Content Marketing - What do you really need?
Most business owners aren’t doing a Branson – managing their empire through only 4 hours input each day! Hence, you may not be interested in me rattling off ALL your options for content assets, digital branding and engagement strategy - though I would find that opportunity very exciting! (I’m a massive brand-nerd). So, I’ll try to give you a comprehensive overview of the essentials while staying concise.
How covid has influenced online engagement…
Digital engagement has been growing steadily in importance for the average business owner since the early 00s, but now as we all know, COVID-19 has given the digital sphere a big kick, years into the future.
Having successful SEO (search engine optimisation) and digital branding that generates trust in your company’s integrity and professionalism is now not just important for growth, but even for survival; and being across your essential content for your brand is a big deal for both your SEO and your branding.
But before I give you your essential content ideas, let’s shed some light on the behind the scenes of the digital sphere…
The good and the bad…
Bad news first, yeah?
Well, SEO and good branding don’t happen overnight. “Not even if I throw lots of money at it?” Nope! Not even then (but if throwing lots of money around is your thing, PM me and I’ll give you my personal number).
SEO is like growing a tree from a little sapling.
Good branding also takes significant development time and constant investment – to continue the gardening metaphor (since all business owners have the time to be gardeners, right?), good branding is like designing your garden landscape – you pick out feature spots and how you’ll lead people through it to appreciate all your garden has to offer.
Creating that doesn’t happen overnight, and it also grows in value as it matures.
The Good News!
The good news is that they’re both things that once you have invested in well, continue to produce large harvests of rich fruit. They’re also assets that can’t be taken away from you like a leased bricks and mortar shopfront or breakdown on you like your plant and machinery investments.
More good news! Good branding contributes to your SEO! Crazy, huh? It’s almost like everything in business is interlinked and important! 😉
Did You Know…
that original content improves your SEO? Whether the content is text, photography, graphics or video, search engines reward you specifically for having original content. Also, because you have more interesting content, people on your website will stick around longer – engagement duration - being another one of the factors search engines use to calculate your SEO. Not good enough? Fair. Well, guess what – original content is much more likely to be shared and linked by other users across platforms – external links being another factor contributing to SEO!
So now that you know you must have original content assets, let’s delve into which original content assets you must have! I put my content assets into three categories - each category representing the outcome you’ll be aiming for with each. They’re all essential in the long-term but some may be more immediately required than others. If you want professional guidance on this, Turtleneck Studios offers consultation on reviewing your immediate brand needs and can follow through with conception and production of advertising assets.
The Assets that grow your business…
Awareness Assets
Significant from the get-go, and quite a flexible asset in terms of the way you can approach it. Awareness assets are those that are going to help people become aware of your brand, your services/ products and your market PODs (points of difference). These can be as simple as an eye-catching graphic of a quote with your brand positioned in the corner that you post on socials, or as extravagant as sponsoring cinema so your product appears in Leonardo DiCaprio’s hand.
2. Building Trust with your audience assets
Trust assets are those that communicate your integrity, professionalism, expertise… all those old-school values that have no sex appeal but will keep you out of gaol. Personally, I always scope out a company’s trust assets before buying from them – they’re hugely important if the consumer is to make a significant spend at conversion. Just imagine the difference in your business if, instead of the consumer testing you out with a small project, then larger and larger as you prove yourself to them, they were able to develop significant trust purely from being exposed to your content assets.
3. Endearment Assets (Connecting with your audience)
Endearment assets typically require the most significant investment out of the three categories, and aren’t as essential for a start-up, but long-term prove to be the most lucrative. They are largely story-based, creative and humanity-focused. Think about a Telstra campaign… although they give us no reason to like them in their actual customer service, you can’t help but want to like them after watching one of their ads. That’s because they have a great team for endearment assets!
The essentials…
1. Team / Personal Brand assets
Knowing the people you’re buying from builds trust and endearment – especially if they look friendly, professional, and real. Also, you can use your assets in this collection as awareness posts on socials – introducing the world to your great, talented staff; or the teams providing great service delivery or customer service at your company. In this space, I would start cheap and work your way up. Get professional photos of all individual staff and team combinations. Then produce a profile write-up of every individual and every team – who they are professionally: education, experience, their professional insights; and who they are personally: interests, hobbies, whether they’re the office-jester or office-mum.
