Content’s Role in Marketing Continues to Increase as Consumers Focus on Authenticity

Content is everywhere. We read blog posts and social media posts, look at pictures, watch videos, read customer stories, and flip through testimonials. A good content strategy is how many of the world’s biggest brands have transitioned from a budding brand to a household name.

Marketing, in recent years, has been going through quite a transition. Consumers want authenticity, accountability, and credibility reflected in the brands that they support. The average consumer is making purchases based on trust. Brands are now focusing more on content and less on pushy advertisements.

Deloitte’s 2020 consumer pulsing survey even revealed that more than 80 percent of consumers would be willing to pay more if a brand raised its prices to be more environmentally and socially responsible or to pay higher wages to its employees.

How Content and Storytelling Can Help Your Brand

Your audience demands more, and the content you can create should tell a story. When storytelling is used to create your brand story, it’s a powerful way to connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Storytelling:

• Sticks in the reader’s mind. When your content tells a story, the reader will remember your story and relate to it on a deeper level.

• Creates a connection. Your story can be the foundation of your marketing by connecting deeply with consumers. Consumers become invested in your brand and will support it. The Lego brand is one that I always admire for creating strong connections.

The most powerful stories are personality-driven. Your story isn’t an ad, nor is it a sales pitch. Your writer’s and brand’s personality must shine with authenticity and creativeness.

Brand stories should follow three key steps:

1. Communicate a problem

2. Identify a solution

3. Demonstrate success

Your story will explain why your brand exists and how it can help your demographic. When your business evolves, the story will evolve to shape your business’s existence. But content can, and should, go well beyond storytelling.

While at Tesla, I have always loved the story of this Spanish family that was filmed about life with their Tesla Model X....

Content Across Multiple Channels for Growth

Authentic storytelling can build a brand, but you’ll want to incorporate multiple forms of content to build your business. There are a lot of content assets or different forms of content that you can create.

Your content assets can include some or all of the following:

• Short-form content

• Long-form content

• Guest posts

• Videos

• Social media posts

• White papers

• Research papers

• Quizzes/polls

• Infographics

• eBooks

• Case studies

• Checklists

• Interviews

You can also create surveys, Apps, or interactive assets, to bolster your marketing efforts. A content strategy may include posting your articles on targeted platforms or using social media to share your images or videos. A strong content strategy will often aid you in also collecting valuable information about your target audience. In order to access or download content, ask them to give something up in return (email address, name, or location are a great place to start).

It's important to choose platforms that are popular among your demographic. For example, if your demographic is strictly B2B, LinkedIn will likely be a key platform for you. If it's a 65+ retiree, chances are, they spend most of their online time on Facebook rather than TikTok, even though there are exceptions.

Choose your marketing channels to match the content you create for the biggest impact on your brand.

It’s easy to get stuck with your content. As your business grows, it’s easy to push content to the side. One way to track and organize your content assets is by creating a content calendar. Your calendar will allow for an overview of your content assets and channels for a specific period of time.

You can use these content calendar examples to help you create one for your brand.