As a business owner, you’ll understand the importance of marketing. If your business is to stand any chance of making a profit, you need to connect to new and existing customers somehow. As you’ve probably discovered already, not every consumer will convert. This is despite your best attempts with the marketing strategies you currently employ. Many business owners, whether they’re promoting a particular product or service or cross-selling other aspects of their business, have experienced frustration when they’ve gone through a period of low ROI regarding their marketing. So how do you make value-adding branded content to help your business?
If you’re relating to this particular situation, the question you may understandably ask is this: why aren’t more consumers converting into actual customers? The answers to this question can be wide-ranging and many, but for the context of this article, we have to refer to one particular factor: ad fatigue.
The digital marketing space is overladen with ads on Facebook, Google, and beyond. When these ads are considered a nuisance, they can alienate consumers rather than boost conversion. You’ll understand this if you’ve ever muted a YouTube ad or used an ad blocker to distance yourself from less desirable ads.
What Is Value-Added Branded Content?
Ads are a nuisance when they’re irrelevant, too sales-y, or very similar to other ads the consumer is used to seeing. They cease to add value and therefore alienate rather than draw attention to the product or service.
To get around this problem, your ads (and the wider aspects of your marketing) need to add value for the consumer. You can do this via branded content. By promoting the messages your brand stands for across online channels and having a customer onboarding process, instead of a pushy product ad, you may stand a better chance of drawing consumers in and turning them into customers.
If your content offers no value to the consumer, why should they bother with your business at all? You need to promote something that appeals to them. To do this, you must consider the buyer persona.
Ask yourself two questions:
- What will add value to the lives of the people I am reaching out to?
- How can I integrate this into my branded content?
If you can attach value to your branded content, you’ll give people a reason to use your business, and you’ll then see a boost in profits. Provided your business does offer value, you’ll also benefit from customer reviews, social media mentions, and other word-of-mouth promotions.
What Is Branded Content?
Branded content marketing is less about the product being advertised and more about the intangible qualities the brand represents, such as its values, messages, and story. It’s a technique that, if done correctly, enables the consumer to make an emotional connection with the brand being marketed.
So, rather than promoting your product to consumers, consider how you might promote your brand instead. When people get to know what you stand for and get on board with your message, you’ll attract them to your corner and gain an advantage over the competition.
Branded content can be integrated into your ad campaigns, but you can also go beyond these. With UC as a service technology, such content can be integrated into your promotional videos, email newsletters, blog posts, marketing infographics, and any other marketing technique your business uses.
How to Add Value with Branded Content
The purpose of value-adding branded content is to boost conversion and brand awareness. It’s just one strategy your business can use, above and beyond the sales automation software you use to close sales.
The content you create will depend on your business and the brand messages you’re trying to promote, but, as a general guideline, the following should be considered.
Consider the Message You’re Trying to Convey
No matter what type of content you create – be it a video, social media post, etc. – be sure to use a message that’s a true representation of your brand. Using an integration app will help boost your content, so the consumer knows what it is your business stands for and do it in such a way that it offers value.
Consider the example of Nike, which positions itself as a fitness advocate through its slogan “Just Do It”. The message they convey is that anybody can improve their fitness, regardless of who they are. They just have to give it a try.
Nike uses videos to represent this. Alongside apps that provide consumers with guided workouts and ads promoting their training club’s free fitness sessions. These are all ways to add value to the message that anybody can keep fit without directly promoting the sportswear they sell.
Ask yourself, “what message am I trying to convey?” Then think outside the box a little when trying to add value. You could create video tutorials centered around healthy eating recipes if you’re a dietary food company, for example.
Or you could create an infographic that focuses on the needs of the environment if sustainability is at the heart of your product creation. These are just two examples, but consider your brand message and the content that could reflect this.
Find Ways to Elicit an Emotional Response
Your branded content should tap into specific emotions, such as happiness, sadness, and anger. When you hit a nerve, your content adds more value to the consumer than something generic and barely able to trigger a reaction.
Think about this about your storytelling. What will make your consumers sit up and take notice?
If one of your brand messages is related to the way you care for the environment, for example, release a video that shows the damaging effects of global warming. This could be carried over in your messaging. It could include the ads you produce, the blog posts you write, and the emails you send out to subscribers.
By eliciting an emotional response from the issues you raise, you convince people to choose your products if they relate to your marketing message.
Utilize Brand Ambassadors
Ambassador programs are a highly effective way to market your brand. They combine the use of word of mouth with the power of people who can influence others. They also add value to the consumer. If they already have an interest in the brand ambassador in question, they’ll be more likely to take notice of the message being promoted to them.
Television commercials often utilize brand ambassadors. You’ll know this if you’ve ever seen a famous celeb or local community figure taking center stage in the ad. You’ll have seen their faces on billboard advertisements, too, as well as those found online and in magazines. Then there’s YouTube, where influencers will often mention brands they’re affiliated with.
In some cases, brand ambassadors will directly reference a product. In others, they’ll highlight an issue or consumer need a brand is targetting. Provided it makes sense to use a specific person for the brand message, such as a sports figure highlighting the need to stay active. This can be an effective form of marketing.
To get started with this type of marketing, consider the types of people who are suited to your brand message. You should then contact them directly or via their PR people. Set up a meeting to discuss your goals and elicit feedback. This can be done face-to-face or via video conferencing solutions such as the Microsoft Teams phone system. If you’re on the same page, you can work on a marketing strategy that suits you both.
Of course, you don’t always need to enlist the help of well-known figures. This form of influencer marketing can extend to your existing customers, too, as they may be able to create content that serves the needs of your brand via social media, blog posts, or podcasts.
Make It Personal
Your brand content needs to be tailored to the needs and core values of your demographic. What matters to them? They need to feel your brand speaks to them personally, so consider this in the content you produce.
You can do this via website personalization, with content tailored to the individuals visiting you online. You can also do this within your wider marketing. Do this by creating ads that directly appeal to the demographic you’re trying to reach.
Again, focus on your brand’s messaging. What do you want the buyer to hear? If you’re targeting women with the beauty products you sell, for example, tailor a message that speaks to the pain points of the buyer persona. This includes examples such as middle-aged women who are struggling to stay youthful.
Conclusion
To grow your business, you should consider how to improve customer experience. There are so many methods you can use, from personalization to creating a mobile-friendly website. The possibilities are endless.
You might do this via a well-trained customer service team using a hosted PBX system or appropriate changes to your website or store. You could also achieve it via branded content. The more you can do to authentically connect with consumers, the better.
So, consider how you market to consumers and be mindful of ad fatigue. Do more to add value by creating content that speaks to them as human beings. Not as people that are only there to increase sales.
Put these tips to use to boost your conversions.
