Designing a Digital Content Marketing Conceptual Model: A Grounded Theory Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify the main components and dimensions of digital content marketing according to the conditions of Iran and to present a model using a qualitative method based on the Grounded Theory approach. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts. These experts included university professors in the field of digital content marketing and managers and activists of advertising and digital marketing agencies. Using targeted sampling and after conducting 15 in-depth interviews, theoretical saturation was achieved after the implementation and analysis of interviews and open, axial, and selective coding. The results showed that digital content marketing is realized by these conditions. Causal conditions (Internet development, ease of use, popularity of cyberspace, ease of communication with customers, virtual network features, The appeal of Digital Content Marketing, changing customer behavior, changing current structures), contextual conditions (personal characteristics, social characteristics), intervening factors (technical limitations, increasing competitors, lack of access, unawareness, severity of the spread of Covid-19), central category (Digital Content Marketing), strategies (make it enjoyable, increasing participation, providing various services to users, using various methods to increasing audience, exchange of information, infrastructure improvement, audience-friendly style, customer orientation), and consequences (market expansion, increasing profitability, groundwork for brand creation). The results indicate that the research model is acceptable level. IntroductionThe emergence of digital networks and the wide spread of technology dramatically changed human life compared to the latest technological tools of the previous decades (Torkestani et al, 2020), so that nowadays customers have significantly changed their behavior in line with the technology and economic environment of the world (Rostami et al, 2022). Modern advertising is more cost-effective and inexpensive than traditional advertising (Abdulle, 2022). Therefore, to attract customers, trust must be gained first, and customers should feel satisfied with our brand before purchasing a product or service. These features can be found in digital content marketing (Mozaffari et al, 2023). Inflation and the prevailing economic recession have created difficult conditions for individuals and businesses (Naseri, 2017). To overcome these difficult conditions, a native model must be explained in the field of digital content marketing.Research Question (s)The main research question is as follows: What is the conceptual model for digital content marketing? What are the main components and dimensions of this model? Literature ReviewTorkestani et al. (2022) discussed the possibility of personalizing content for each audience, the emotions hidden in the content and the date of publication of the content, the way the author is a member and his identity in the online community. Tahmasebpour et al. (2022) considered digital marketing elements to include six components: technical features of digital tools, relative advantage, cost to customers, management of items and processes, promotion, service quality, and information quality. Rostami et al. (2022) also prioritized the factors affecting marketing in digital businesses in their research and did not provide a model that included all aspects of this issue. (Naseri, 2017) also only looked at content features in four categories, content inherent elements, form elements, content distribution media elements and effectiveness measurement elements. (Naseri, 2017) examined only the characteristics of the content in four categories; intrinsic content elements, form elements, content distribution media elements, and effectiveness measurement elements. (Lou & Xie, 2020) also emphasized in their research on shaping brand experience and customer loyalty of. Boban et al. (2020) only investigated the relationship between content entertainment and informational social influence and between self-expression and normative social influence and electronic word-of-mouth communication. Furr. (2019) considered digital content marketing as a branding tool for colleges and universities. Taiminen & Ranaweera, (2019) focused on support, engagement, and interaction in brand communication and perceptions. MethodologyIn terms of purpose, this research is fundamental and applied, and in terms of nature, it is in the category of qualitative research. In terms of approach, the Grounded Theory and paradigm model of Strauss and Corbin have been used as a research plan, which is based on the identification of causal conditions, contextual conditions, central category, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences, and describing the relationships between them. A semi-structured in-depth interview was conducted with 15 experts who were selected in a non-probable and purposeful manner. Sampling was performed until theoretical saturation using the snowball method. The research community includes digital experts (academic and non-academic). This group includes university professors in the field of digital content marketing, as well as activists and specialists in the field of digital content production (institutions and agencies of digital marketing and advertising). They have at least five years of scientific, research, and executive experience in DCM and at least a master's degree or doctorate in the fields of marketing management, information technology management, and other related fields. In the analysis of the data obtained from the interviews, after the full implementation of the text of the interviews, MaxQuda 2020 was used. Immediately after each interview, the interview text was extracted and typed, entered into the software, and open, axial, and selective coding procedures were performed. ResultsThe information obtained from the interviews resulted in the extraction of 135 concepts (open coding), which were placed in the form of 26 subcategories (axial coding) and 5 main categories (selective coding), as follows: Internet development, ease of use, popularity of cyberspace, ease of communication with customers, virtual network features, the appeal of Digital Content Marketing, changing customer behavior, changing current structures, technical