Tag: 2012

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2012. Perhaps, if the Mayans were correct, we won’t live to see the end of it. Or, we can just acknowledge that the Mayans ran out of room on their round stone, and keep working. Keep living. (Let’s admit that the Mayans weren’t such great fortune tellers and leave it at that.) So if you look back at 2012, there are a few things that stand out: there’s more content than ever before (again) and content delivery systems are all over the map. And, frankly, a lot of it doesn’t work. (This is not an implied criticism of any form of content, it’s just a fact.) And because most of it doesn’t work, the buzzwords of 2012 – data, ecosystem, “platform agnostic”, context, storytelling – will remain the buzzwords of 2013, or at least be synonyms for future buzzwords, because if there’s one thing that content marketers are good at, it’s coming up with new words for things that already exist. We are as guilty of this trope as anyone, however, so nos culpae.

Let’s be clear: content isn’t evolving. Technology is. And because technology is evolving, our expectations for the delivery of content are also evolving. Content now comes at us in print, on our laptops and tablets and smartphones, via email and snail mail, on our screens and through our earbuds. But storytelling in the service of a brand (and this is true regardless of the reasons the brand engages in content) is as old as cave drawings, and will outlast all of us. One of the themes that emerges not just from the work we’ve done at Spafax over the past year but from the vast amounts of content we read and consume – whether it be print, digital, mobile, video, audio, or in person at events and conferences – is the idea of storytelling, of the need for a coherent plot when creating content, and this demands a coherent strategy. But mostly, successful content marketing demands a good story. All brands have stories to tell but making the public care about those stories is the hard part. That’s the work. It demands a form of connection, and that’s where strategy comes in. And, of course, a good content marketing agency.

The content marketing industry, and the advertising and PR industries also, tries to connect their clients to the public in any manner possible. All well and good. But if there isn’t a good story at the heart of that effort, the connection is bound to fail. A brand only works for us if it does something for our narrative (and not the other way around.) We are all consumers in that we yearn to consume stories that are relevant to us. Stories that make our lives better or easier. That entertain, enlighten and inform. That provide a valuable service.

2013 may see many changes in how the content marketing industry reaches the public. But at the heart of every bit of content is the story. A good story.

See you in 2013.

This isn’t a new idea. But it’s something that is floating around in so many different places that it’s starting to feel true. In the content business, I’ve always told my editors that spotting an idea twice is coincidence, but three times is a trend. I didn’t make that up either. But I believe it. A big idea from last year’s International Content Summit focused on Slow Content (I wrote this up in Sparksheet here). More than one speaker talked of consolidation. When Google+ went big last year, I wondered about social media overload. And now Chris Brogan, smart guy that he is, has labeled 2012 as the Year of Consolidation. And this is good news for everyone. The rush to “new” is going to slow, while we start to take deep breaths (yes, collectively) and hunt out quality. Good ideas will trump flash. This is good news for all content marketers who believe in substance to drive results. And maybe, just maybe, the internet will stop being an outlet for cute kitties.
(not that we have anything against kitties….)

Brand managers (or guardians – that’s a much grander sounding word, no?) are busier than ever. And sometimes they’re confused. They should be. Brand guardians are having a tough time seeing themselves as publishers, as content managers. The world is changing rapidly and sometimes it’s tough to get your bearings. That they never “owned” their own brands has long been established but even today some brand guardians seem to think they do. Worse, there have never been more brand touchpoints – consumers can literally access a brand whenever or wherever they want to. And if they can’t, that’s also a potential problem. Some basic basic truths in 2012:

1)   No one cares about your brand. Absolutely no one. Consumers only care about your brand as it pertains to them. Does your brand make them happy? Does it improve their lives? Is your brand and the values it espouses in line with how a consumer sees him/herself? Everything about a brand has to be seen in relation to the consumer. Without the consumer you have no brand. A brand isn’t just PR. It’s an outreach program and it needs recipients. Without a recipient and a brand is just floating in space, lifeless and meaningless. Without form.

2)   Without brand consistency you have nothing. How many touchpoints does your brand have? I remember once walking into a secret lair, an office hidden behind a staircase in a non-descript building. Inside, a giant windowless office that was a client’s rebranding nerve centre. I was shown a very simple Excel document, printed out and pinned up on the wall. And on it were the almost 200 consumer brand touchpoints that had been identified to that point. All this to say, your brand is more than just some words. It’s more than just a story. It’s a voice. It’s your company’s voice. Its humanity. And if you have different voices for different media, you’re just confusing the customer. And that’s bad branding.

3)   Don’t confuse a mission statement with a brand’s meaning. You should be able to describe your brand in one word. The mission statement (say “Generic Corp’s brand embodies the values of honesty and simplicity in improving the lives of its customers”) is just that – a statement and something for the staff. It’s internal. The word? That’s the nugget that goes out to the world.

4)   Your brand is the source of all media. Or it should be. A brand may start as a nugget but it sets a lot of stuff in motion. In this sense, perhaps nugget isn’t the right word. Pearl is. Your brand is like a pearl. Get it right, execute properly, and your brand shines. And since your brand is the source of all media, and your company is a publisher of content, you need to get that right. Everything is content. Brochures. Video. Your website. Any print materials. Custom publications. Newsletters. E-zines. Signage. Stationary. Posters. Ads. All of it is content. Because every company in the world is a media centre.

5)   Just because your brand was successful yesterday means nothing tomorrow. Brand maintenance is hard work. We all know that. And the worst thing a brand guardian can do is rest on his/her laurels. A brand review should be regular. Even when things are going well. Especially when things are going well. And a brand review should include all stakeholders. Both internal and external. Sometimes external agencies have a better idea about a company’s brand than its internal guardians.

6)   Don’t take your brand somewhere just because the competition is there as well. If the answer to anything is “Because everyone’s doing it” your brand is in a bad spot. Yes, the consumer demands and expects a lot more than they did just a few years ago. That’s why you need a solid strategy. Too many brands have rushed into various platforms and spaces without understanding what they were doing. The resulting brand black eye is both predictable and unfortunate. Does thinking things through make you slower? So what? If the brand is strong, it will survive the wait. And it will probably thrive.

As a content marketing agency, Spafax has seen some brands get it really really right and then others, well, not so much. We often tell potential clients that we want to “get under the skin” of their brands so that our work makes sense in a larger context. So that the message we create fits seamlessly into the existing brand universe. If we do our job well, we can even lead a brand to a new space by enhancing it in ways the client hadn’t ever considered. Content marketing is, in essence, another way of pushing brand values out to the consumer in a way that is relevant to them. Difficult? Yes. But definitely not impossible to do properly.

The word “brand” has gone through a huge shift (and will probably continue to do so) but the essence, the pearl of it, has remained constant. A brand embodies the soul of a company, how it wants to be perceived by consumers in a world of almost limitless choice. It is an amazingly powerful thing. And needs to be treated with respect. And intelligence.