Content Marketing is the lifeblood of many marketing strategies. More often than not, it is the primary reason why the best companies are converting customers. That’s why creating an amazing, workable content strategy isn’t only a great idea; it’s a crucial need for your business growth.
Let’s start with the basics, for any marketing strategy to work, a brand needs to ensure that its content shows consistency in messaging. This applies to both messaging for their product or services features and benefits of course. But deeper than that, that consistency needs to be showcased on the internal aspects of the brand as well; to make sure they are appealing on a personal level.
Let me explain. Gone are the days where -if you sell, sell, sell they will buy. People need to feel invested in your brand, need to know your brand personally, know its story, know its “why” and it needs to resonate. This is your “why” and it answers these questions. What do they know about the company? How do they feel about it? Is the company “like” them? Does it resonate with their wants, needs and values?
For example, Coke’s “Share A Coke” campaign gave everyone the opportunity to personalise their favourite drink.
Why did it work? Personalisation.
Coke made you feel special, part of the company. It was just you and your bottle and you could make it whatever you wanted.
Coke wasn’t tracking online behaviour or looking at the likes on their posts. No, they grab the attention of their customers by making them feel special. They connected 1 on 1with their customer by using ‘their name’. The most important thing to their customers and to them.
Obviously this example won’t work for everyone, as some companies will need more details to reach their customers. But it’s a brilliant example that you can learn from on how a personal connection to your audience is vital in attracting customers.
“Content includes online and offline communications, events, partnerships and any touchpoint a brand uses to communicate. For online purposes, content marketing includes digital, mobile and social communications,” she said. “If done well, these content opportunities will align to business drivers and ultimately lead to ROI.”
Kathy Baird, Managing Director of Content and Social for Oglivy.
The reason why many of us struggle with content, storytelling and being able to scale our content operations, is that we perceive content at a very elementary level.
There is an assumption that if you say “this product is good and this is why you should buy it” then that is enough to consistently attract customers. No, content is about speaking to the most basic human form. It is about feelings and desires. If we think about a Family therapist for example. Imagine a Mother and child who had just had a session to discuss challenges they were facing with communication. Imagine the Mother saying how much closer the family were after having the session.
THAT’S GOLD!
There are four key areas that you need for the perfect content strategy:
Goals
You need to decide your specific goals before you start creating your content. What are you selling, why are you selling it? What are your offers? Are you trying to increase sales or change the brand completely? These goals align the rest of the steps, so this needs to be documented and written down before you start creating anything. It is also recommended that you have someone you know read over them and see if they understand what your goals are. This helps make sure that you have verbally and physically set goals that make sense, rather than verbally spewing up everything that was in your head.
Your Brand’s story
Your brand story is integral to your content strategy. This is where you sit down and understand what your target market is wanting, their interests and your brand positioning against the competition.
Start with how you talk to them, what do they want to hear? Your narrative needs to resonate with their beliefs. A good narrative coupled with your storytelling principles and the perfect brand bio will grab so much attention and influence customer behaviour.
Furthermore, it helps with getting a clearer message across more frequently. Key words and sayings will help with this.
Content Consistency
Content doesn’t work unless you are featuring pieces of your targeted content all over the place. Content is often missed, or it is skipped over depending on the mood of your audience. Some are night owls; some are morning people. Some people need to see things 5 times to understand, some need it twice. Obviously this is something you are unable to change. But what you can do is make that your brand story, all your offers, your connections for everyone to see. It is a long-term investment, at least 2 weeks to sell a story and another 2 to grab their attention, especially with a new audience.
Media Distribution:
Consumers need to see and interact with your content at least 3-5 times before they believe in it. There will be competitors, no doubt about it, and there will be excess of other content that they see first. But eventually when you have your target market in the right mind, they will see yours.
To make them see it more, you need to prioritise the same story and content across all platforms and distribute it on different days/times of the week. Also, it is important to note that trending content on each platform is also needed, this helps to reach new audiences and in real-time.
Remember, content is not a tick box, a bullet point in a presentation; content is a conversation that you are having with your audience as you listen and feel what they feel. If you are writing content that does nothing more than sell, the reality is that your audience will not grow.
If you are looking for a content strategy or need a copywriter to help with your brand story and bio, then Creative Little Soul have experienced strategists and copywriters that can tell your brand story.
Contact us to discuss your content options and if you need help getting your vision and business out there.