Hey!! Pay attention to this analogy…..
If your customers and your content are two ends of a bridge, the bridge connecting them is your Brand.
Branding is like the bridge that connects your audience with your content, which in turn will help them to understand more of your products and services.
So since; Brand, your target customers, and your content strategy are so closely connected, let us understand more in detail about it.
Brand, Target customer, and Content Strategy:
Branding not only connects with your target audience but also influences them to become your purchasing customers. Hence a content strategy that is in alignment with your branding, converts a lead into your customer.
A Brand strategy is built upon the tastes, inclinations, preferred aesthetics, and thought patterns of your target customers. What will connect as well as resonate with them? In what ways their purchase decisions can be influenced?
Having an idea about all of these important elements will help you to craft an ideal brand. And then this branding should be reflected in your overall content.
When your branding is reflected in your content strategy, it immediately has the potential to attract the right leads. Therefore, the more your brand blueprint or brand guide is accurate, the more targeted you can make your content.
Content matching the preferences of your customers will be consumed more by your target audience, thus bringing them into your sales funnels. And using content that resonates and adds value to their experience with you, will turn them into your customers.
To conclude, your target customers, your branding and your content strategy are integrated elements and not isolated. When working together, will help you to come up with a solid content strategy that will connect, resonate and convert with your target audience.
So now that we understand the relationship of branding, content strategy, and target customers, let me tell you the areas of content marketing where your branding plays an important role:
1. Tone and language:
Imagine this: You are 18 and it’s the 1st day of your college. You are nervous. You look around to try and just one familiar face but don’t see any. Sitting alone on a bench you cannot help but feel lonely. Then suddenly you are approached by a person. And guess what? They speak your mother tongue!! Wouldn’t you just instantly click with that person?
It’s the same about your content too!!
Relatability is THE secret weapon to connect with your target customers. And how do you connect with them? Simple- Speak their language!!
Your target customers will give your branding the tone that it needs. Is your target audience Gen-Z? So, your branding will speak in a manner that connects with the Gen-Z!! And through your content that is in sync with your branding, your target audience will get connected to you!!
So, during the content creation process, keep in mind the tone and the language your brand blueprint recommends you follow. The tone, the slang, pop culture references, meme templates trending, or any particular words or phrases or style of talking or even language to be used- take a detailed note of all of these in your brand Blueprint.
Once you have all of this ready, sprinkle this throughout your content. And this way, incorporating your branding into your content strategy will help you target your customers.
2. Aesthetics and Visuals:
You cannot win today’s content game without pleasing aesthetics and polished visuals. A captivating aesthetic and high-quality photos give your business professional branding. It also not only grounds branding but also plays a huge role in the identity of a brand.
Therefore, intentionally serving your aesthetics in your content strategy will amplify your brand identity. Hence, the visual aspects of your branding strategy must be included in your content. Here are some pointers you must pay attention to:
A. Colors:
In your style guide or brand blueprint, select the colors that will resonate the most with your branding. Ask yourself: what is the kind of aesthetic we are going for?
A monochrome color palette?
The purples, greens, and blues with a tint of yellow?
Blacks and whites?
Pale silvery with purples?
Warmer tones?
A specific color palette that you aim for?
What colors will be your brand colors? Once that is decided, incorporate it into your content creation process. The colors in your posters or carousels, in your videos, on your website, etc try incorporating everywhere. These colors will subconsciously embed in your customer’s minds and become your brand identity.
B. Fonts:
Fonts too in a subconscious manner affect the overall visuals. Each kind of aesthetic looks better with some particular style of font. So decide: whether you want a more traditional-looking font like Serif fonts.
Or geometric bold, vintage types like Slab Serif fonts? Will handwritten styles like Script fonts suit your brand better?
Or calligraphy-like font?
Comic fonts?
Decorative fonts?
What style of the font will best suit your brand?
Here’s a source to tell you more about these fonts.
Choose and finalize a font that will step up your branding game. Try and use that font consistency all across your various platforms and mediums.
C. Style of visuals:
Visuals are the infographics and images you use and post throughout your content strategy. The appeal of these images also plays an important role in your branding. So always make sure that the images you use are following your branding.
For example, if you have an Edu-Tech startup targeting the age demographic of 14–18, the images used will feature teens and young adults. Plus, the infographics too can be more imaginative.
You can take it even further by using images that correspond to your color palette!!
D. Consistency:
A combination of all of these factors is the color palette, the fonts, the visuals, and infographics, etc. All work together to give your business a brand identity. So, using these elements consistently in all the areas of your content marketing is what will solidify your brand image in your customer’s minds. Using all of these elements in your favor as part of your content strategy will take you to a whole next level.
3. Content creation itself:
Some businesses have their unique style of the content they create. It might be known as their signature style as well. For example, Cred is known for its wacky ads. They are indeed weird but now it has become a part of their brand.
Some particular creators have their unique style of editing. So, when you see their videos, you know it’s ‘that’ particular creator. Figuring out this particular style for sure might be difficult. But having a creation style or staple that is unique to you and using that as part of your strategy is also a win-win!!
Now that you know how to integrate your branding into your content strategy, I would love to let you know about some confounding results of doing this. They are:
1. Gives you the ability to gain new and the ‘right’ customers:
When your brand and your content are catered towards a targeted audience, of course, you will be attracting them. Since your brand has been tailored to the likes of your ‘ideal’ customer, the chances of them [your target audience] being attracted to your content are so-so high. This branding is what will connect the right audience, who will then in turn become your new customers.
2. You will gain more trustworthiness:
Having branding gives you the authority that you have the knowledge and the expertise in your niche. It adds a touch of professionalism that is much needed for every brand to excel. This trustworthiness then transforms into credibility. Having a brand identity gives you legitimacy, enabling customers to trust you more. A brand identity will also help you get recommendations from your customers.
3. Creating your identity:
If you don’t have a strong brand identity, there is a high chance that your business will get mixed up into the pool of numerous businesses.
In times like these, having a brand and a style or aesthetic of your own helps you to stand out from the crowd. In a highly competitive market, it is your brand identity that speaks out for you.
4. Speeding up the buyer’s journey:
- Since your branding is unique, you reach new customers who then get aware of you.
- Since they are now exposed to your brand, your specially catered content will then get them into the consideration stage.
- Since your brand has credibility and trustworthiness, the leads are then converted into your customers.
- Branding increases customer loyalty. And hence, your chances to retain your customers by posting high-value content also increase.
5. Gaining customer loyalty:
Establishing a brand authority, helps you to gain a loyal customer base. These customers will not only buy your products but also engage, share and prompt your content. They will share their opinions about you as reviews which in turn will give a boost to your credibility. They will also promote your brand through word of mouth.
6. Attracting Influential Customers:
An attractive, unique, trustworthy, and credible brand will attract even the most notable influences from your niche. Once the authority is established, it will attract the attention of the experts in your industry. And getting reviews from these influential people means you have struck the gold mine. Their words have the power to influence many, and this will work out in your favor.
7. Consistency:
A brand identity consistently visible throughout your content on various platforms makes you a credible and put-together entity. And this consistency is what makes people put their faith in you.
Conclusion
Your Branding is what makes you stand out from all of your competitors. So, sprinkle your unique brand identity throughout your content strategy to connect, resonate and convert your leads into customers!!