The State of Content Marketing in Hungary and Its Possible Effects on a Specific Brand – Hungarian Experts’ Opinions

SUMMARY The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the state of content marketing (CM) in Hungary, its application and whether it is worth examining the effect of CM on the Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) and brand experience (BX). To investigate these issues, the author conducted individual interviews with twelve online marketing and content marketing experts in 2022. Based on the research results, it can be stated that the Hungarian practice of content marketing is typically at an initial stage, the attitude of the management of the companies is inappropriate and there are often resource limitations. According to the experts, examining the effect of CM on BAV and BX is generally relevant and reasonable. The results confirm the connection between content marketing and branding and its controlling is an important academic research area and a business issue that requires further study.


INTRODUCTION
Profit-oriented companies are under constant pressure to maximise their efficiency in unpredictable economic times (Hajdú, 2013) and under these circumstances content marketing can be an effective tool.The application of content marketing (CM) has become a significant tendency (Mathew & Soliman, 2020in Nguyen et al., 2023), which affects the majority of sectors (Nguyen et al., 2023).One of the reasons for this is that companies have switched from their sales-centred approach to a customer-centred one (Hollebeek & Macky, 2019;Terho et al., 2022in Fan et al., 2024).Content marketing can support the strengthening of the relationship between the brands and the customers to increase business performance (Fan et al., 2024).Zhang and Zhang (2024) refer to several other authors to support their view that content marketing is a significant and efficient tool in ensuring and supporting the brand experience and consumer value.The relevance of the current research topic is also confirmed by the results of Hajdu (2022a).The processing of the literature reveals that CM is a natural component of the brand experience (BX).Apart from summarising the relevant literature, this article presents the results of two interviews conducted in small groups.These results show that the content of brands influences the brand experience as defined by Brakus et al. (2009) and its dimensions.Hajdu (2022b) processes and compares the literature of the Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) model -developed by Young and Rubicam (Szőcs, 2012) -and that of content marketing and reveals a principle-based connection regarding how CM affects BAV and its dimensions.
In 2017, contentplus.huconducted a survey among Hungarian companies with regard to their content marketing activities (Pécsi, 2017).The results also confirm the importance of research in this area.From the findings of the contentplus.husurvey, the following descriptive statistics results are the most relevant (Pécsi, 2017).The rate of companies where CM is a "stable program" was barely 16% (Figure 1).The research also states that 26% of the companies replied that they did not even have a dedicated person in charge of CM. 24.1% said that they created some kind of content "ad hoc", while 26.9% of the companies used content only to emphasise the advantages of their products.The survey also reveals that 38.6% of the companies do not have a separate budget for content marketing, so they spend money on CM on an individual authorisation basis.35.2% of the respondents handle CM as part of the expenses allocated for all digital channels in their budgets, but not separately.
1. do not use it or use it only "ad hoc": 22.8% 2. testing its potential: 17.2% 3. using it but would like to develop it further: 44.1% 4. have a stable program, there are inputs from every department: 6.2% 5. have a stable program and measure the results, supported by the top management: 9.7% Source: Pécsi, 2017.The data given in the previous example show that content marketing in Hungary was at a very initial stage.However, a more recent survey shows much more positive results.The trendfm.hu website published (on January 6, 2020) the data of a survey conducted by Marketing112 Ltd. in the first half of 2019.These data revealed that the company websites and Facebook profiles were the most commonly used marketing tools, since 51.2% and 42.7% of the respondents chose these, respectively, out of the 51 options.There was a question in the survey for the company managers or other decision makers which asked the areas that they would like to improve in 2020.From the options, 43.9% chose copywriting and content marketing, while 40.3% chose brand management.
This article is a more recent addition to and an important element of a research series.The primary research area and focus of this research series is content marketing and its effect on a specific brand, especially on the BAV and BX.The theoretical basis and the immediate precedent of this article are based on the works of Hajdu (2022aHajdu ( , 2022b)).
Based on the above, the aim of this paper is to create a basis for scientific and quantitative research which will attempt to answer the following questions: 1. How can we evaluate the activities of those dealing with content marketing, what are the state and circumstances of and tendencies for using CM in Hungary?

