There is no better way to make your products or services stick in consumers’ minds than through a brand name. Only through a face, a logo, a set or values, and a company to hold accountable can you gain trust among consumers. So how do you build a brand that has real impact in society? How can you make consumers see an apple, the golden arches, or lightning bolt and make them think of how prominent, trusted, and desired your product is in the market? The answer, on the web at least, is content marketing.
Year-over-year growth for content leaders is nearly 8 times higher than for followers, and 78% of customers agree that companies that provide custom content are interested in building relationships. In a world where the customer comes first, that is priority. So how do you write content that builds your brand? Good question!
Take advantage of color and design
Would you believe that a study found that 90% of snap decisions made by consumers were due to colors alone? It’s true. As a brand, you need to take advantage of colors and design. We don’t mean the color of your font, we mean the design and colors within the content and surrounding it. Keep it consistent and make sure to use colors that speak to your products. For example, green for health foods or red for something exciting. The most important aspect here is consistency. Once customers get used to your brand, they want to know they are interacting with it each time.
Once you establish recognizable logos, images, and colors, don’t abandon them. Keep it consistent.
Find a personality
With the advent of 24/7 media, and the widespread use of images, videos, and content on the web, most brands have embraced the idea of having a personality. That is, some sort of voice, face, or attitude, that helps customers identify with them. Your brand should write in a certain tone. Nobody wants to buy motorcycle parts from a person who sounds like a lawyer, and nobody wants legal advice from a writer who sounds like an auto parts dealer. Even if it isn’t fair, our brains make judgements this way.
Your brand’s content needs to have a consistent voice to the point that people know it’s you. Whether that’s a caring, rugged, or sarcastic voice depends on what your brand sells.
Use content that connects
Content that is informative, witty or engaging is a great start, but building a brand is different than building a normal blog. You need to know what it is that makes your customers tick, and why they identify with what you are selling. Use interactive content that shows that you care. People love polls, lists, and questionnaires, and they also enjoy the chance to give feedback and talk to a real person. Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms can allow you to connect directly with them, which leads us to…
Use content that does well on social media
Social media is the best place to connect directly with your customers, and show that you care. Brands that connect directly with followers on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are at a major advantage over those that don’t.
- Lists had the most social traction across all platforms at 22.45%
- Videos drew 19% of shares on Facebook
- How-to articles got 18.42% of shares on Facebook
- Facebook users love images, and posts with images have an 87% interaction rate
- Posts with exclamation points receive almost 3% more interaction on Facebook!
- LinkedIn users are more open to lead generating content, so consider making more business offers
- Keep tweets on Twitter short. The sweet spot is between 120-130 characters
Social media is helpful no matter what, but when done the right way it can be a game changer.
Building a brand is more complicated than building just about anything else, as you have to create a personality to act as the face of the organization. That being said, the benefits for your company are without limit. Content marketing is the key to success in brand building, so knowing how to write great content to build your brand will help you create the next Apple, McDonald’s or Harley-Davidson.
