How to build a positive brand image by content? The role and importance of Content Marketing
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Building a strong brand that features a well-defined identity is a very important step on a marketer’s list. A brand that can open up a dialog with its target audience has a chance of outmatching the competition and generating high revenue. So, how to build a brand image? Let’s use content marketing!
Why is content marketing significant?
To put it simply, it’s effective in the long term while being a relatively cheap way of online brand promotion and building authority among readers.
In modern economic reality, it’s easy to find two companies producing the same product, for example, apple juice. However, why is one brand selling it at a higher price than others, but is still a product of choice of a certain target group? In this case, the key factors are strong brand identity and a proper brand image.
The brand image is important to every company, there’s no denying that. But what can it do?
If we don’t have a well-defined communication strategy, there are many other ways to stand out in the market. The solution to the problem is building a consistent brand image with a strong identity. If the clients like and value the brand but also identify themselves with it, then we’ll be the victors of the market battle. Thanks to it, in the long-term, we’ll not only maintain the price, but we’ll also be able to raise it, which will positively influence our profitability. What’s more, the clients won’t only buy “a” product or service, but they will buy “the” product or service and what your brand stands for. Additionally, if a company already has a strong brand image, it will be able to release new products or services under the same brand, without committing resources to the process of brand image development again.
It can all be achieved through activities such as content marketing. Conducting compelling PR campaigns, or a company blog that features interesting industry content not only helps build and maintain the brand identity but also makes it more memorable and enables it to reach a wider audience.
Content marketing combined with PR is also important when it comes to brands and products that are not well-perceived by clients. Thanks to public relations, we’re able to influence the brand’s reputation and increase its recognition, but also build consumer trust at a faster rate while convincing other clients to use the brand’s services.
For those who are not sure about their brand image perception, there is a solution. You can, in fact, measure brand image, by, for example, surveys or monitoring social media.
Preparing the content marketing strategy
When we begin working with our clients, we prepare one of the most significant documents supporting the creation of the brand image, i.e., content marketing strategy.
The aim of this document is to determine the current situation of the brand and produce brand development scenarios with the aid of proper marketing tools that help achieve the established goals.
A good content marketing strategy can unify the brand identity and make its tone of voice the same across multiple channels, like a blog, guest posts, or social media.
Moreover, a well-prepared content marketing strategy can help establish a set of activities that we need to complete to stand out when compared to other brands, but also to understand our own clients and adjust our offer accordingly.
Competitor analysis
We usually begin our work by performing a competitor analysis. We want the client to know how his business surroundings look. Why? Because, thanks to it, we will be able to make conscious decisions when it comes to brand promotion. No business exists in the void, and tracking the activities of your competitors is a very important matter.
Brand’s target audience
With the help of marketing research and meetings with clients and employees, we are able to characterize and describe the brand’s target audience. It’s a step that needs to be done, along with preparing marketing personas to let every member of the team know who the brand targets with its products or services. Competition analysis may also help with that because if you know the clients of other companies, it’s easier to pinpoint the key audiences of your own brand.
Brand’s tone of voice
Brand tone of voice is a key element of a marketing strategy. A thought-through and well-prepared tone of voice is a significant tool that helps to distinguish the company from its competitors. Moreover, thanks to the tone of voice, we are able to emphasize the values and the brand identity, which additionally underlines its uniqueness.
Without the structured elements of the strategy, we’re not able to proceed any further nor develop the identity of the brand. To create valuable content and improve the brand’s image, first, we need to prepare a solid background in the form of a long-term strategy.
What can you do to make the brand’s image better with the help of content?
Content marketing allows for different ways of building a brand’s image. In their work, marketers won’t have to limit themselves to just one or two good solutions. Working with text, images, or any other form of content can be realized differently, resulting in grasping the interest of the reader. At the same time, that allows us to reach a wider audience and successively increase the brand’s influence on the market.
Company blog as a part of the brand’s image
The company blog is the most popular tool when it comes to content marketing. However, creating and publishing valuable content on a regular basis isn’t as easy as it may seem. At first, our minds are full of positive thoughts, and we are enthusiastic, which makes creating and publishing first texts much easier. However, in time, our willingness to write starts to fade away, and we publish less regularly. Moreover, the text alone won’t be enough, as we require up-to-date knowledge of SEO and marketing in order to promote the post properly.
