Traditional marketing alone won’t be enough to grow.
If you wish to be competitive in the marketplace, you cannot resist the changes that are rapidly taking place.
The idea is to understand these shifts, accept them, and envision your own transformation. It’s time to determine how you can get away from the rigid framework of previous market thinking, considering that the time of static, ossified marketing based strictly on sales has passed.
The proactive and pro-consumer era, the time of values and engaged dialogue with the client, has arrived. And we have concrete, global evidence supporting the innovative trend of content marketing.
It’s time to have a little chat about the big C word - Content Marketing. There might be many misconceptions about what it is and what it can actually do. First off, Content marketing is a key strategy aimed at acquiring customers. Instead of typical sales, the approach is all about the commitment to the content published by the company. It allows you to build long-term relationships with customers, translating into their consumer loyalty when they turn from qualified leads to real consumers. Content marketing relates to creating, publishing, and distributing valuable and attractive content that engages and responds to the needs of a given target group. These can be articles, graphic messages, or video productions. Thanks to ‘on-the-money’ analysis and creation of personas, even before preparing materials, you can quickly provide your viewers with what they are looking for and prove that your company is a go-to expert in a given field.
Content marketing is ultimately a profitable contribution to your brand’s presence. Here’s why:
A major trap can be to create with no real direction. Let’s give your customers and fans a reason to believe in your brand. You must define your brand’s purpose or ‘raison d’etre’ so others can clearly see how to truly improve their lives and experiences. Answering questions, “What you do? Why do you do it? How do you do it?” sounds breezy in theory but becomes tricky the moment we face these dilemmas. The most idolized brands, such as Patagonia, Starbucks, or Nike, have a clearly defined purpose and principles that guide their actions, providing a solid foundation for understanding their audience. When this is done correctly, customers are no longer just mere purchasers of the products but become proud ambassadors of the brand. Are their products that much better than their competitors? Certainly not. What they all have in common is the ability to connect with their audiences through emotionally compelling content and understanding people’s needs.
Why in the world should anyone buy from you instead of your competitors? That’s the job of the USP, The unique selling proposition. USP is a product feature, additional service, or exceptional quality that sets you apart from the rest of the pack. It may be either a functional benefit like saving gas money with a Tesla or that intrinsic feeling you get of saving the planet with your Patagonia sweater.
By communicating USP to a potential customer, you emphasize the most vital benefits of your company and build a coherent brand image. It’s a piece of your marketing strategy that consumers can recognize you by. Give your potential and current customers a reason to care and join your community.
I don’t need to tell you that there is competition everywhere. The competition in the e-commerce market is super fierce, and finding something that distinguishes us from the others may be challenging. The sellers who are also producers of the assortment have more aces up their sleeve, including features such as handmade, limited edition, eco-friendly materials, local products, or personalized goods.
When selling widely available products, marketing that sets you apart from the competition can include additional services, unique quality, or pillars and values of your brand. Consider marketing attempts of some of the chief and popular brands:
The key to success is the customer’s interest in the area of your company’s operations that others cannot boast about. Charitable activities, caring for social justice, solving a problem, or engaging in climate change debate will attract people bored with browsing through similar products.
Once you have a good idea of your purpose, now it’s time to go after the ideal customers who have the need and willingness to consume what you have to offer. Without selecting a target, it is difficult to achieve success in sales or marketing activities. The message addressed to everyone goes to the void, without bringing the expected results - it does not attract attention, does not encourage to buy or even stop for a moment to read the offer.
To define your target audience, you need to envision a model customer, considering location, gender, age, income, education, interests, and lifestyle.
Building a strong and enduring bond with your target audience requires passion and engagement with the online community. Doing so will facilitate higher brand awareness and increased reach. Creating relevant long-form content and emotionally compelling videos and animations uniquely aiming at people’s needs will promote the desired relationship. How can we achieve a deeper connection with the audience?
Profound customer relationships can be an essential source of growth and profitability. Major corporations are aware of the trend, but they are not always able to build and maintain loyalty. It turns out that emotional ties may be much more important than the quality of service. Consider brands such as Apple or Coca-Cola. Their cult character translates into the loyalty of customers who sometimes become their ambassadors.
Emotions are crucial. Research conducted by experts from Motista, a company that studies human behavior, published in Boston’s Harvard Business Review (An Emotional Connection Matters More than Customer Satisfaction, August 2016), suggests that emotional factors can have a much greater impact on the growth of customer value. Motista experts call elements that build consumer loyalty and value “emotional motivators.” The approach is to reach for the primary motivations of clients and filling deeper, often unspoken, emotional needs. Taking into account the target audience, selected motivators should be activated, such as the desire to belong, to be successful, or to gain a sense of security.
There is nothing wrong with the old-school billboard advertising approach, but if you are seeking success in the long term, you need to think strategically. New marketing strategies like SEO and social media marketing effectively build long-term results, but there is no better method than content marketing. Here’s why:
Content marketing on its own works wonders. Video content brings it all to another level—this is where the magic of your brand comes to life with incredible visuals and sounds. Video marketing consists of animation or live-action created by experts that make the concept come to life. Well-executed video offers a unique, individual experience and allows you to dive deeper into the brand’s world and the ideas behind it. This approach opens up opportunities for you to create a positive relationship between the recipient and your brand or products. Treat your audience the way you wish to be treated. Make viewers feel important, needed, and as if they accompanied you every step of the way. Let them participate in the story and help develop the narration. Give them what they expect and a little more. Let them become heroes in your production. Let them get emotional, angry, and absorb more than just a product description and a brand. Notice how the best of the best within the industry do it. You will find excellent and captivating content on many websites acquiring the superior campaigns of the world.
Did you know that as many as 36% of online users trust video ads?
Have you ever created high-ranking, grand content that raised the bar for all your future creations? What if you could promote the same idea every once in a while to save time on new projects and let it proliferate? Repurposing the best pieces of your hard work has many advantages, including:
Content marketing, just like any business strategy, must have a plan that includes the expected means and forms of communication and specific goals that will allow you to measure its effectiveness. At each stage of the strategy implementation, it is important to verify whether individual actions have achieved the goals.
Remember, the future of content marketing is customer-oriented. Each project should be crafted with your audience in mind, especially with well-produced videos. Your content must be emotionally driven, easy to consume, and bring your brand and the audience together to form a deep and lasting bond.