Content Marketing Weeks 5-6

Brand Voice Chart

Step 1: Brand Voice Step 2: Content Themes/Topics Step 3: Interesting, Surprising or Shocking!

Personality

- "So what personality traits does my brand embody?" - The answer can only come from one source: your brand itself. No one else can identify your brand's values and point of view other than the individuals who comprise it. The most successful brands stand for an idea (Apple, GE, IBM), and that idea is a good place to start when it comes to distilling your brand values into a key concept or identity.

How to Identify Stories For a Brand

- "What is our brand's purpose?" can sometimes frighten professionals because many of us simply put in work without asking ourselves why we're doing it. - To avoid tripping people up, start with these tangible ideas/questions. Ask the CEO - Tell me About... - Your favourite customer story - Your organization at its best - When you have acted heroic for a customer - When you feel best about your job - When you delighted people and they told you about it

Video

- A good video communicates a message in a succinct and memorable way. - Your audience may need to become more informed about the problem and how to solve it. That's where instructional video content comes in. - Videos that are generally shorter than 1-5 minutes about a specific topic. Evergreen Content: Formats written in long-form like video. Overview Blog Article: Provides an outline of the other core/pillar content video as an overview in 300-500 words.

eBook/Guide

- An eBook is long content packaged in a different format, usually as a PDF. eBooks are often a downloadable product, available for free in exchange for joining a mailing list. Producing an eBook helps to strengthen your authority within a field, and it makes for a powerful method of sharing your knowledge with others. - eBooks and tip sheets are great options for downloadable content. In contrast, they tend to be shorter form and more actionable. - Content Formats for the Awareness Stage Core/Pillar Written: The goal to teach something. Evergreen Content: Formats written in long-form like an eBook/Guide.

Infographic

- An infographic is the presentation of information or data in a visual way. Its name sums it up — info + graphic. Infographics get shared more, viewed more, and loved more than most other content types. They are a powerful way to get your information out there in an explosively visual format. - Infographic is a graphic visual representation of data, information, or knowledge that communicates a story on a specific topic. - Overview Blog Articles at times include infographics. Evergreen Content: Formats written in long-form features like an infographic.

Evergreen and Executional

- Content you continually create to be used in a multiple ways-series of blog articles. - Curate content from other sources to spin into reviews, lists. - Test what works and what doesn't-and adjust. - It is not an area where a lot of money needs to be spent, but it's the best place to keep an eye out for future content ideas. - It is probably done in-house.

Rags to Riches

Axe - Axe's campaigns all promise that a spray of their cologne will transform even the most average Joe into a sex god. The Hero's Journey: Underdog Overcoming.

Evergreen Content

- Core of pillar content that has high production value because it's timeless, and the whole can be used for smaller pieces of micro-content. - Formats include long-form written (like a case study, eBook/guide, report, white paper), presentation, podcast, video. - Blog article itself could be evergreen if it's an in-depth article or long-form feature like an opinion, an infographic, a review, a list, a checklist, a tool. - B2B marketing tends to have more. - Core/pillar/evergreen content than B2C marketing because of the longer buying journey.

Overview Blog Article

- Embed another longer multimedia content format in the article to give it a home on your website for SEO. - Provides an outline of the other core/pillar content-infographic, video, podcast-as overview in 300-500 words. - Publicly available to anybody on your blog Written Content Formats

Core/Pillar Written

- Good for lead generation and sales for more complex/high involvement purchases with a longer buying journey. - Enables decision-making process towards middle and bottom of the purchase funnel. - eBook/How-To-Guide with a goal to teach something. - Report for broader industry insights and trends, thought leadership. - White Paper is technical information on how a product/service can solve a problem. - It is really long-form and high value with 2,000-10,000+ words... the place for the Slidedoc format. - It is probably less familiar to us as used more for the B2B business model. - Tends to be available as gated content that requires uses to fill out a form on your website because they can access content as a download. - The information capture form may just ask for the user's name and email address or might demand more details, typically about their jobs organizations. - When you have core/pillar/evergreen content at the top, use it as a source to create other content. Written Content Formats

In-Depth Blog Article

- It is mainly written but might include images to support, as an analysis or curation of different information in 500-1, 200ish words. - Refers to other 3rd parties' online sources-with links to them-like product/service review or listicle. - The place of Evergreen and Executional content. - Publicly available to anybody on your blog. Written Content Formats

Longform Feature

- Mainly written, but might include images to support - An original case study of how a product/solution solved a problem for the customer. - An opinion/editorial or a narrative story in 1,000+ words. - Includes data from primary data sources, usually internal to the organization. - Publicly available to anybody on your blog. Written Content Formats

Perishable and Produced

- Pre-planned content that's meant to be more in-the-moment/timely/dynamic. - Around events relevant to the organization and/or popular culture. - Content you want to 'go viral' - doesn't have a 'long shelf life.' - Higher probability of being micro-content only for social networks. - It is probably done with help of outside content creation/production agency/freelancers.

