Getting ahead of the competition is no easy feat, especially in today’s business landscape where the road to success is steep. Brands may struggle to be noticed in today’s saturated market, but, fortunately, branded content, a great way to stand out in today’s competitive digital marketing world, can be utilized.
You can use brand content in blogs, YouTube videos, or news, which allows customers to engage at various points along the customer digital journey. You can use it to show your work, unique selling points, and expertise to potential customers. It is a powerful tool for educating and converting your audience once they buy from you.
In the next few minutes, we’ll look at how you can build brand awareness and loyalty and make an impression on your customers beyond the products and services you offer.
Let’s begin.
What Is Branded Content
Branded content is the production of marketing content that is paid for by an advertiser. This approach is universally appealing to viewers looking for a great story and businesses trying to increase brand awareness. It’s also more engaging than traditional marketing content and promotional ads. Your audience will associate your brand with this content so much that it becomes ingrained in their minds.
Here are some characteristics of this technique, if executed correctly:
- They use a sensory-driven, immersive approach to storytelling. Branded content tools typically use multimedia formats such as audio or video. These formats can facilitate deeper topics and provide more emotional resonance than text and/or static pictures.
- They create connections through mutual interests, shared values, and not sales goals. These content pieces are more likely than digital ads to be trusted and appreciated by the audience because they focus on creating thought leadership, raising awareness, and generating positive brand perceptions.
- They are entertaining, valuable, and memorable. Branded content campaigns capture audience interest but also lend themselves to supporting lower-funnel goals.
- They have the potential to be distributed across channels, enabling on-the-go engagement. Brands can easily publish these campaigns across multiple social media networks, owned media properties, and other websites. These efforts are also well-suited to mobile consumption and are primarily audio and video-driven.
- These brands offer opportunities to collaborate. Sharing stories with businesses with similar values and interests can help you gain traction with your partner’s existing audience.
Branded content campaigns are a great way to create marketing experiences almost indistinguishable from your favorite media’s entertainment properties and personalities, including TV networks and streaming media services.
If your content is well-received by the audience, there’s a good chance they will share it with friends and colleagues on social media. They might even recommend it to their friends and networks. The content you create will reach a larger audience and possibly go viral.
If done correctly, branded content marketing has many benefits beyond brand building, like increasing website traffic, lead generation, and sales.
The debate should not be about whether you should use branded content. Instead, it is important to think of the best ways to create it using your resources and budget.
Tips for Creating the Best Branded Content Marketing Strategy
Branded content takes a lot of effort and time. You should weigh the benefits and costs of branded content marketing carefully. This will help you decide if it is the right decision for your brand.
So, how can you tell brand stories that move your audience without sounding self-centered? Let’s discuss.
1. Show, don’t tell.
Your brand content should tell a story. But telling the story is not enough. Your content should reflect your brand’s values. You can say, “We are committed to environmental stewardship,” but how do you show that commitment?
This content could show your audience how committed you are to this value—for example, a tour of your manufacturing facilities that use environmentally-friendly practices for your products.
Engaging stories entertain, educate, and keep your audience’s attention.
2. Strike a nerve.
Your audience should be able to relate to the branded stories you create. To elicit a customer response, you must create content that taps into an emotion such as happiness. Your messages should encourage your audience to take action, change their perspectives, and instill confidence in you.
3. Create characters that embody your brand’s core values.
People love to buy from brands they trust or brands they can identify with. Thus, those who can relate to your stories will be more inclined to buy from your brand.
This is why it’s important to acknowledge this and use real stories from real people in your brand content. Your audiences will be able to see themselves. However, you must be authentic, as audiences will pick up on fake attempts to establish a connection.
4. Use stories to highlight the benefits of your product/service.
Marketers have a responsibility to tell people about the good things they offer. Although your branded content will not be as focused on your products’ marketing content, it is important to highlight their advantages in a fresh light to show your audience who you are.
Branded content marketing is essential to make your business stand out. Creating relevant and informative content that increases website traffic is not enough. There are many ways to create branded content, including web series and podcasts, sponsored articles, and feature movies.
However, choosing a topic that will grab your audience’s attention and elicit an emotional response is crucial.
Tell Your Brand Story With Expert Help From ADMS
The best way to reach consumers’ news feeds and hearts is through content. Your marketing strategy must include branded content to win in a crowded market.
For increasing referrals, customer loyalty, standing out online, and becoming an authority in your industry, branded content can help build trust with new audiences, expand your creative horizons, entertain, and engage experience-loving customers.
It’s not an easy task. Let a Clearwater SEO company like ADMS help you assess the most effective content for your brand. We would love to hear your plans for using the technique and what has worked for you if you have already tried it.
Contact our team today and build strong emotional connections with potential customers through our well-rounded content marketing solutions.