Is the examination of the connection between content marketing and the Young and Rubicam consumer brand value (BAV) relevant for marketers?
3. Is the examination of the connection between content marketing and the Brakus et al. brand experience (BX) relevant for marketers?

MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE LITERATURE, THEORETICAL BASICS
Regarding the fact that this paper is one element of a research series, the author seeks to present the most relevant and most basic findings of the literature in relation to the research topic.Also, the author does not wish to give a detailed presentation of the BAV and BX scales since these do not concern the results of the interviews.

Content marketing
As is shown in Figure 2, from Statista.com,marketing experts evaluate content marketing (CM) to be one of the most efficient digital marketing tools.The graph gives a rather narrow interpretation of CM, since according to certain sources, several alternative categories are actually parts of CM, rather than its alternatives.These include social media marketing (Kotler et al., 2017), marketing automation (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016) and search engine optimisation (Hajdú, 2018).At the same time, if the percentage values of the tools belonging to the broad interpretation of CM are added to the values of the narrow interpretation (17.4%), it is obvious that, based on the data of the graph, the significance of content marketing is even greater.Source: Statista.com,2020.Content marketing is "creating, distributing and sharing relevant, compelling and timely content to engage customers at the appropriate point in their buying consideration processes, such that it encourages them to convert to a business building outcome" (Holliman & Rowley, 2014, p. 285).
Instead of encouraging customers directly to buy, content marketing affects sales indirectly with the help of valuable content (Gregoriades et al., 2021;Hollebeek & Macky, 2019in Fan et al., 2024).This indirect effect on sales is achieved by generating consumer acknowledgment toward the brand or the company (Gregoriades et al., 2021;Hollebeek & Macky, 2019, in Fan et al., 2024).Kotler et al. (2017) presume that content might support sales, not only directly.They think that according to its purpose, content can be either brand-building or sales supporting.Such a content can gain a broader interpretation and definition: content can induce action from the customers (Izogo & Mpinganjira, 2020), or it can influence their attitudes (Yuceer et al., 2024).According to Eigenraam et al. (2021), CM activity can be typically carried out in the following channels: social media platforms, forums, blogs and vlogs, corporate websites and mobile applications (Nguyen et al., 2023).Fan et al. (2024) also confirmed this by referring to Hollebeek and Macky (2019), who state that valuable brand content can reach the potential consumers via social media and corporate websites.From the content marketing point of view, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are the most relevant social media platforms (Gümüş, 2017;Breves et al., 2019;Törhönen et al., 2021;Mallipeddi et al., 2021 in Zhang andZhang, 2024).

Brand experience (BX)
Brand experience is defined by Brakus et al. as follows: "subjective internal consumer responses (sensations, feelings, and cognitions) and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand's design and identity, packaging, communications, and environments."(Brakus et al., 2009, p. 53).Brand experience has four dimensions: sensory, affective, intellectual and behavioural (Brakus et al., 2009) 1 The definitions of the BX dimensions

Sensory Dimension
Sensory dimension examines the effect of a given brand on the visual and other senses.

Affective Dimension
The affective dimension examines emotional judgements or the consumer's emotional responses evoked by the brand, such as emotions, feelings and sentiments.

Behavioral Dimension
The behavioral dimension examines whether contacting with a given brand results in active action or behaviour.

Intellectual Dimension
The intellectual dimension examines whether a given brand induces mental activity or creativity.Source: the author's own compilation based on Brakus et al., 2009.

