Build Brand Awareness With a Content Factory Approach to Marketing

The world is being consumed by content, and we’ve only seen the beginning.

Everything in our daily lives has a surplus of content surrounding it. Millions of events occur worldwide, each year–conferences, trade shows, business expos, concerts, weddings, and sports games–and we all capture video and photos at each and every one of them.

Social networks have become content monsters. Marketers need to keep users engaged and their brand relevant. The only way to keep pace with customers and prospects is to stay in control of the conversation. Marketing success is no longer determined by what you pay for; it’s now about the amplification of the content you create. The ever-increasing need for real time marketing has morphed into the growing importance of earned and owned media, thus emphasizing the value of content development.

With all this in mind, here is a framework for implementing a “content factory” approach. Regardless of your industry or who you’re targeting with your content, you’re likely to share similar top-level goals, namely building brand awareness and encouraging engagement around your content.

Begin With the Audience First

A content factory is built on a deep understanding of customer behaviors. Place great importance on the ability to identify and define a loyal audience. It’s a lot easier to craft compelling, demand generating campaigns, if you know who you are targeting. Find a real, loyal audience, and focus on them to deliver relevant, engaging stories. If you don’t have audience profiles for your brand, you can identify a core audience by first creating reader personas.

For instance, Nike launched an original YouTube series Margot vs. Lily, to reach millennial women. Enterprise brands have been using content to position their brand as thought leaders in their field, or to spread stories internally and externally about their employees. For example, Wells Fargo Bank acquired almost 20% of its 12,000 new hires from LinkedIn.

Build a Fanatical Social Asset Kit

Look at creative development from the ground up as a multichannel, storytelling strategy. Everything should support and strengthen your big idea campaigns.

Ryan Stoner is a serial entrepreneur and brand strategy and marketing leader. He is currently the group strategy director at Phenomenon.

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