Micro-Content

- Quotes, facts, images(s) or other small snippets from Evergreen content to publish on social networks-with link to the full Evergreen content. - Not all micro-content on social networks must link to content on a website-the micro-content can just be produced to exist on the social network. - The blog article is the main 'hub' content format for any organization to build around-it's a conduit for core content, and a link back to for micro-content.

Perishable and Executional

- Real-time and opportunistic, but may not have a lot of staying power. - Can be quite impactful at the time of its distribution if it effectively captures a moment. - To be real-time, you need the right people and processes in place to take advantage of current events and trends - either in-house or with an external freelancer/agency. - A good example of this is Oreo's Super Bowl tweet - a real-time effort that didn't require much in a way of advanced planning and execution, as it used Oreo's existing distribution channels (i.e., Twiter.)

Brand Voice

- The brand voice is the way you talk to your audience, your customers and it can have any style as long as it's true to brand values and personal. - The fundamentals of brand voice come down to a personality—prioritizing a set of traits and values that comprise identity and then communicating in a way that expresses the brand. - From a writing standpoint, it's what differentiates authors. - From a branded content standpoint, a brand voice is the core tenet for creating every piece of digital content, be it a blog post, tweet, newsletter, or infographic. Brands that communicate successfully are successful brands. And in order to communicate successfully, you have to distinguish and define your voice. - Create a brand mission statement. How to Find Your Brand Voice 1. Gather a representative sample of your content 2. Describe your brand voice in three words 3. Create a brand voice chart 4. Ensure that your writers understand how to put your brand voice into action 5. Revisit and revise the brand voice chart as the company changes over time

The Hero's Journey

- The hero is your persona, your customer. Known: Before, without you in their life. Return: After, with you in their life, a new experience. The Journey How They Get There Could Include Any of The 7 Types of Story: 1. Overcoming - The monster, David vs. Goliath, Hero vs. Villain 2. Rebirth - Renewal, Phoenix Rising From The Ashes 3. Quest - Dream to Reality, Best and Worst 4. Journey - Climbing a Mountain, Moment of Glory, Process and Outcome 5. Rags to Riches - Underdog Overcoming 6. Tragedy 7. Comedy Step 1: The Conventional Market Step 2: The Challenge Step 3: The Rejection of The Challenge Step 4: Appointment of The Sage Step 5: Crossing into the Unfamiliar Step 6: Map the Road of Challenges Step 7: The Final Challenge Step 8: Looking Back Step 9: The Final Renewal Step 10: The Celebration

Evergreen and Produced

- Your most core or pillar content that's relevant 24/7/365 or at least every year at a particular season. - Content that is created to last a very long time and, thus, requires a greater investment in the product. - It is probably done with help of outside content creation/production agency/freelancers.

Future Content Marketing

1. Brands can't just "plug their products/services", need to tell story around their product 2. Opportunity for freelance work as content creator-writing, video, audio-is greater than ever 3. Changes in media-especially online-is driving content marketing forward 4. Consumers/customers are empowering themselves with more information

Content Mix

1. Clarify business considerations 2. Define the purpose of your content 3. Identify typical content presentation methods 4. Decide on the most effective content mix and schedule 5. Continually test and evaluate - Finding the best content mix is all about proportions.

How to Find Your Brand's Story

1. Tell Great Stories 2. Accountable Content 3. Fusion of Art & Science 4. Smart Content Strategy 5. Engagement Fuels Growth 6. Choice of Marketing Leaders

Blog Article

A blog post is an ideal piece of content targeting the awareness stage. By targeting a pain, problem, or other topics your target audience wants to discover and then posting it to your website, you're creating a brand asset that's crawlable by Google and discoverable by search engine users. You can also promote your blog content across other channels. - Content Formats for the Awareness Stage

Podcast

A digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically. Evergreen Content: Formats written in long-form written like podcasts. Overview Blog Articles: Provides an outline of the other core/pillar content with the podcast as an overview of 300-500 words.

Webinar

A webinar is a web seminar where information is typically provided through video. A webinar can be prerecorded or streamed live, and this opens up tons of possibilities to disseminate information to an audience who wants more visual and auditory content.

White Paper

A whitepaper is an organization's report or guides on a particular topic. Whitepapers are useful as downloadable offers when a reader wants to go more in-depth on a particular subject they're reading about. For whitepapers, it's important to provide information that can't be found elsewhere so that your audience understands the value of the report and is compelled to get it. Evergreen Content: Formats written in long-form like white paper. - Content Formats for the Awareness Stage

Quest

American Express - There are few things that are more difficult than running a small business, and American Express exhibited an understanding of this struggle with its long-form reporting series. The project embedded journalists with Buchi Kombucha for three months. This focus on one company for such an extended period of time yielded some fascinating content — seven chapters with three short video documentaries, articles containing over 10,000 words total, and infographics showing the business's best and worst times. The Hero's Journey: Dream to Reality, Best and Worst.

Presentation

An online presentation is a type of content that brings the traditional business presentation, typically Microsoft PowerPoint, to an anytime, anywhere environment online. Evergreen Content: Formats written in long-form like a presentation.