The brand asset valuator (BAV)
According to Kotler and Keller, "brand equity is the added value endowed on products and services" (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 284).From the brand equity models presented by the authors, the first one is the Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), developed by Young & Rubicam agency, which is "a method suitable for measuring consumer brand value" (Szőcs, 2012, p. 53) and it is based on evaluations by target audience (Piskóti et al., 2015).BAV has four dimensions: differentiation, relevance, esteem and knowledge (Szőcs, 2012;Piskóti et al., 2015).The definitions of these dimensions are presented in Table 2.
Table 2 The definitions of the BAV dimensions

BAV dimension definition Source
Differentiation "It measures the perceived distinctiveness of the brand, which Aaker (1996) stated is the most important synthesizing measure of associations.Thanks to this, the brand is able to stand out from its competitors."Aaker, 1996, in Szőcs, 2012, p. 52 Relevance "Relevance measures the extent to which the given brand appeals to the consumer, and in fact BAV estimates with this level the probability that the consumer is willing to buy the given brand."Hajdu, 2022b, pp. 196-197.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In order to confirm the conclusions of the previous publications based on the processing of the literature and to establish the quantitative research, a series of individual interviews were conducted with 12 experts who are either "general" online marketers, experts specialised in certain areas (like video marketing, copywriting, search engine optimisation or web shops) or content marketing experts who mostly work for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as consultants or contractors.However, some of these experts had gained a significant amount of experience in the large enterprise sector.The interviews were conducted between April and August 2022 (Table 3).A specific goal of these interviews was to confirm that it is worth examining the connection between CM, BAV and BX (especially from a business and practical viewpoint).Also, the interviews were intended to give an insight into the attitude of the Hungarian businesses toward content marketing and the circumstances influencing it.During the summary and evaluation of the interviews, the experts' opinions were contrasted but it is important to note that these experts did not have any real chance to come to an agreement, to confirm or contradict one another directly.As a moderator, I expressly asked these experts to answer, where it was necessary, as if they were talking to a layperson (some questions were put in a more unprofessional way, so that the questions would influence the respondents as little as possible).Consequently, among the experts' responses we can find statements that are obvious or seem obvious.When it was necessary, the definitions or the point of the questions (accounting or consumer brand equity) were cleared up for the respondents right after the questions.The 103-page long transcript of the interviews is not presented in this paper due to obvious length limitations (the shortest interview lasted about 45 minutes and the longest one was about 1 hour 40 minutes).The outline of the interviews and the questions are all in accordance with the research questions.Beside these questions, there were other topics and questions which were discussed during these interviews, but they were irrelevant to the topic of this paper and thus they will not be detailed here.At the beginning of each interview and during the small talk, I briefly laid out the most necessary information about the subject and the aim of the research (I tried not to influence the respondents).At the end of the interviews, I requested and was granted permission to use the exact same words and the content of the responses as references in a PhD dissertation and other scientific articles.
An audio recording was made of each interview which contains the respondent's permission that their responses can be used.At the beginning of the interviews, I requested and was granted permission to make audio (and sometimes video) recordings.All of the interviews were conducted online, with the help of a web camera and a microphone, typically via Skype.