limitations, increasing competitors, lack of access, unawareness, severity of the spread of Covid-19, personal characteristics, social characteristics, make it enjoyable, increasing participation, providing various services to users, using various methods for increasing the audience, exchange of information, infrastructure improvement, audience-friendly style, customer orientation, market expansion, increasing profitability, groundwork for brand creation.The paradigm model is presented in figure 1.Figure.1. Paradigm model of the research ConclusionThis article aims to design a digital content marketing model. Making it enjoyable in this research includes gamification in social networks, visualizing content according to people's tastes, using humorous content, and entertaining content. The obtained results showed that making it enjoyable is an effective strategy for digital content marketing. In this research, the following were discovered to increase participation in digital content: using celebrities, participating in online campaigns, holding contests, and building trust and commitment in customers. The results also show that increasing participation is an important strategy in digital content marketing. The services that can be paid in the production of digital content to attract the audience are as follows: offering discounts, bonuses to users, free training, and support. The obtained results also show that providing diverse services to users is an influential factor in digital content marketing strategies. Various methods of increasing the audience in this research include: providing outstanding and strange information, producing educational content, producing therapeutic content, producing sports content, using new ideas to produce content, producing fresh and new content, teaching new methods of producing content, increasing quality, extensive advertising, social network viral marketing, and content creation based on frequent words. The results show that the use of methods to increase the audience is the most effective strategy. Information exchange includes modeling external pages, modeling successful pages, participation in online campaigns, and content exchange. The obtained results show that information exchange has a significant impact on digital content marketing strategies. Improving the infrastructure in the field of digital content includes increasing the speed of the Internet, website design, and the production of powerful internal applications, which the results show is one of the most important strategies. Audience-friendly style also includes creating differentiation, special and unique style, being up-to-date; using one of the special effects is the mastery of body language. The results show that an audience-friendly style is one of the most effective strategies in digital content marketing. Customer orientation also includes content production based on society's problems, compliance with professional ethics, monitoring customer needs, finding customers' tastes, and honesty in content production. The obtained results show that customer orientation is an important strategy in digital content marketing.Keywords: Digital Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Brand Awareness, Grounded Theory. The purpose of this research is to identify the main components and dimensions of digital content marketing according to the conditions of Iran and to present a model using a qualitative method based on the Grounded Theory approach. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts. These experts included university professors in the field of digital content marketing and managers and activists of advertising and digital marketing agencies. Using targeted sampling and after conducting 15 in-depth interviews, theoretical saturation was achieved after the implementation and analysis of interviews and open, axial, and selective coding. The results showed that digital content marketing is realized by these conditions. Causal conditions (Internet development, ease of use, popularity of cyberspace, ease of communication with customers, virtual network features, The appeal of Digital Content Marketing, changing customer behavior, changing current structures), contextual conditions (personal characteristics, social characteristics), intervening factors (technical limitations, increasing competitors, lack of access, unawareness, severity of the spread of Covid-19), central category (Digital Content Marketing), strategies (make it enjoyable, increasing participation, providing various services to users, using various methods to increasing audience, exchange of information, infrastructure improvement, audience-friendly style, customer orientation), and consequences (market expansion, increasing profitability, groundwork for brand creation). The results indicate that the research model is acceptable level. IntroductionThe emergence of digital networks and the wide spread of technology dramatically changed human life compared to the latest technological tools of the previous decades (Torkestani et al, 2020), so that nowadays customers have significantly changed their behavior in line with the technology and economic environment of the world (Rostami et al, 2022). Modern advertising is more cost-effective and inexpensive than traditional advertising (Abdulle, 2022). Therefore, to attract customers, trust must be gained first, and customers should feel satisfied with our brand before purchasing a product or service. These features can be found in digital content marketing (Mozaffari et al, 2023). Inflation and the prevailing economic recession have created difficult conditions for individuals and businesses (Naseri, 2017). To overcome these difficult conditions, a native model must be explained in the field of digital content marketing.Research Question (s)The main research question is as follows: What is the conceptual model for digital content marketing? What are the main components and dimensions of this model? Literature ReviewTorkestani et al. (2022) discussed the possibility of personalizing content for each audience, the emotions hidden in the content and the date of publication of the content, the way the author is a member and his identity in the online community. Tahmasebpour et al. (2022) considered digital marketing elements to include six components: technical features of digital tools, relative advantage, cost to