Industry Report

An overview of the industry. Includes definitions, key trends, outlook, leading companies, competitive landscape, industry data, and key economic indicators. Core/Pillar Written: Report for broader industry insights, trends, and thought leadership.

Brand Storytelling

Brand storytelling is using a narrative to connect your brand to customers, with a focus on linking what you stand for to the values you share with your customers. It's not really different from other storytelling. However, in the world of content marketing, not all brands understand how to tell a good story. The result is an abundance of content that doesn't really matter. - "Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make but the stories you tell." says Seth Godin

Tradegy

Cancer Patients Aid Association - CPAA created posters that lodge themselves into your brain. The campaign, executed by Canadian ad agency Bleublancrouge, is called "Cigarettes Smoke People." Not only are these ads visually interesting, but they also convey the poor health and loss of life that cigarettes cause. Advertising with tragedy doesn't work for most brands. Unless you're a nonprofit, attempting to do so usually looks tasteless. The Hero's Journey

Overcoming

Dove Soap or Brand - Dove's mission is to help the next generation of women develop a positive relationship with the way they look. To meet this goal, the soap-maker has decided to tackle the unrealistic ideals of the beauty industry. In other words, Dove is David, and the rest of the media is Goliath. The Hero's Journey: The monster, David vs. Goliath, Hero vs. Villain.

Rebirth/Renewal

Ericsson - Needed consumers to understand exactly what it did, telecom infrastructure and marketing. Ericsson produced a documentary to show how "entrepreneurs and change-makers are transforming our world." Shows a range of people benefitting from how the Internet connects them to people across the globe. The Hero's Journey: Renewal, Phoenix Rising From The Ashes.

Most Recognized Content Formats

Most recognized core/pillar/evergreen content formats. Objective - Good for brand awareness with thought-leadership and engagement - Earlier in the buying journey - Closer to top of the purchase funnel Access - Tends to be publicly available to everybody and/or email subscribers - Fuel for owned media: website pages, blog (online magazine), and email newsletter - Infographic is a graphic visual representation of data, information, or knowledge that communicates a story on a specific topic - Video story that's generally shorter 1-5 minutes about a specific topic

Long-Form Interactive Content

Objective: - Good for lead generation and sales, and retention/loyalty - Enables decision-making process towards middle and bottom of purchase funnel - Great for customer retention/loyalty-keep them informed, make them feel special - Enables upsell/cross-sell Access: - Most personal and interactive form of content - Planned around a specific date - Higher level or resources required - Find ways to capture/record it so it can be assessed after the date it happens - Tends to be available as gated that requires users fill out a form before they can access them - The form may just ask for the user's name and email address or might demand more details, typically about their jobs and organizations

Journey and Outcome

Procter and Gamble - The "Thank You Mom" ads don't just show how athletes get to the Olympics — they also spotlight the under-recognized mothers who helped get them to get there. There's something immensely touching about giving mothers credit after an Olympian wins gold. P&G's "Thank You Mom" campaign includes a series of videos on YouTube, each focusing on different mothers who helped their respective children reach the biggest stage in global athletics. The company even held a contest for people to nominate the important mothers in their own lives, and created a mama-exclusive Facebook page for the occasion. The Hero's Journey: Climbing a Mountain, Moment of Glory, Process and Outcome.

Pillars of Storytelling

Relatability: Something we recognize and remember. Novelty: Something that's new, but too new can be conflicting for audience. Tension: Conflict that keeps person on alert, conflict - a gap between what should be and what is. Fluency: Easy to understand, plain language 4th grade level, no buzzwords, jargon. - None are promotion.

Tone

Tone changes all the time, depending on the situation. Tone is the way you're using your words to convey a message or evoke emotion from your audience.

Gary Vee

Top 3 Takeaways - Extract most value out of your content-core content can have layers of smaller content underneath - Importance of longer-form content that can be broken down into shorter videos for social networks - Making good content takes resources-time and effort if nothing else - The "complainer" can change their mindset to a positive view Interesting, Surprising or Shocking? - Workshopping the content together "out loud" as a group - Developing the content was so collaborative, a conversation - How to create content from content, the idea of all the sawdust - How authentic GaryVee is with his content The Opposite Perspective - Need to create new content all the time can be challenging vs. Using parts from what you have - Thinking about content as separate topics, not related to a bigger theme - Content creation is done on your own

Comedy

Totino's Pizza Rolls - This clip includes wonderful touches like a game of pizza roll checkers and a man wearing cheese on his face. There are psychedelic visuals, feminine pizza bags, and a terrifying old guy named Punk Rock Joe. If you don't get it, you're just not part of the pizza-roll lifestyle. The fact that niche humor is used here gives the content a more personal touch for the target demo. The Hero's Journey

Content Style Guide Voice and Tone Guide

Voice is consistent. It's the words you use, the defining characteristics of your brand, and the overall personality that you want to shine through while communicating with your audience. The importance of voice and tone - Brand recognition - Brand loyalty - Brand uniqueness Step 1: Determine your target audience Step 2: Determine your goals Step 3: Define the core values you want to communicate Step 4: Create a list of standards Step 5: Share them with your team Step 6: Be consistent Step 7: Keep them updated