THE RESULTS OF THE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Table 4 gives an overview of the questions belonging to the interview topics.The interview questions are also listed before the summary of the interviews (in italics and between quotation marks).The professional discourse about content marketing started around 2012 and 2013, mainly because of Google's 2012 algorithm update which gave more preference to text content.As Expert 9 stated, this caught the attention of Hungarian companies, too.The expert also added that the experts in Hungary began to understand and become more interested in this topic around 2015 and 2016.Expert 9 also states that today there is general agreement on the importance of content marketing.Another expert, Expert 7, thinks that CM is already part of the mainstream, and it is developing continuously.Expert 7 thinks that the companies and brands that make the best use of CM started using it 3 to 5 years earlier, but emerging brands can also succeed by applying CM.Expert 12 confirms that professional communication (and within that, content marketing and its tools) may be an advantage in the competition.Several experts (Expert 11, Expert 6, Expert 10) agree that there are both good and bad examples of CM in Hungary.Expert 10 says that basically all age groups in Hungary are now on the internet, which -according to Expert 5 -is dominated by Facebook and Google in Hungary.Expert 2 says that the interest in CM grew further due to the 2020 COVID pandemic.According to Expert 9, CM is now easier to access than it was a few years ago, partly because of lower costs and partly because of the expansion of the services and service providers.This idea is somewhat degraded by the change of the taxation laws regarding "KATA" (itemised tax liability for small taxpayers which is a flat-rate taxation).The number of service providers in CM, and especially that of content creators, is decreasing in Hungary.Expert 2 says the market of content creators is being concentrated and this leads to a cleansing process.Since only the more solid companies and experts will remain after the change in the "KATA" tax status, the rate of high-quality service providers and the barrier to entry may increase in the market.(We must not forget that content creation and content marketing can be outsourced [Kotler et al., 2017]).According to Expert 3, CM is often "influencer-centred" in Hungary, and this is often an unjustified approach.
The experts also talked about the deficiencies and the challenges, which can be classified as follows: -Immatureness: according to Expert 1 and Expert 8, content marketing is still "at an initial stage", "it is lagging behind".Expert 1 says that few people work in this area, and many misunderstand it.Expert 4 also thinks that few people understand content marketing appropriately and how important content creation and brand building are, and feels that the awareness level of the market actors in Hungary is still insufficient.Expert 2 says that the amount of Hungarian-language literature on CM is insufficient.Expert 6 also agrees with this and adds that content marketing does not have traditions in Hungary.For those who want to get more information, mostly only English-language sources are available.
-Inappropriate attitude and application: Expert 12 also confirms that CM in Hungary is still at an initial stage but adds that this communication solution is not handled properly within online marketing.Expert 9 says that those who work in content marketing in Hungary are usually not committed to their own content.One consequence of this is that only the bad campaigns are thoroughly evaluated.The good campaigns, which might follow a working model, are either poorly evaluated or not evaluated at all.Expert 1 thinks more research is necessary on how CM could help the SME sector and how CM applied by large companies could be adapted to the SME sector.Furthermore, the expert emphasises that there is a need for research that would present the usefulness of content creation.The experts think that problems usually occur at the beginning and at the end of content marketing campaigns.In Hungary, content marketing activities are not at all or not properly target-oriented and the controlling is not appropriate, either.The latter mentioned problem was emphasised mainly by Expert 1, while the other problems were mentioned by several experts (Expert 1, 9 and 12).Expert 12 calls this "hope marketing": the companies do something and then they hope that it will yield results; that is, these companies do not have a concept or strategy and they do not act in line with concepts or strategies.Expert 12 says the following about the topic: "we cannot develop what we do not measure".Expert 12 also mentions another problem: Hungarian web shops are typically sales-oriented and they present little content.However, as was previously mentioned, content marketing can be a competitive advantage as Unique Selling Proposition (USP).This practice is not in accordance with the consumer trends either, since socalled single-stage sales approach does not work anymore, and consumers get information from 5 to 7 places ("touchpoints") before shopping.This increases the value of CM within communication.Regarding the sales orientation, Expert 3 says that it is often a problem that Hungarian companies expect short-term results from CM.
-The applicability of foreign trends and solutions: CM in Hungary is underdeveloped (Expert 4), and it is also different from the western markets, especially the North American markets (Expert 10, Expert 3).The underdevelopment is marked by the fact that CM solutions are less widespread, while the difference comes from the size and homogeneity of the market and the language characteristics.According to Expert 2, it is a mistake to implement foreign trends and solutions in Hungary without any criticism, filtering or adaptation.However, Expert 2 says that it is worth paying attention to the work of good foreign and Hungarian experts.
-Resource limitations: Expert 8 has a strong opinion and thinks that it is very difficult to fully implement "real" CM in the Hungarian SME sector, rather its tools can be utilised.The reason for this is that professional and comprehensive CM requires personnel and financial resources.According to Expert 8, the socalled "entry level" in case of resources is about HUF 250,000 to 300,000 per month, but the effectiveness is questionable.A small firm, company or an entrepreneur with a low turnover does not have resources for CM.This idea was confirmed by Expert 11 as well.According to Expert 9, Hungarian CM cannot match the results produced in the western markets, but it still remains an important communication tool (Expert 9, Expert 2) and efforts are being made to catch up with international practice (Expert 6).Expert 3 thinks that "something has begun and started to develop but there is a serious lag".During the interviews, there were also promising, straightforward and brief statements about the present and the future of "Hungarian content marketing".As Expert 4 says: "Thank God, we have a lot to do in the next 100 years."Expert 11 says: "I think it is promising or at least encouraging".

