Brands that produce content are like Tesco, McDonald’s restaurants or — dare I say it — Manchester United fans: they’re absolutely everywhere. And this makes sense — content, or content marketing to be more specific, is a fantastic way of improving your brand’s prospects and ultimately driving business growth.
From generating leads and building audience trust, to increasing conversions and developing industry authority, there’s a reason the saying “content is king” is so widely used. We promise that’s the last time we say that during this article.
Yet, driving business growth via content creation isn’t as simple as whacking out a few blogs or adverts and hoping things take off. So many brands blindly create content without considering things like what their audience wants or how to get said content in front of people, and see their efforts fall flat as a result.
Like almost every endeavour in life, the key to successful business content marketing is having a strategy. Fortunately for you, you’ve landed on the website of a world-class marketing agency — if we say so ourselves — well-versed in content creation for business growth. Allow us to supercharge your content efforts with the below tips.
Closely consider your audience
Working out your target audience is the basis of successful marketing generally, let alone content marketing. Skipping this step is like selling a steak at a vegan restaurant — yes, you’re serving them something, but are your customers really going to be receptive to it?
By conducting audience research to find out things like their demographics, psychographics, motivations and purchasing habits, you’re well placed to create content that truly resonates with them.
Engaged audience members equals increased sales, which equals increased business growth.
Pitch case study: #DefenderToContender
Take our #DefenderToContender campaign for Betfair, for example.
Involving an 18-month campaign to transform former England and Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand into a title winning boxer, we appealed to football and boxing fans alike — both key sections of Betfair’s target audience.
With the use of such a high-profile sports star, it’s no surprise that according to Nielsen, the campaign “resulted in the largest spike of earned media coverage around a PR activation we have seen”.
Prioritise quality over quantity
Sometimes less is more, and this is often the best approach with content marketing for businesses.
It’s crazy the number of brands that just want to get content out there at all costs, without stepping back and considering if it’s of sufficient worth. With so much content out there, you need to prioritise cutting through the noise by adding real value to your audience, or you’ll just be yet another brand in a sea of them.
So what is quality content exactly? Well, in essence, it’s content that achieves its marketing objectives. More specifically though, it demonstrates your business’s value while being helpful, entertaining and relevant to your audience.
Pitch case study: Upliftford
Pitch’s Upliftford campaign for sports brand ASICS is a great example of quality content.
Together with the support of mental health charity Mind, we transformed the town of Retford into “Upliftford”, with bus stops turned into ‘bus steps’, benches turned into ‘bench presses’, and lampposts turned into ‘goal posts’.
The purpose of the campaign was to demonstrate how effective sport can be at improving mental health, in turn emphasising the value of ASICS. By doing so in such a unique and engaging way, we helped ASICS stand out from the crowd with its content.
Be true to your brand
Your content is an extension of your brand, so it needs to be reflective of its values.
The key to this is developing a strong brand voice. For example, perhaps you use a more conversational tone of voice to appeal to your audience on a more personal level, or have a more serious set of products or services and go for a professional approach to match.
Whatever it is, consistency is key in your content. Only when your audience knows where they stand can they develop a relationship with your brand.
Pitch case study: England Til I’Dye!
Betting company Paddy Power is well known for its lighthearted approach to content marketing, harnessing humour and shock value to drive engagement and resonate with customers.
Pitch lent into this with our England Til I’Dye! advert for the brand in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup. With England football fans synonymous with the St. George’s Cross, the ad involved ‘dying’ it onto a polar bear to show Paddy Power’s support for the team in the run up to the tournament.
However, this was nothing more than a publicity stunt, with special effects used to create the cross. Combined with the ‘England Til I’Dye!’ pun, the campaign encapsulated Paddy Power’s tone of voice to a tee.
Promote your content widely
You can produce the greatest content in the world, but it’s all for nothing if nobody sees it.
There are so many ways you can get your content out there, from sharing it on social media (using boosting tools to enhance its reach) to harnessing the power of influencers.
Indeed, influencer marketing is becoming one of the most popular methods of promotion, enabling brands to utilise the wide reach of these individuals to get as many eyes on their content as possible and drive growth.
Pitch case study: #TeamForPirlo
Back in 2018, Pitch relied on the power of influencer and social media marketing to promote another advertising campaign around the World Cup, this time in a joint endeavour between Uber Eats and McDonald’s.
The #TeamForPirlo campaign involved ex-football star Andrea Pirlo and a conversation around which side he should support in the tournament seeing as Italy had not qualified for the first time in 60 years.
By getting Pirlo and other famous footballers to share tweets around the campaign on Twitter, we drove massive engagement for both brands.
And that rounds off our list. In short: content needs to be tailored towards your specific target audience, prioritising quality over quantity, staying true to your brand and sharing it widely.
Pitch are experts in all things content marketing, and have worked with some of the world’s biggest brands down the years. To transform your own company’s content marketing efforts, get in touch with our team today, and check out more of our work here to get a further flavour of what we can do for your brand.