customers, management of items and processes, promotion, service quality, and information quality. Rostami et al. (2022) also prioritized the factors affecting marketing in digital businesses in their research and did not provide a model that included all aspects of this issue. (Naseri, 2017) also only looked at content features in four categories, content inherent elements, form elements, content distribution media elements and effectiveness measurement elements. (Naseri, 2017) examined only the characteristics of the content in four categories; intrinsic content elements, form elements, content distribution media elements, and effectiveness measurement elements. (Lou & Xie, 2020) also emphasized in their research on shaping brand experience and customer loyalty of. Boban et al. (2020) only investigated the relationship between content entertainment and informational social influence and between self-expression and normative social influence and electronic word-of-mouth communication. Furr. (2019) considered digital content marketing as a branding tool for colleges and universities. Taiminen & Ranaweera, (2019) focused on support, engagement, and interaction in brand communication and perceptions. MethodologyIn terms of purpose, this research is fundamental and applied, and in terms of nature, it is in the category of qualitative research. In terms of approach, the Grounded Theory and paradigm model of Strauss and Corbin have been used as a research plan, which is based on the identification of causal conditions, contextual conditions, central category, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences, and describing the relationships between them. A semi-structured in-depth interview was conducted with 15 experts who were selected in a non-probable and purposeful manner. Sampling was performed until theoretical saturation using the snowball method. The research community includes digital experts (academic and non-academic). This group includes university professors in the field of digital content marketing, as well as activists and specialists in the field of digital content production (institutions and agencies of digital marketing and advertising). They have at least five years of scientific, research, and executive experience in DCM and at least a master's degree or doctorate in the fields of marketing management, information technology management, and other related fields. In the analysis of the data obtained from the interviews, after the full implementation of the text of the interviews, MaxQuda 2020 was used. Immediately after each interview, the interview text was extracted and typed, entered into the software, and open, axial, and selective coding procedures were performed. ResultsThe information obtained from the interviews resulted in the extraction of 135 concepts (open coding), which were placed in the form of 26 subcategories (axial coding) and 5 main categories (selective coding), as follows: Internet development, ease of use, popularity of cyberspace, ease of communication with customers, virtual network features, the appeal of Digital Content Marketing, changing customer behavior, changing current structures, technical limitations, increasing competitors, lack of access, unawareness, severity of the spread of Covid-19, personal characteristics, social characteristics, make it enjoyable, increasing participation, providing various services to users, using various methods for increasing the audience, exchange of information, infrastructure improvement, audience-friendly style, customer orientation, market expansion, increasing profitability, groundwork for brand creation.The paradigm model is presented in figure 1.Figure.1. Paradigm model of the research ConclusionThis article aims to design a digital content marketing model. Making it enjoyable in this research includes gamification in social networks, visualizing content according to people's tastes, using humorous content, and entertaining content. The obtained results showed that making it enjoyable is an effective strategy for digital content marketing. In this research, the following were discovered to increase participation in digital content: using celebrities, participating in online campaigns, holding contests, and building trust and commitment in customers. The results also show that increasing participation is an important strategy in digital content marketing. The services that can be paid in the production of digital content to attract the audience are as follows: offering discounts, bonuses to users, free training, and support. The obtained results also show that providing diverse services to users is an influential factor in digital content marketing strategies. Various methods of increasing the audience in this research include: providing outstanding and strange information, producing educational content, producing therapeutic content, producing sports content, using new ideas to produce content, producing fresh and new content, teaching new methods of producing content, increasing quality, extensive advertising, social network viral marketing, and content creation based on frequent words. The results show that the use of methods to increase the audience is the most effective strategy. Information exchange includes modeling external pages, modeling successful pages, participation in online campaigns, and content exchange. The obtained results show that information exchange has a significant impact on digital content marketing strategies. Improving the infrastructure in the field of digital content includes increasing the speed of the Internet, website design, and the production of powerful internal applications, which the results show is one of the most important strategies. Audience-friendly style also includes creating differentiation, special and unique style, being up-to-date; using one of the special effects is the mastery of body language. The results show that an audience-friendly style is one of the most effective strategies in digital content marketing. Customer orientation also includes content production based on society's problems, compliance with professional ethics, monitoring customer needs, finding customers' tastes, and honesty in content production. The obtained results show that customer orientation is an important strategy in digital content marketing.

Keywords

• digital content marketing
• online marketing
• brand awareness
• grounded theory