A Summary of the interviews: CM and brand experience (BX)
"Do you think it is worth researching the relationship between CM and BX? Does it have any practical benefit?Can CM contribute to brand experience?"Most of the experts (except for one) consider the examination of content marketing and brand experience to be relevant.The main differences between the responses were the arguments to support the relevance of the topic or what the framework is regarding the validity of the topic.Expert 6's response confirms the conclusions drawn from the literature, that is, "content is also part of brand experience" and that is why this topic is relevant.Expert 11 also says that the topic is relevant, and should and can be researched along with BAV.During the interview, this expert could not mention anyone who was dealing with this topic.Expert 12 thinks that the topic is interesting because the relationship between CM and BX "may have a direct effect on the success of the particular brand" which can be measured with financial indicators.This expert also adds that "most people make their buying decisions on an emotional basis; that is, if content marketing can give them brand experience, a user who interacts with the content of the brand can probably be encouraged to buy in the next step".Expert 12 and Expert 1 think that brand experience has a positive effect on brand loyalty.Expert 9 thinks that the examination of the relationship between BX and CM is exciting because some content should be created for each stage of the so-called customer journey and get the customers to the repurchase stage.The goal is to turn the customer into an "evangelist" and a recommendation from the customer is an organic part of this.The expert does not know an "easy-to-handle" model and the research of the topic would be interesting from a professional viewpoint.The examination of BX has a framework or limits: according to Expert 1 satisfaction with the product and the service and their match with the content can seriously limit the effect of CM on BX.If there is not a close match, it can cause serious damage (Expert 1).Expert 1 thinks that CM can get the customers to the point of purchasing the product.Expert 10 and Expert 2 think that the measurement of brand experience and its effect on customer loyalty is more relevant and easier to measure in the large company sector than in the SME sector.
Several experts mention that the effect of CM on brand experience may be a goal and its measurement may be an important indicator of efficiency, a controlling tool (Experts 11, 1, and 4).

Summary of interviews: CM and brand value (BAV)
"Do you consider the examination of the relationship of brand value (BAV) and CM relevant?Is it or is it not worth researching?Can it have any practical benefit?" Regarding the relevance of the effect of CM on brand experience, several experts were uncertain, and they would primarily examine it in the large company sector.Experts 8, 4, and 10 think that in the SME sector there is often a compulsion that all activities must focus on the short-term income.Long-term activities like brand building are often pushed into the background.These experts think that the methods which measure and increase the brand value also belong to this category.They think that the measurement and the use of this topic are not well-founded or realistic in the SME sector.Expert 4 says that measurement is possible, but this information is not very useful for small businesses.
Expert 6 says that this topic may arise in case of large companies, but the topic is relevant in general.Expert 7 and Expert 3 do not mention any conditions; they consider the topic relevant.Expert 1 and Expert 2 tie this topic to the goal setting of the management: if it is defined as an objective (similarly to BX), the effect of CM on brand value should be measured.
Expert 12 confirms that there is practical benefit if the business and academic experts deal with the relationship between the consumer brand value and content marketing, and therefore they should measure it.The expert added a basic principle: "we cannot develop what we do not measure".
Expert 5 and her colleagues deal with the likeability of a brand when they perform the controlling of a brand.Expert 5 firmly argues that the effect of CM on brand value should be examined both in the business and the academic sector, since this area is rather neglected in Hungary and this kind of research might answer several questions and several phenomena seen in business practice might be confirmed or explained.
Expert 11 thinks that nowadays the Hungarian market actors and the Hungarian brands within BAV often "forget about" differentiation; thus, this area is neglected.According to the expert, CM is a good tool to build the differentness and differentiation of a specific brand.Consequently, the expert considers the analysis of the relationship between the consumer brand value (like the Young and Rubicam brand value model) and content marketing very relevant.The relevance of BAV is also an essential research area from the viewpoint of CM.The brands pay more attention to this area.What is usually ignored (but concerns the relevance and differentiation) in several cases is the fact that not only the brands themselves compete but the contents, too.What is more, in this case, not only the immediate rival of a brand is important, but the content of the traditional media brands as well.
Expert 9 also confirmed that the examination of the relationship between CM and brand value may have a practical benefit and it would be good to get as precise results as possible.The expert thinks it is important to describe and understand good and effective practices and everyone in the sector could make use of these.Expert 9 thinks that confirmation of the relationship between CM and the consumer brand value would be very significant and "exciting".
The summary of the expert interviews, the responses and key ideas given to the research questions is presented in Table 5.Most experts (except one) think the examination of content marketing and brand experience relevant.Content is also part of BX.The framework and limitations of the examination of BX in relation to CM (e. g. satisfaction with the product and serving and its accordance with CM) People make most of their buying decisions on an emotional basis.The measurement of BX and its effect is more relevant in the large company sector than in the SME sector.The effect of CM on BX can be a goal and an important controlling tool.

