Why Brand-Owned Content is Marketing's New Frontier

Introduction

In an era where marketing budgets are shrinking but paid media investments continue to rise, brands face a critical challenge: consumers are increasingly ignoring traditional ads while craving authentic brand stories. Joe Perello, CEO and founder of Props, joins the MarTech Podcast to explain how marketers can create content strategies that drive measurable results by blending creator marketing with performance cha els. With over 30 years of experience, including roles as New York City's first CMO under Mayor Bloomberg and executive positions at MBNA and The New York Yankees, Perello offers a fresh perspective on how brand-owned content is becoming marketing's new frontier.

The Performance Marketing Dilemma

Today's marketers face what Perello calls "the follower fallacy" – the mistaken belief that building large social media followings will automatically translate to business results. While performance marketing provides immediate, measurable outcomes, it often operates on a last-click attribution model that fails to capture the full customer journey. "Google is helping you make withdrawals from your bank account. You've got to make deposits," explains Perello, highlighting how performance marketing alone creates a dangerous cycle of diminishing returns without brand investment. The challenge lies in balancing short-term performance metrics with long-term brand building that CFOs and CEOs demand to see results from quickly.

The Props Approach: Content as a Performance Cha el

Props has developed a full-fu el approach that leverages three key elements: paid social media platforms with robust targeting capabilities, independent creators with journalism-quality expertise, and strategic content distribution. Unlike traditional influencer marketing that relies on follower counts, Props focuses on recruiting creators based on their expertise, storytelling ability, and authentic co ection to the brand – not their audience size. These creators develop three types of content: lifestyle stories (unbranded but relevant), product stories (branded), and direct endorsements, all distributed through paid media cha els.

Why Content Should Live on Your Website

The most counterintuitive yet powerful aspect of Props' strategy is hosting all content on the client's website rather than distributing it across social platforms. By promoting creator content through paid social cha els but requiring users to visit the brand's website to consume the full story, Props creates a direct pathway to conversion while building a high-quality retargeting pool. "The promotion of the content lives where the people are," Perello explains, "but in order to consume the content, to find out how the story ends, you've got to click and go to our client's website." This approach not only drives traffic at a fraction of traditional advertising costs but also improves performance across all marketing cha els through the brand halo effect.

Measuring Impact Beyond Traditional Metrics

Props clients have discovered that this content-driven approach improves performance across all their marketing cha els. When brands pause their Props campaigns, their customer acquisition costs often double, demonstrating how authentic content creates a brand halo effect that enhances all marketing efforts. By building a co ection through valuable content first, brands create trust that makes subsequent conversion-focused messaging more effective. The strategy works because it acknowledges that while performance marketing captures demand, content marketing creates it – and both are essential for sustainable growth.

Key Takeaways for Marketers

The fundamental shift from advertising to storytelling requires marketers to rethink their content distribution strategies. By recruiting creators who genuinely understand and believe in your product, hosting their authentic content on your website, and using paid social for distribution, brands can build meaningful co ections with consumers while still driving measurable results. This approach recognizes that authentic content isn't just about awareness – it's a performance cha el that drives real business outcomes when properly executed. As Perello summarizes: "Stories are going to be more compelling than ads," and there's a way to maintain authenticity throughout your sales fu el while still achieving measurable marketing goals.