When you think of branding, content isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. You imagine logos, slogans, and maybe some slogans. But the world has changed. Digital branding is widespread and content is a powerful tool for doing this for your business today.
Learn how content can help you better market your business by defining your audience, storytelling, copying, and building a caring environment.
Define your audience
Developing content for its own sake without really knowing who your audience is, what they care, what they fear, and what their challenges are is pointless. It sprays water all over the place with a garden hose. When you first define your audience, that hose becomes a nail gun.
I’ve helped many companies develop an Ideal Customer Persona (Buyer ICP) to narrow down the types of topics and content to develop. You may also have different personas / demographics that you want to address as your business is geared towards more than just one. But remember, the more detailed (and customized) your message, the better your conversion rates.
For example, if you’re a real estate startup that buys people’s homes, your content revolves around a home seller’s objections and fears and why you are the best guide to help him (the hero) achieve his goal – that Sell house.
For example, part of your content strategy can be to position your company (brand) as a top-of-mind expert. For example, blog posts that provide information about the prospect’s marketplace, their recent trends, and maybe even micro-seller statistics by neighborhood / state level.
Differentiate your brand from your competitors
Your content branding strategy should be to set your business apart from your competitors. It will help your business build trust while entertaining your customers and educating them about what you are doing and why you are doing it.
One way to differentiate yourself is to be caring. Content can be created in two ways:
-
The goal of attracting visitors, links, and shares (and ultimately sales)
-
The mindset of helping. Really helpful. Your content must meet the needs, interests, and weaknesses of your audience.
A brand can’t take care of it. People can take care. And people buy from people. What you can do is hire people who care, reward employees who care, or even prospects who care; those who share insights and data, survey takers, beta testers, social media fans, community advocates, and brand ambassadors. When you maintain a caring environment, your content (and brands) will be distributed organically.
A common, but difficult to perfect way of branding content is storytelling. People can’t resist a good story, and great marketers use it to their full advantage.
A compelling story can differentiate your brand, generate interest, and set you apart. Another way is via large copy. It will be a crucial factor in the branding process through content such as blogs, emails, webinars, newsletters, social media and your website.
Copywriters need to have extensive vocabulary and perfect grammar, but most importantly, how and when it’s okay to break the rules and bend words to show character. An informal, chatty text or choice of words can still be professional if done correctly.
Developing branded content using these tactics will add to both conversions and your search engine rankings. And making things easier to find is crucial, because there’s no point in creating content that no one sees.
I asked my friend, Industry Veteran Joey Campbell, Director of Organic Growth Content at Nike, for his thoughts on the matter:
“When it comes to branded content, I constantly think about voice, tone, and style. But aligning content with the brand voice begins long before you even put the pen on paper. First, you need to define your voice clearly and concisely and codify it in reusable guidelines or a creators manual. You also need talented, professional writers and content creators who are not only trained with these guidelines, but who are excited and passionate about your brand from the start. After all, every piece of content you create needs to have a clear purpose in line with your brand’s mission and vision. Content without a purpose, no matter how well designed, will fail.
“Above all, the consistency of the voice is the key. Your brand reflects who you are and what is important to you. These values are consolidated in the long term through countless content projects across many channels and media. “
If you are tackling marketing and branding for your business, now you have a better game plan. Use content. But first define your target group, their problems, wishes, objections and fears. Then stand out from your competitors by maintaining great copywriting, storytelling, a caring environment, and making sure it has an end goal and its voice is consistent.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not Inc.com’s.
Comments are closed.