or maybe "Devious Maids"? I don't know; she's been on so many—and flipping over to B.E.T. videos, 106 & Park, and all the rest.
At some point, I got curious about the name "soap opera." Why "soap"? So, I did a little digging, and what I found out was fascinating. These shows were literally produced and paid for by companies that made soap. For real, I am not kidding around (in my Joe Biden voice), Look it up.
Anyway, the idea was that stay-at-home moms—who were the main audience for these shows—would watch things like The Bold and the Beautiful or General Hospital, and in between all the drama, they would be constantly bombarded by commercials for soap and other household products made by the sponsors.
This, my friends, is the psychology of content marketing.
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The Subtle Art of Content Marketing
Content marketing is not just about directly selling your products. It’s about engaging your audience and giving them something they find interesting or entertaining, while your brand sits comfortably in the background, just enough to leave an impression. Sometimes, the idea is to use loosely related or even unrelated content as a vehicle for brand exposure.
Look at a company like HubSpot. HubSpot is a classic example of how content marketing works in its purest form. Even if you’ve never bought anything from them, you probably know the name. Why? Because you’ve searched for something related to marketing or business, and you ended up on their website, right? That’s how HubSpot plays the content game.
They create a ton of valuable content—guides, blogs, e-books, you name it. It’s all designed to be helpful and informative, and it’s all free. The goal is to get you on their site, get you familiar with their brand, and when the time comes that you need marketing software, guess who’s at the top of your mind?
According to HubSpot themselves, a majority of their paying customers originally came to them through a piece of content. That’s the power of content marketing—it’s about creating that connection, that subtle, lasting impression, long before you even mention a sale.
The Engagement Loop
Think about Facebook for a second. Facebook is not just a social media platform. It’s a whole ecosystem designed to keep you engaged. You log in to connect with friends and family, sure, but there’s more.
You’ve got news articles, video content, games, groups, and memes—basically, there’s something for everyone. All this content is there for one reason: to keep you on the platform as long as possible. The longer you stay, the more ads you see, and the more likely you are to engage with content that ultimately brings in revenue for Facebook.
This is the psychology behind keeping an audience hooked. The content doesn’t necessarily have to be related to a core product or service—it just needs to hold attention. Once you have that attention, you have an opportunity to connect, to build trust, and to drive engagement.
Facebook provides games, news, and community—all of it serves to keep you engaged with the platform, while the brand and its advertisers stay right there in front of you.
Content as a Gateway
The goal of content marketing is often not to make an immediate sale but to plant a seed. When I was watching Susan Lucci back in the day, I wasn't sitting there thinking about buying soap—but the seed was planted. And that’s what companies are aiming for when they create content. They want to be there, in your mind, when you eventually have a need that matches their product or service.
It’s the same thing with HubSpot’s blog posts or Facebook’s endless scroll of entertainment. Content is the gateway. It’s what keeps people coming back, and over time, the more they engage with your content, the more they start to trust your brand. And when they’re ready to buy, you’re already there. You’ve earned their trust without a hard sell.
Using Psychology to Craft Your Content
If you’re a small business owner, you can leverage this same approach to content marketing. Think about what your audience finds interesting. What can you create that would add value to their lives? It doesn’t have to be directly related to your product—it just has to be something that gets their attention and brings them back to you.
Maybe you run a local coffee shop. You could write blog posts about different coffee brewing techniques, share videos about your favorite pastry recipes, or even create a podcast where you interview local artists. None of this content is necessarily about selling coffee, but it keeps people engaged with your brand. It makes your coffee shop more than just a place that sells coffee—it makes it a part of their community, something they can connect to.
It’s about using content to tap into emotions, to tell stories, and to create a sense of belonging. When people feel a connection, they remember you. And when they remember you, they’re more likely to become customers.
The Long Game
The psychology of content marketing is a long game. It’s about building relationships, not just making sales. When soap companies sponsored soap operas, they weren’t trying to make you buy a bar of soap that very moment. They were making sure that their brand stayed in your mind, that you associated it with something comforting and familiar.
That’s the goal for any content marketing strategy. Make people think of your brand—not necessarily in a direct, “I need to buy this now” way, but in a subtle, ever-present way. Whether it’s with helpful information, entertaining stories, or engaging social media posts, the goal is to keep people coming back for more.
In the next article, we’ll dive into how you can measure the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy. Because if you’re putting in all this work, you want to be sure it’s paying off. Stay tuned!
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