It often feels like we’ve reached ‘peak content’, and there’s no shortage of reports confirming our fears: people are feeling overloaded and want to switch off. At least some of the time.
So how do we make our content work smarter? Here are five things that are guiding us right now…
1) Embrace visual storytelling
Unsurprisingly, it’s the highly visual and immersive experiences that are cutting through and delivering results. Hubspot’s State of Marketing report found the three formats that achieved the highest ROI were short-form video, images and live streaming.
Short-form video is universally hailed as the king of content formats: 90% of consumers watch short-form videos in their leisure time. And in our attention-starved environment, not only is video effective at gaining attention, it’s also a powerful conversion tool: 81% of people say a branded video has convinced them to purchase a product or service. There is no better illustration of this than TikTok. Its genius is that it engages people with lighter, more entertaining formats.
Visual storytelling is also a great way to guide audiences through complex information. When Ipsos and Google surveyed 18,000 people in Europe last year, it found nearly two-thirds of consumers admit they delay or avoid making decisions when faced with too many options or too much information.
2) Power up your podcasting
There are fears that podcasting has reached saturation point. But we say it’s a format that is still growing, in size and popularity. Among younger people especially, there has been an explosion in uptake. GWI Kids data reveals 24% of children aged 12-15 now listen to podcasts – a rise of 11% from Q1 2021.
Particularly noticeable is the growth of video podcasts – 170 million users have now watched a video podcast on Spotify. So, if you’ve started a branded podcast, consider testing it with a video feed.
Podcasts are a rich source to mine for content for your other channels too – from capturing comments and answering listener questions to optimising talent within your brand. And, of course, they remain a fantastic way to reach a niche and highly engaged audience.
3) Show off your good side
Are you sitting on a wealth of ethics and sustainability stories that only people inside your brand are aware of? If so, it’s time to talk, because consumers want to know about this – it’s key to driving purchasing decisions.
Sustainability made GWI’s top 2025 trends this year with 57% of consumers saying they’re willing to pay more for eco-friendly products and 46% claiming they’re interested in content detailing a brand’s social initiatives. There is a caveat, however: consumers want transparency about products’ eco-credentials, and they want to be assured that the company as a whole is taking steps to improve its ethics and sustainability, not cherry-picking certain aspects.
But if a brand gets it right, sustainability and ethics are good for business. According to Deloitte, one in four Gen Zers and millennials have reduced their relationship with a business due to unsustainable practices. So, think about your sustainable and ethical choices. And include them in your content calendar, not as a one-off but woven into the fabric of your narrative.
The key, as always, is making this content feel fresh, interesting, and entertaining (that means visual). It doesn’t need to be perfect either; customers are willing to go on the journey with you if you show commitment. Imperfection is all part of the authenticity.
4) Introduce a new kind of influencer
We already know the power of influencers and user-generated content, but audiences now want to hear from the people inside the brands. And very much in demand is the employee influencer. Clients and consumers now expect more genuine communication from a brand – and they believe that the company’s employees are the best source of this content. Our Meet your holiday heroes content for P&O Cruises is a great example.
In fact, frontline employees were found to be the most popular producers and/or stars of corporate content in the Sprout Social Content Benchmarks Survey 2024. The same survey additionally reported that 72% of consumers enjoy employees sharing information about a brand online. And 70% feel more connected when a company’s CEO is active on social.
Not only does using your own workforce convey authenticity, but it can also be cost effective.
5) Finally, don’t forget traditional formats
Are we seeing a resurgence in the more traditional media formats such as print? A few trends suggest we might be. Research last year by Bain, for example, found that, on average, 75% of people multi-task while consuming media, with 60% using multiple platforms simultaneously and social media users only fully engaging with about 10% of the content they’re viewing.
But only 45% of readers of print and digital text publications multi-task, and most of those are using audio as a backdrop to their reading. If you pair this with the growth of bookshops in recent years – in the UK, Waterstones increased profits by 17% last year and independent bookshops have grown from a low of 868 in 2017 to 1,063 in 2023 – it does appear that we are falling in love again with the printed page.
At Sunday, we never fell out of love in the first place – we’ve always supported and encouraged our clients’ print projects. We produce magazines for Ocado, English Heritage, Christie’s International Real Estate, P&O Cruises and more, all brands that understand the positive impact of print media. And they have positive ‘return on content’ to prove it. Last autumn, after three and a half years of being fully digital, one of our clients, RICS, even returned to a twice-a-year print edition of its publication, Modus, partly due to demand from members.
Of course, a magazine might not be right for everyone, but it’s still worth considering printed brochures, handbooks, direct mail and leaflets as part of your marketing strategy.
Following these five points will help your content work harder and improve audience action. If you want to chat or see more examples of how the above plays out, give us a call or email simon@wearesunday.com.