You can then progress this space of assets to include feature video stories focusing in on company culture, team culture and projects or individual staff testimonies regarding themselves and/ or life at the company.
2. Product/ Services Catalogue Collection
Clean, sharp product photos are great, flexible assets. Professionally shot product photography raises your brand image – generating trust; and is also more eye-catching – raising awareness. They’re usable across your product listings on your e-commerce store or in social and e-marketing campaigns.
Service catalogue content can be “before-and-after” photos/ videos or “run-through” photos/ videos (“run-through” assets are a pitch and example of service blended into one) – whatever best displays the solution your service provides.
These are trust assets - essential to whatever you’re selling! If you don’t have a full suite of photography representing your products, you’ll stifle the customer in not just their trust of your integrity, but also in their awareness of what they’ll be receiving – ultimately, hindering sales. Similarly, if you have no “before-and-after” content or “run-through” content for your service, then it really suggests you’re either not proud of your quality of work or have never done a job before!
3. Product In-Use/ Service In-Action Collection
Very much what it sounds like. Content portraying your product being used or your service while it’s happening. Best for awareness, but also contributes to trust or endearment if approached with enough creativity.
A photo collection of these assets is a very entry-level content area, yet highly usable for social posting. Partner an image with some funny, informative or just interesting copy and you can have a fairly engaging post for very little investment.
And last, but not least…
4. Brand Profile Collection
This collection communicates your company’s identity more so than communicating any single service or product. It also hits all outcome categories – awareness, trust and endearment! From tiny, 6 second YouTube ads, to graphics for Pinterest, to profile and banner videos for the landing pages of your various platforms – there is a lot to do here, but these assets are worth it.
My recommendation for an initial approach, is to capitalise on your investment in one of the other content collection types – adding to that budget to get some more variety in your media and then utilising the best content to also profile your brand across your various banner spaces and to add life to your text blocks.
I would also recommend moving into the space of slick, short video clips for your brand as soon as possible. Creating high-profile 6 second and 15 second ads for YouTube and Facebook respectively is quite entry-level but can be narrowly targeted to your market and fit into even the small business owner’s budget. Also, a 15 second ad can easily be cut down to a 6 second ad, so you’re essentially producing campaigns for multiple spaces under one campaign budget.
Conclusion //
What you can’t do is stand on the sidelines anymore. And I would never recommend just producing content for the sake of content – that just ends up being noise. Sit down with a professional and talk strategy. Look at the long-term – how are you going to grow that tree and design that garden. Then make your start (small if need be), but as long as it’s based on informed strategy, it will be in a good direction.
Bonus Offer ***
Just like Charlie and his granddad, you get a reward for reaching the end! Sadly, it’s not a chocolate factory, but it is a bit more on theme – content! Every Saffron & Co. client is invited to receive one free staff headshot per company (performed in our Studio at the Turtleneck Studios Headquarters). You’ll have three-point lighting shaping those lovely features of yours, a choice of three background options (including chromakeying for digital background replacement) and airbrushing/ retouching, if desired (you don’t need it though!). Whoever said I wasn’t a sweetheart?
Anyways, that’s it folks. Hope I helped, and all the best with your content choices!
Rhett Deighton - Founder Turtleneck Studios
ALL ABOUT RHETT DEIGHTON
WRITER / DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
Hi, I’m the owner and main project manager for Turtleneck Studios.
I have passion for a lot of things - too many things my wife says. I like metal work, wood work, landscaping, masonry, cooking, hiking, snowboarding, drinking coffee, drinking beer, drinking port (- I try to balance the stimulants with the depressants to come out in a happy middle). But most of all, I’m obsessed with story and humanity. I love experiencing a good story, well told. And I’m fascinated by the craft in learning to understand people and appeal to the universal qualities connecting us all. Even on my days off, I end up just doing work relating to film and storytelling.
What I love about Turtleneck Studios is the opportunity to get invested in other people’s brands and show them how to transform their engagement. I love helping good people get better results and to see their hard work pay off. I also just love collaborating with people on content that means something to them - seeing the passion they have for their services/ products and how these can positively effect the community.
My long-term interests lie in writing, directing and producing long-form drama and comedy - content for streaming, VOD services and cinema release.
Visit - Turtleneck Studios
Email - rhett@turtleneckstudios.com.au
