Brand Your Content To Support Your Unique Positioning Perspective

Branding your content doesn't have to be a whole lot of work. In fact, it should be fun for your writers and Agencies to create imaginative solutions - as long as the solutions achieve your business objectives and goals. Brand voice and brand standards are guidelines, not handcuffs.

Start with your ideal customer and work backwards. What is the problem you and your stuff solves for them, and how can that be expressed in a value proposition? Know and understand your target's problems and pain points.

Check with sales and find out what they need and want. How does what you're planning work with what they're planning? Can what you're doing strengthen their activity and lead to new opportunities? If you don't know, go and find out. Get connected and "aligned". Don't worry, you own the marketing pipeline (and they don't want it, and won't try to take it away from you).

Whatever you're planning to do - it's part of the marketing pipeline. This branded content is driving revenue, because it's intended to help push, nudge and ultimately pull prospects through the pipeline and deliver a sales-ready lead. No pressure.

Has anyone talked to legal yet?

All your content assets need to project and embody the same, consistent differentiation through brand voice and brand standards.

"Same" and "Consistent" do not mean boring and boring. Frameworks exist for a reason, and projecting a reassuringly familiar, consistent message in a recognizable voice encourages your ideal customers you and your stuff are reliable and trustworthy.

Plan to brand your content as you produce it, not as a 'layer' you add once the content has been created - like adding a logo on the front cover of an ebook.

Has anybody thought about how this content, this particular one right here - is going to attract attention and pull the target in to the website? No really, has anybody been thinking about that?

Plan to give yourself and team enough time to create, approve, produce and deploy your content - recognizing that approvals can sometimes involve conflicting agendas.

Recognize that certain content elements lend themselves to branding more effectively than others, for example a podcast may use a audio logo that your packaging can not.

Begin each campaign with a defined problem to solve, and business goal to achieve: if you specialize in safety gear, your problem could be to attract traffic to a safety symposium webinar. The business goal is to increase awareness and website traffic and achieve 500 sign-ups for the webinar.

Plan campaigns from the customer's point of view backwards to your business goals. In the webinar case above, it's more important to focus on what to include in the webinar (scope) than it is to focus on the actual products. Key is using your distinctive differentiator (positioning) to inform and support the brand purpose and communications.

Really think how you can explain your stuff is the only choice in the marketplace - can you do it believably without harming your brand reputation?

Plan how your unique voice should present the material. What is the point of view? What style of presentation is appropriate, what type of illustrations etc.?

Once the point of view has been determined, use the creative brief to communicate the objectives and requirements of the "big idea" and how it should relate to and reflect brand meaning.

Check the big idea for engagement and relevance to your target audience. One example is to conduct mini-polls on your website and Linkedin, another is to run PPC ads to test interest and relevance. Better to test for even 3 days than run a concept that falls flat.

Packaging your content should involve more than a pretty wrapper. You've invested in some content, an ebook maybe; spend the time and make the effort to differentiate it in the marketplace with an engaging title and cover. Professional copywriters often create 60-75 headlines before they hit on the tone, emphasis and interest points that resonate and engage their audience. Do the same; don't be disrespectful of the content you worked so hard to brainstorm, create and produce.

Coordinate your branded content with your existing, and planned campaigns. Many branded campaigns would be improved by the simple recognition that after-event (for our fictitious webinar) emails require branding as much as pre-event, and that after-event landing pages and addititional offers designed and planned upfront also require consistent branding and brand voice.

Now that you have a branded content element, with a relevant and therefore engaging message - how are you going to let people know about it?

Call us today to get your ideal customer attraction campaigns started for shorter sales cycles and faster lead to close times. We'll get you started. You'll see results.

Toll-free North America 1 (877) 949-2726 for Content Marketing Campaigns.