In this overly saturated digital market, techniques that may have worked for you in 2021 might not work for you in 2022. With so many ads flowing on the Internet, users are irritated with advertisements that focus solely on selling brands and products to them. That is where brand content marketing comes in. In simple terms, it is a marketing technique that helps build trust between brands and consumers in a cost-effective way.
Branded content marketing involves creating customized content linked directly to a brand. The sole intention is to connect your brand with customers. So, rather than focusing on products and services, it is more about the brand’s values. You can seek to start a conversation, using emotions and storytelling around the brand without using a sales pitch. This can help connect with the audience more intimately.
Now that we know what branded content marketing is, let us look at its advantages and why it is better than traditional advertising. We will also be discussing some proven branded content marketing tips so you can get better returns and loyal customers.
Main Characteristics of Branded Content Marketing
- Generates conversation around the brand – This type of content focuses on impacting the audience and sparking a healthy conversation around the brand rather than looking for a direct conversion or sale. Hence, the metrics to measure the performance of branded content involves the number of mentions and the notoriety.
- Focuses on storytelling – Branded content revolves around telling a story about the brand to the readers and viewers. From the beginning to the end, the blog, case study, or video focuses solely on telling an engaging story.
- Talks about the brand, not services or products – The content can adopt a format involving products and services. Still, overall it focuses more on the intangible qualities of the brand rather than some particular product qualities.
- Appeals to emotions – Using emotions is a good persuasion technique. Rather than using traditional arguments to prove why a brand is better than competitors, branded content marketing focuses on connecting emotionally and intimately with the audience.
- Generates added value – Branded content marketing is about creating and sharing content users want to consume. It is not solely based on advertising; hence, the added value comes in some form of entertainment.
Advantages of Branded Content Marketing
Branded content marketing has been gaining prominence as more businesses look for more cost-effective ways to market their products and services. We’ll look at some of the advantages of branded content marketing below:
A Greater Audience Reach
Customers today don’t like to see a banner advertisement or a prominent piece of promotional content and are more likely to ignore it. On the other hand, branded content gives them an exciting story on their preferred platforms. The quality of this content helps your brand reach the maximum audience as people are more likely to share this.
Generate Engagement & Loyalty
Using branded content on multiple channels, you may seek to provoke users’ responses. So, the audience can engage with the brand at a deeper level, thus helping you boost customer loyalty.
Increase Authenticity & Trust
Branded content can help you demonstrate the values of your brand. Branded content establishes a connection between the brand and a reader, thereby creating trust. It’s a great way to show potential customers what your business is really like, by sharing information, experiences, and ideas. You can use branded content to tell a story, raise awareness to a problem, or explain a product. Rather than simply telling your prospects to buy from you, you can connect with them on a creative and emotional level with your storytelling. This helps to build trust and boosts your brand’s authenticity.
Quality Conversions
When done right, branded content marketing spreads the word that you offer valuable knowledge. Your brand becomes memorable, and your products/services become a “go-to” for consumers. Once you have established great web content that adds value, people are more likely to convert in terms of leads and sales.
Why Branded Content Marketing Performs Better than Traditional Advertising?
In this competitive digital era, marketing techniques and advertising strategies change from time to time according to new trends. Most traditional advertising sounds like a sales pitch, and today, customers have developed ad blindness for this content. They ignore regular advertisements, creating a negative brand image in their minds.
On the other hand, branded content communicates ideas regarding a brand very differently and creatively. While everyone uses social media ads, banners, and TV commercials to manipulate customer decisions, branded content helps make your brand stand out. You can create high-quality content that boosts engagement by using relevant platforms and channels.
Nowadays, every brand has its own website. Most of these websites are aimed to promote the brand, introduce its products and services, and inform potential customers about how the brand can help them. But if a brand decides to approach branded content marketing, it can switch on the audience’s interest.
As branded content focuses on making bold statements, sharing other customers’ stories, and seeking an emotional response, it is pretty effective. Users prefer this consumer-focused strategy, which is why it helps you generate better results than traditional ways of advertising.
Tips for Creating High-Quality Branded Content
Today, brands are highly competitive in online marketing, and to gain a high level of attention and trust, you need to create high-quality content. Creating high-quality branded content can make you a thought leader in your niche and boost your business in the process. If you aren’t sure how to create high-quality content, we have listed a few tips to help you develop some stellar branded content.
1. Know Your Target Audience
While creating content, marketers often forget about the target audience. The article or information that you curate should be well-targeted for a particular set of customers.
You want to reach the maximum audience, but it is essential to create articles specially meant for a specific group of individuals. This can help you assess what content is most liked by said group. So, make different audiences and write content within your industry for those sets of potential customers.
2. Do Not Write Using the Traditional Advertising Mindset
Usually, businesses pursue their target audience with a sales pitch or information about their products or services. That should not be the case while creating branded content. You should not be sticking to a defined set of rules while conveying your message.
Your content should be interesting, informative, and valuable to the end-users. The content should follow quality over quantity while delivering the best representation of your brand. Also, there is no need to pitch in your products or business throughout the article. Instead, you can mention your business or include a relevant link at the end of the content.
3. Choose the Right Content Marketing Platform/Channel
Once you have brilliantly crafted your content copy, it is vital to choose the right channel or platform to showcase your art. Not every channel will be perfect for your business. With the emergence of social media, consumers have the ability to share their experiences with their friends, family, and millions of people around the world.
Do some research and find where your competitors are? What is working for them? Also, see where your target audience is most active? Are you creating social media posts, video content, or product placements? Is your content suitable for that platform? Finding answers to these questions can help you choose the perfect marketing platform for your branded content.
4. Create Content that Stands Out from Competitors
Your branded content should hold unique value to stand out from your competitors. Anyone can create content similar to what other brands are curating, but getting creative and adding your own stories can set you apart.
You can use different points, such as what makes you better than your competitors, or what you do that no one else offers. From better pricing to innovative features and customer support, it can be anything, and you can take inspiration from that to write your content.
5. Gain Maximize Visibility & Make Distribution a Priority
Once you have created the content and published it on relevant platforms, it is time to put together a strategy to promote your content.
If possible, you can encourage users to share your content by including shortcuts and widgets for sharing content on social networks. You can also promote it on your social handles or through email. Remember that great content quality will only be efficient when it reaches the right maximum audience. So, make your distribution of content a top priority.
FAQs
1. What is content marketing?
Content marketing is creating and promoting different forms of content to achieve your business goals. Content marketing is an organic promotion strategy that helps you attract your target audience and achieve your desired goals, such as buying your product or using your service.
2. What is branded content in digital marketing?
Branded content is content that is directly linked to a brand. It revolves around expressing the values, meaning, and intentions of any business in the form of different content types to boost brand reach in an engaging way. It isn’t tailored for a specific audience segment and is for everyone.
3. What is the difference between branded content and content marketing?
Content marketing is generally done for an audience, whereas branded content focuses on bringing the business into the spotlight. Branded content uses storytelling uniquely to get an emotional reaction from the audience.
4. What is the purpose of branded content?
Branded content starts a conversation by sending a message that perfectly resonates with the audience and generates an emotional response from them. People often remember how you made them feel with your content, and branded content is an experience that can drive users to take action on your site.
Wrapping Up
Now that you understand what branded content marketing is and how it can be a game-changer for your business, it is time for you to implement it.
Branded content is 22x more engaging than display ads. That says a lot about how many resources you should put into branded content. Content marketing has become an integral part of marketing for any business today. A well-planned content marketing strategy can prove very beneficial for your brand. If you are looking for getting started on branded content marketing, check out recent blogs.
