Content creation is a great way to establish your brand’s voice in the industry and connect with your customers over exciting topics. With so many companies competing for your audience, how can you be sure your content stands out in the crowd? One answer is brand integration.
Keeping brand integration at the center of your content marketing strategy helps ensure that you don’t become just more noise on the Internet. It also forces you to develop some shape to your content strategy, instead of producing piece after piece of content without an idea of what’s holding it all together. Here are steps you can take to make brand integration a key part of your marketing strategy:
Develop the concept of your brand. A brand is more than a logo or a tagline, or your product. It’s all those things, but more. Determine what distinguishes you from others in your industry and the values that led you to create your business. Defining your brand story and identifying your brand’s voice for communications helps you create content that is consistent and tells your audience who you are.
It’s may be helpful to take time to think about what your brand might be like if they were a person. What would they sound like in a conversation?
Be strategic in your distribution. Once you have a few pieces of content to post, you’ll need to decide how to distribute it. It may take some trial and error at first, but your goal is to identify the places your audience spends time. You may be in a more visual industry, so Instagram makes sense, or maybe you’re marketing to entrepreneurs that spend a lot of time networking on LinkedIn.
Each of these platforms has a different feel and tone, so it will impact how you write your content.
Inform, don’t sell. Your audience is looking for information to solve a particular problem or insight on a current trend, so don’t attempt to meet their needs with a sales pitch. Your content should be informative, with a constant focus on adding value to your customer. End your content with a call to action, but the piece should not be salesy. Your audience will sniff out even a veiled sales pitch, so steer clear of any mention of your company or product.
As your produce quality content that gives your audience practical help and insightful considerations, you’ll eventually get the sales you’re seeking. When a potential customer is ready to make a purchase, they’ll think of your company first because of the helpful information they’ve gained from your content.
If you’d like to know more about the importance of brand integration in your content marketing strategy, take a look at a white paper on the subject posted on SimpliContent. This guide offers extensive guidance on the benefits of building an integrated brand and advice for how to get started.