The relationship between CM and brand value (BAV)
The experts would rather examine this in the large company sector, but the topic is relevant in general.The examination of the relationship between CM and brand value can have practical benefits.CM may be a good tool to differentiate a brand (which is an element of BAV).The confirmation of the relationship between CM and the consumer brand value would be very significant and "exciting".It is important to describe and understand the good and working practices and the whole sector should make use of these.
Source: the author's own research

The main findings of the research
The interviewed experts confirmed the chief findings of the research conducted by contentplus.huand provided more information about the content marketing practices in Hungary.CM in Hungary needs further development, and it is developing in spite of the resource limitations and the inappropriate attitude of the management.
The results of the expert interviews do not only confirm the relevance of the examination of the relationship between CM and BX, but they also confirm that CM is part of brand experience.This confirms a result of Hajdu (2022a).BX contains an emotional dimension as well, which should be emphasised because most buying decisions are based on emotions.
The relationship between CM and BAV is considered to be an important research topic since CM can affect the whole BAV or a part of it.This is especially true in case of the differentiation dimension of BAV.
Based on the expert interviews, it can be stated that it is worth examining the effect of CM on BAV and BX and this examination may also act as a controlling tool.

CONCLUSION
A series of interviews was conducted with 12 experts in the spring and summer of 2022 to prepare for a quantitative research project which would examine the relationship between content marketing and branding, more specifically brand experience and brand value.During the interviews, it was found that experts see content marketing as still being at an initial stage in Hungary, based on foreign solutions, but showing promising signs.The experts consider the examination of the relationship between content marketing and brand experience and, in general, the examination of the Young and Rubicam BAV model to be relevant.However, some of the experts noted that the examination of both areas should be conducted in the large company sector.The experts put forth several arguments which confirm the relevance of this topic.
Based on the research results, if a brand has CM activity, it might be necessary to examine the effect of content marketing on BAV and BX.The information and opinions revealed during the research might need further confirmation, but they provide an excellent basis and reason to continue the research by using both qualitative and quantitative methods.The recommended implementation methods of the measurement should also be the subject of further research.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Percentage rates of the responses given to the question of "How would you characterize the content marketing activities of your company?"

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: The most effective digital marketing techniques according to marketers worldwide in 2020 Survey time period: January 2020

Table
. The four dimensions are presented in Table1.

Table 3
The codes of respondents used in this paper and the dates of interviews made in 2022 interview

Table 4
The topics of the qualitative research Source: the author's own compilation "Do you consider the examination of the relationship of brand value (BAV) and CM relevant?Is it or is it not worth researching this?Can it have any practical benefit?"

Table 5 A
brief summary of the expert interviews