When it comes to content creation and digital branding, it’s about a lot more than just the final result. From pre-planning to execution to editing, there is so much that content marketers have to get right long before you have a final product.
So, how do you structure it all? And how do you make a content creation process that is repeatable and cost-effective? How do you keep things streamlined? You need to answer all of these questions. Your content and branding depend on it.
Ultimately, your digital branding is your content. Let’s take a look at 5 reasons content marketers should approach building airtight digital brands with integrated campaigns.
1. Content Is Key To The Customer Journey
Content marketers need to deliver a powerful and cohesive customer experience. Remember, Your customers’ experience of your brand starts and ends with your content.
In fact, one study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) shows that unified content leads to big results. When consumers see a singular message across all of your channels, it can improve purchase intent by 90%. It can also up brand perception by 68%.
Customers will build impressions of you. You can influence these impressions through strong branded content. This is why content marketers have to be front and center. When it comes to keeping brands relevant in the cutthroat media sphere, they are key.
The Customer Journey Is No Longer Linear
When you make integrated campaigns your content planning model, you do something incredibly important. This builds a connected customer experience, This exists in an exciting new landscape that is always changing.
The reality of the modern customer journey is that it is not the simple linear one of decades past. It can be tricky to track concretely. This is because customers will engage with your content in different ways across various channels at different times. This is why you need to have a 360-degree approach when it comes to your storytelling.
Think about it this way: integrated campaigns are the best way to produce consistent content at scale. You don’t just want to create content. You want to create unified content. It should tell your brand’s story. It also must guide customers on their experience of your entire digital brand.
To learn more about the modern customer journey take a look at our blog post “The Customer Journey Is An Infinite Loop.”
2. Content Planning At Scale Should Be The Way It’s Done
The world of modern marketing is constantly changing. This is why strategy is so key. You need a smart strategy. It must respond to changes in technology, the field as a whole, and your audience.
Integrated campaigns are sophisticated. The assets that are needed are figured out from the very beginning. This helps to ensure content is united by one creative idea. Then, it will be tweaked strategically for each channel.
A Common Misconception
If you think that large-scale campaigns are unsustainable or not worth the time, you are not alone. However, this common misconception is holding many businesses back. There are two main benefits to large-scale integrated campaigns that cannot be ignored.
- Immediate Network Effect: your campaign message goes across multiple channels from the get-go.
- This results in a repeatable and sustainable scalable model that can work smoothly at a variety of scales.
3. You Need More Than Cohesive Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is an important aspect of your overall content strategy. However, it is only one aspect of your content strategy and cannot be your entire strategy.
Simply put, evergreen content can be described as content that never goes out of style or looks dated. Often, evergreen content is centered around tutorials or other content that is centered around helping beginners.
Having a genuinely valuable catalog of evergreen content offers several benefits. These include:
- A steady stream of engagement
- Proving your consistency
- Showing your expertise
- Building trust and engagement with your community
Overall Campaigns Are Different
While evergreen content can apply across years, campaigns need to be immediately relevant and take advantage of current conditions. They also have shorter-term goals.
Campaigns build awareness in regards to certain products, events, or launches. Evergreen pieces of content stand on their own. However, campaigns involve a number of pieces that play well together. These can entail:
- Blog Posts
- Videos
- Branded visuals
- Social posts
You need a mix of timely and evergreen content. So, what is the perfect sweet spot?
The Ideal Formula
Ultimately, what this will look like for your business depends on a wide variety of factors. However, this general structure can help you use.
You want to publish evergreen content that supplements strategic time-specific content. Remember, your evergreen content builds your expertise and proves you’re a trusted resource.
Your campaign overall, which includes this content, also needs to include content that taps into current ideas for relevancy that grabs attention.
4. Content Marketers Are Working At A Deficit
Organizations want it all. So, they are putting increasing pressure on content marketers. They want sparkling content created as efficiently as possible. This content needs to be created efficiently, quickly, and at a large scale while minimizing costs.
Why all this pressure? Organizations want to avoid content waste.
The Causes and Effects of Content Waste
Content waste happens when teams invest in content or strategy that does not get results. This content can be irrelevant or of poor quality. It can even be the result of a copy and paste marketing strategy.
According to Buzzsumo, 5% of produced content accounts for 90% of engagement. This means that most of the content produced fails to achieve its goals.
When you have integrated campaigns informed by a strong digital brand that provides context, personality, and unity, you will get the absolute most out of your content.
5. Think Bigger For Bigger Digital Branding Results
Many of us are stuck in the mindset of creating one-off campaigns and content. However, planning content in a more integrated way can benefit any entity. You can boost content marketing inside your organization. You can also raise your budget and grow your own personal standing.
Getting a large organization to change its ways can be hard. Make sure that more people in more parts of your organization have a hand in the shared goal. Creating a more diverse effort can help you sell it.
After all, at the end of the day, every department in your organization should share the goal of growing the business.
By bringing this approach to the table you can help to distinguish yourself as a forward thinker. You can make it known that you are a leader within your organization. This can only help you achieve your goals across the board.
Final Thoughts for Content Marketers
Ultimately, your digital brand and integrated content strategy need to be one. In order to thrive and get you the results that you want, you need to think fast. You will need these tools to face a shifting buyer journey and digital marketing landscape.
Do you think overall content should lean more evergreen or more timely? Comment below…
