How Content Marketing Helps Build a Brand

Content marketing took the digital marketing world by a storm in 2015. It has become one of the most crucial and essential tools of digital marketing. All B2B organizations today invest in content marketing strategy because content is the new hero of the game. The boom of social media and interactive media platforms has made this form of marketing a popular concept among agencies and clients. Communicating your brand essence, core values, and educating people about your brand play an instrumental role in building a strong brand. Content marketing helps brands build trust among consumers, investors, employees, and other stakeholders.

What is Content Marketing: Free valuable, informational, and educational content related to the brand helps convert prospects into consumers and consumers into loyal and repeat consumers. Words matter as much as design when it comes to creating a brand story and its identity. It is the voice of your brand.

How does content marketing help B2B sectors? It helps B2B in getting the brand a better visibility. Search Engine Optimization and Google AdWords ensure that people find your brand when they are looking for it on the internet. The keywords in your content are responsible for that magic! A good communication strategy helps in generating leads and boosting traffic to your website and gets your product/service noticed. B2B marketers use content marketing strategy to sell, build a persona, and communicate their brand values and therefore the style and tone of communication plays a vital role. The tone and style incorporated should match the overall agenda and persona of the brand.

What is a good Content Strategy? A good content strategy aims at answering common problems, helps consumers find relevant answers to their problems and concerns. A smart, well optimized communication will ensure more subscribers to your content and encourage them to share it as well. Finding the right time, right platform, and the right target audience for your content is crucial. It could be blog posts, youtube videos, Instagram photos, Pinterest pins, Facebook statuses, E-mailers, and Tweets. A good marketing strategy ensures consumer loyalty, brand awareness, consumer engagement and brand visibility. A robust communication strategy would involve a good balance between copy and content. Both need to work together in creating the brand story.

Whether the chosen medium is videos, photographs, or text only, it is very important that our communication model answers the following questions:

  • Who is going to consume this information
  • How is the consumer going to consume this information
  • Will he/she act upon this information (is there a call to action)
  • Will this solve any of the consumers’ questions and concerns
  • Is this information relevant to general audience or does it cater to a niche audience only.
  • If your content answers all of the above questions, it becomes ‘shareable’.

Examples of some of the Indian brands building strong brands primarily due to strong content marketing strategy:

Zomato 1976976_841118219247595_1202814654_n Zomato is known for creating quirky, fun, and extremely shareable content. Be it videos, infographics, blogs, or Facebook & Twitter posts, Zomato always manages to nail it. They are bold and do not shy away from experimenting. With their bold, crisp, and fresh content marketing strategy, they surely have grabbed many eyeballs! Another Indian brand that is well known for their very strong communication strategy is Amul. 1532116-thumb

Amul’s campaigns are always topical. They are rib tickling, tear jerking, and sometime even thought provoking. Amul ads always manage to find a connect with the Indian audiences, regardless of age and gender. When it comes to Indian companies that have their content marketing strategy sorted and in place, Vogue India has done a great job. Their content marketing is a good example of customized, tailor made content targeting Indian women. Their communication is for the high end, sophisticated, fashion conscious and glamorous women. But at the same time to hit closer home, Vogue India focuses on women empowerment, issues pertaining to women like body shaming, freedom for women and their rights, the patriarchal society and their views of women, etc.

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Writing good content: Content marketing strategy requires a well written copy and content. Interlinking articles helps retain the viewer/consumer on the site. Pushing your brand communication with the right tone and attitude on platforms frequently used by your target audience is also crucial.

To build a good content marketing strategy, a brand should:

  • Build a well thought of communication calendar which tells them what to publish and when
  • Identify the different media channels they want to publish their content on. Brands need to research the available resources (different channels available) and do a detailed study on where there TG/TA spends much of its time and is likely to consume this communication better.
  • Publish quality content that not only entertains and informs but also helps build awareness about the brand, building trust and familiarity with the brand in return.
  • The secret is to keep at it. Publishing well thought of, beautifully drafted content at regular intervals is also very crucial. Often brands that invest in a communication strategy lose focus after a period of time and either start to slack or put it on auto mode, which affects the brand’s credibility.
  • Selling should not be the only key focus area. Building a brand with content marketing should be the focus. The difference between traditional marketing and content marketing is the former focuses primarily on direct selling whereas content marketing focuses on the idea of selling the product.

Given the digital age we live in, generic ‘one shoe fits all’ approach is obsolete and will fetch your brand no attention. Customization, personalization, and tailor made are the need of the hour. B2B content strategy needs to be specific and targeted towards the target group. Write to build trust and credibility, write to inform and educate, write to solve problems and spread awareness, write to build a stronger and better brand!