"Content Marketing is the most honest way of communicating."
You have probably already heard a lot about Content Marketing which seems to be the buzz word of 2019. You know that it means a massive amount of work, day-in-day-out writing, producing and directing videos and editing picture after picture. You have also heard that it's all worth it as (granted you have a good content marketing strategy in place) you will get more people of your target audience moving further down the funnel.
However, while this is all true in this blogpost we will focus on the greater sense in which content marketing can help your brand. If you had to pick one, the single, most valuable factor in building a strong connection with your target audience it would be authenticity. In order to be authentic (or fake for that matter) you need to communicate with your potential customers in the first place. Simply acting in a certain way will no longer attract anyone if they do not know about it
Of course, this is the basic principle of marketing as communication is the foundation of any kind of marketing strategy. What's so special about it in this case is that these days marketing is less about convincing your audience that you are the best and more about informing them WHY you are the best. After all, multiple pieces of research have shown that there is no hope in talking someone into buying something if they don't want to. So let's focus on the people that DO want to buy a certain product.
The choice is infinite these days so the range of options they are now facing is no longer limited to a 30 mile radius but rather you are competing against everyone globally. At the push of a button certain goods can be ordered to one's home within less than a week's time and sometimes at a very low price. This is most likely clear to you, however, you would be surprised by how many people still think they are competing only on a national level.
In order for you to be at the prominent, top-of-mind position when it comes to evaluating which brand to buy a potential customer must have heard of you before and hopefully they have heard something good in at least a related product category.
So we have established that it's not worth talking to just anyone and that it IS important to talk to get into the consumers' heads. However, these days people are much more aware when they are being advertised to and hiding this fact might not be the best and most efficient way forward.
For many companies communication is still not in line with the actual actions which, in the worst case, leads to accusations of green-washing or black-washing. You need to have you strategy and your facts ready. Be aware that you are speaking to a woke consumer that no longer gets their information from an advert or word of mouth. If they are thinking of buying a product or service they have a wealth of information at their fingertips. Before they buy - at least when it comes to high-involvement decisions - they will certainly consult multiple platforms and not all of them will be managed by you. For completeness, I would like to point out that even for some seemingly low-involvement decision making processes a bit of research is done at times.
Since you cannot control what people are saying about your company and your brand, the best strategy is to ensure that the vast majority of content that is found is content that is produced by you or your supporters. This way the chances of a consumer finding that one negative opinion about you in the sea of positivity are much lower. That's how simple it is!
Again: You shouldn't be hiding any wrongful or unethical behavior as this is pointless these days anyway and often requires a lot of effort (aside from the obvious moral concerns). You should rather use the possibilities that you have to the fullest. Content Marketing does not have to be a burden. By using what you are already doing and weaving it into exciting and involving stories your audience will get to know you better and you will get the opportunity to guide the narrative surrounding your company.
As there are more things to consider before changing your whole strategy to a content marketing strategy there will be another blogpost outlining the pros & cons of the same within the next weeks. Stay tuned and sign up to receive notifications when a new blogpost goes live.
I hope this post was useful to you to understand the benefits of being honest and decent when talking to your customers. Please let me know your thoughts on the topic in the comments below. As always, I am looking forward to a lively discussion!
