Marketing content isn’t just about selling a product. It’s about creating a dynamic interaction between you and your audience, making space for your brand in their minds, and offering your unique perspective on the topic at hand. The most effective content does more than advertise.
It creates an experience.
Making your mark
One of the best ways to create meaningful content is to tell a story. Storytelling is an art, and it’s one your customers will appreciate more than an itemized list of all the ways you’re better than the competition.
Storytellers might use words like “mood” and “theme” to describe their process and its results. How do these concepts apply in a marketing context? Think of them as “emotion” and “message” instead. Every piece of content evokes an emotional response, even if it’s not immediately obvious. Your content should evoke positive emotions, and your message should be memorable enough to make an indelible mark.
Knowing your audience
When you’re producing content to reach a particular audience, it’s essential to gather as much information about them as possible. Market research helps you understand what should be included in your message and how best to convey it.
Take this Chobani commercial, for instance.
Beyond being beautifully animated, the ad’s message and its “solarpunk” aesthetic created a viral sensation. Solarpunk is a growing trend in many online spaces, and Chobani’s appeal to the trend struck a chord. So while the ad was created for a target audience, the engagement it received increased the brand’s exposure — all because Chobani understood the what and how of inspiring a response.
Audience demographics and buying habits differ from one social channel to the next. Instagram is all about trends and branding, while Tumblr is inherently immune to most marketing content. Market research can give you a lot of information about your target audience, but buying preferences aren’t always indicative of your potential customers’ values. Use the statistics, but don’t forget about the people behind the numbers.
Consistency and commitment
You know the emotions you want your content to inspire and the message you want your audience to remember. Now what?
Commit to the message you emphasized in your story, and recommit with every new piece of marketing content you create. When you consistently reinforce your core message, your content experience has cumulative value.
Go back to Chobani and its viral ad. Would it have the same effect — evoke the same audience response — if its next piece of content contradicted the ad’s message?
Chobani’s products are heavily, and intentionally, associated with a healthy, natural lifestyle, and the company is dedicated to environmental sustainability. Every piece of content produced for a Chobani audience reinforces and connects those core messages to one another, to the audience, and to the brand.
Consumers are people, and people respect consistency and commitment. A well-crafted message can be both consistent and contemporary, so don’t use consistency as an excuse to be boring. Instead, think about how to convey your message in alignment with evolving social trends and channels. Over time, consistent messaging creates a coherent content experience that stays with your customers and adds value to your brand.
There’s no magic ingredient for creating the perfect content. Each brand has its own message, and each audience its own needs. Information and impact form the foundation of every content experience.
