Did you notice I called content a strategy? That’s no accident. Content marketing is now a given in the plans of the big players, whether it’s focused on SEO, social media or branding. What matters is that content is a way to connect with your audience organically, and the end of that story brings the company several benefits: stronger brand recall, preference, ownership, qualified leads, brand lift, earned media and word of mouth.
Let me give you an example
Ana’s life has been a bit dull lately. Nothing new happening, no good film she’s seen, nothing to tell.
Ana goes to a bar with her friends, and they have plenty of news: they recommend a film, talk about a job change, mention a museum they visited and experiences they’ve had recently. Ana, on the other hand, doesn’t have much to add. She mostly listens.
When she gets home, Ana feels inspired to watch the film her friend recommended. She doesn’t like museums, but she remembers an open-air exhibition near her home she’s never been to, among other stories that inspired her to shake up her routine.
In this simple example, the conversation with her friends triggered a few reactions:
- It made Ana realise she needed to shake up her routine.
- It inspired Ana to consider new things.
- It convinced Ana to take action.
Now imagine Ana and her friends are brands, and the bar table is Instagram
- Ana could be on social media, but since she has no news and nothing to say, she doesn’t post and doesn’t show up.
- Her friends, on the other hand, had interesting things to share. They were there, posting often about what they love, and Ana saved all those tips in a folder.
- At the end of the day, Ana remembered her friends and their tips. Nobody remembered Ana, because in the middle of so much information, out of sight is out of mind.
In other words, we create content to build a relationship with our audience and be part of their day. And the more people identify with your content (I’ve written about working with pain points), the greater the inspiration, engagement and recall of your brand or product.
Before you put your whole budget into it
Watch your KPIs. This strategy moves through the funnel and does drive conversion. But you’ll often be talking to potential customers who are still becoming aware of the problem, and expecting leads and immediate results can be very frustrating. The focus here is conversation, relationship, being seen and being talked about. Track reach and engagement, and refine the strategy from there.
Watch your strategy. Your content has to be consistent with the brand’s purpose, which I wrote about in this article. Coherence and consistency.
It looks easy and cheap, but it isn’t. This strategy takes investment, both money and time. Creating content isn’t simple, and the conversion return isn’t as immediate as people like to say. You will invest, and over time, with a well-connected strategy, you’ll get far more consistent results than by working only the bottom of the funnel.
And trust it: with the right strategy, it works. In the long run, you’ll have built a strong brand presence and a far more honest, far less intrusive dialogue.
Did any of this ring true for you? How do you use content in your strategy?
Originally published on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn ↗