We need to remember that systematic work is one of the most important factors that increase the effectiveness of the blog. It’s the only way to ensure that our blog will succeed in the long run.
As an agency, we take care of the company blogs of our clients when it comes to creating content. Our job is to make sure that interesting content is regularly published on their blogs and that the texts are in-line with the image and communication strategies of their brands.
Expert publications enhance the brand’s image
As part of our work for clients, we prepare expert publications, whose main goal is to deliver organic traffic and ensure the constant flow of new clients from the upper part of the sales-marketing funnel. However, when we create the content plan, we do not solely focus on the business aspect, we also pay attention to building a strong brand image on the Internet. We want the brand perception to be aligned with the marketing strategy and the personas prepared beforehand.
Guest posting
Guest posting is a very important part of content marketing. To achieve satisfying positioning results, we need to do more than just publish articles on the company blog. In addition to the on-page strategy, we need to add carefully selected off-page activities that include publishing articles on external portals and blogs. How do we do that? Efficiently! That’s first! Secondly, we select portals that fit the client’s industry in order to achieve the best results. Next, we implement the planned marketing activities to regularly deliver new links to the client from valuable external domains.
Public relations campaigns based on content
Content marketing projects that include planning and distribution of digital public relations campaigns are one of the tools for building brands. Thanks to such activities, the brand becomes more recognized on the web and achieves better SEO scores. This is due to high-quality backlinks from valuable domains.
Our publications were posted in the national media many times. As a result, our clients can break into new markets and reach new audiences.
How does a digital PR campaign look?
We develop a campaign topic in collaboration with the client. Then, we develop a research plan that we stick to during the next stages. We conduct the research based on the questionnaire that we have prepared or on the data research. Later on, we proceed to analyze the data and, in effect, create a report or article for the company blog. We promote such texts in the media, which can potentially be interested in publishing a press release. By doing so, we acquire natural backlinks and brand mentions from many valuable sources.
Infographics
When browsing the internet, we can often see a situation where someone shared an infographic on a social media platform because it was featured in an interesting article prior. That’s how, from time to time, the so-called “virals” are created. They take over the Internet by storm and are shared by thousands of people. It can result in a buzz around the company, and more people will start to recognize its logo. That’s how you build brand images and brand recognition. That also proves why it’s important to use infographics to visualize the gathered data, especially in digital PR campaigns. Editors may even share the infographics on their own social media accounts, increasing the likelihood of it going viral.
Alternative forms of content
The Internet is constantly evolving along with different forms of content. Nowadays, YouTube, Facebook, or LinkedIn give the possibility of publishing a video recording or conducting a live Q&A session. Spotify, on the other hand, along with some other platforms, is designed purely for audio and opens a totally new channel to reach the potential audience.
In marketing, there’s no time for stagnation. That’s why it’s worth staying vigilant and, from time to time, looking for possibilities of reaching new clients. The Internet is changing, and the things that are popular today will certainly evolve into something else in the future.
Storytelling
In the modern world of advertisements, storytelling is a crucial aspect. People love to listen and tell interesting stories. That’s why it is worth taking the opportunity to promote your own brand.
A good story will be remembered and will allow us to imprint the information about the brand in the minds of the clients. Thanks to this, we will cease to be just one of many brands on the market. Instead, your brand will have its own identity with the right associations, which, overall, is more important than renting even the largest billboard available.
A traditional commercial is based on one-sided information transfer, whereas storytelling provokes a dialogue between a recipient and the author. In this aspect, storytelling triumphs over the traditional spot because it’s much more pleasing to watch the already iconic Allegro commercial, where the grandfather learns English to freely communicate with his granddaughter, instead of a regular spot informing on the features of the platform.
What we offer our clients is storytelling based on data. We gather and research information and use the results to create engaging content that will later be revealed to the world. Thanks to it, people who didn’t hear about the brand will have a chance to get to know it.
Conclusions
As it turns out, content marketing is one of the most significant tools in supporting the development of a brand’s image. With content’s help, we can tell stories that increase our chances of establishing an emotional bond with recipients and bring them closer to the brand. We are able not only to increase sales but also to create a coherent image of the brand, based on a carefully selected set of marketing activities.
In the long-term, we cater to existing customers and acquire new, loyal clients, who not only appreciate our products and services but, most importantly, understand the brand and identify with its values. In the end, acquiring even a small group of potential customers is better than a constant fight for recipients, who generate only one-off transactions and disappear into the vast depths of the internet.