by Caitlin Clingman, Irmand Trujillo by MarketingProfs
Consistently creating engaging and educational content is not just valuable for a brand but almost obligatory in today’s competitive landscape.
However, many marketers struggle to understand how to elevate their content and harness it to help craft a brand that leaves a lasting impression.
By infusing values-driven elements into their content and campaigns, marketers can accomplish more than just informing audiences about their products or services; they can communicate what their brands truly stand for.
Content that aligns with your brand’s unique culture and values has the power to enhance brand awareness, establish a memorable tone and aesthetic, and foster deeper trust in your brand—at a time when the market is teeming with countless competitors.
How Can Values Make Your Content Better?
Your brand possesses a distinctive culture and a set of values, which can be harnessed to craft narratives that resonate with audiences.
People today are eager to associate themselves with brands that take a stand on ethical issues. For instance, in the context of content marketing for a beauty brand, it becomes crucial to directly address ethical concerns, such as highlighting the brand’s commitment to being cruelty-free. As a result, the marketing strategy of that beauty brand should revolve around that core value.
Brand values tap into a collective emotional pull, providing customers with a sense of belonging and a more immersive experience, all while amplifying your brand’s story. Research supports that notion: 89% of consumers in a survey by Sprout Social say that when they follow a brand’s story on at least one social media channel, they’re more likely to purchase something from that brand.
Incorporating values into the brand-to-consumer connection cultivates long-term relationships, drives repurchasing behavior, and fuels word-of-mouth marketing.
But does this strategy truly yield results that make the financial investment worthwhile?
If the elevation of brand content results in the creation of an evergreen library of compelling pieces, establishes trust and authority, drives website and social traffic, and ultimately helps your brand grow while attracting new consumers, then it is undoubtedly worth considering.
How Can Values Serve as the Fuel for Exceptional Storytelling?
Because of the mercurial nature of content consumption, relevance and effectiveness must be measured from moment to moment—to drive sales and inform future campaign approaches and tactics.
Creating content is a two-fold investment: First, the content itself brings brand recognition, provides education, and offers itself to a brand evolutionary process. Second, once the content launches, the data acquired through consumer engagement is an effective tool for understanding how audiences interact with the brand day to day.
To create elevated content that tells a compelling brand story, start with the following three steps.
1. Establish an authentic purpose
Without a clear and defined sense of purpose, it is impossible to pinpoint and articulate your brand’s values.
Define the story of your business and the reason it exists. Make your purpose a living, breathing narrative that aligns with your call to action. It should inspire your team, customers, and you to take action.
Strive to articulate a purpose that is both universally relevant and passionate. You can conduct surveys, interviews, or even focus groups to understand your target audience’s values. With a well-defined purpose, you’ll be more likely to create content that feels purposeful rather than simply producing content for the sake of it.
2. Make content creation an exploration
Content becomes stale when you approach it with preconceived notions or when the answers are already known. Prioritize research into emerging trends, consumer behavior, and content performance analytics. Those insights can help identify gaps in the market that your content can fill.
Encourage exploration and a sense of adventure within your marketing team to create content that transports and provokes curiosity. Embrace diverse sources of inspiration, including observing your competitors’ strategies for engaging their audiences.
To keep things fresh, empower team members to play with ideas, initiate brand collaborations, and avoid sticking to the same content roster or routine.
3. Pay attention to audience values
Your brand values shouldn’t be dictated from a top-down perspective; rather, they should adapt and evolve alongside consumers’ views and preferences.
By gathering data on current and target audiences and staying attuned to analytics, you can gain insights into consumer sentiment, values, and the types of stories that might excite them. You can collect feedback from your audience through surveys, social media, and user-generated content to establish a communication loop.
In the dynamic realm of content marketing, all brands must remain aware of the crowded marketplace and continually measure and adapt their effectiveness.
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Establish a compelling narrative that exudes a trusted voice.
Forge connections between your brand’s values and the broader world, thus elevating your brand by reinforcing both its aesthetics and DNA.
Foster transparency and loyalty, infusing your visual motifs with the essence of your values—all while remaining steadfast to your sense of purpose.
When you do all that, you will find that consumers willingly follow in your brand’s footsteps.
