Most digital marketers have a content strategy they would confidently defend and rightly so. Content strategies ensure there’s always something new and useful on your site for visitors and define how that content will be promoted.
The main problem with this is that something that probably started off with all the best intentions can quickly become lip service and a chore.
Keeping it fresh and relevant is a challenge.
There have been many changes over the past few years in terms of how information is shared.
The advent of social media, the perceived declining effectiveness of existing methods and the state of economies around the world have affected the way brands approach content creation and distribution.
Gone are the days when information flowed in one direction from the brand to the consumer with little or absolutely nothing going back the other way.
The days when brands had full control of their content, and the type of message that they wished to spread to consumers, have slowly given way to earned media – where media coverage is earned from consumers, not just paid for like a commodity.
According to latest figures, Google+ now has over 100m users. A phenomenal feat when you consider that the network has only been around for a little over six months.
So it’s no surprise to see more and more brands getting in on the act.
The challenge many brands are facing with Google+ is how to use the network as a business communications tool and what use they can find for it that they would not be able to find on other similar networks.
A few brands are already making interesting moves, using it in effective ways to engage with their audiences…
The
importance of thought leadership in marketing and PR is certainly nothing new.
But I’m constantly amazed how many brands get it totally wrong!
In an
increasingly digitally driven world, thought leadership continues to be an
excellent way to reach out to key decision makers, but it’s not as easy as you
might think.
In
the not too distant past, creative agencies coined the term ‘the big idea’ as
the Holy Grail solution to a client brief.
There’s no question that great
creative concepts are worth their weight in gold, partly due to tighter than
ever budgets. And I’ve worked with agencies over the years where fantastic
amounts of resource were focused on coming up with the next big idea.
What’s in a name? Well, if you believe the
digital versus direct debate that has been raging in the marketing industry
recently, the answer would be ‘a hell of a lot’!
On the one hand, digital
agencies are criticised for being overly focused on a channel, whereas the
‘direct’ guys sit across different channels but are tainted with a historical
focus on spammy practices and tactics.
As a brand, you can’t survive online these
days if your customers don’t trust you. Fact. If they don’t trust you, they will never
buy from you, and you will ultimately fail. It’s that simple.
And it’s especially true for brands that
are selling high-ticket items and also when consumers are buying something they
might consider a luxury.
A holiday is a good example; it’s a major purchase for
most of us not just because it is expensive but also because it’s the one purchase
we all look forward to every year!
As a planner, data has always been the bread and butter of my professional career. Since the rise of planning teams in advertising agencies during the 70s, it has been our job to really get to know the consumers we are looking to reach, to get under their skin and understand what makes them tick.
We focus on collecting as much useful data as possible that can then be used alongside considered insight and observation to create more targeted campaigns that hit the nail on the head.