TRAFFIC
with a cheeseburger! In all seriousness though, this is an attempt by a global fast food chain to adopt a brand tone of voice and personality that it absolutely doesn’ t have. Whilst the consequences here are laughable examples for marketing types like me, I think the consequences could be far more damaging from a brand perception perspective if done in online gaming. and free from spelling and grammatical errors will give users faith in you and your business. Brand identity matters, and your content marketing has the power to develop it, or to damage it. people that are outside of your target demographic, as what may be a perfectly resonant message with your target audience could be completely discordant, even offensive, to another.
Brief on brand Whether your content is being produced in-house or by an external agency, a good project brief is essential for hitting the right note. Understand your core motives and make sure everyone involved in the project is on the same page. Communicate openly and honestly, and be prepared for the likelihood that you project will change and evolve during the process.
As well as what you want to achieve, to stay on brand your briefing process must also facilitate an identity component. Try to be quantitative as well as qualitative; otherwise too many intangibles may leave things too open to interpretation. A brief such as“ we want to be provocative and edgy” works for a brand like Cards Against Humanity, but would we trust a high street bank with content that could be described like that?
To help with this, we as an agency stick to a consistent briefing form with our clients. This includes some static checkbox items around values and feelings, as well as more open-ended interview-style questions.
Tip: Limit the number of choices you offer or need to select to define a brief, otherwise there can be too much overlap. Whilst it is possible to be fun and creative as well as serious and earnest; stick to primary values and feelings – up to three at a time.
Getting it right So what does your content say about you? Good quality content that resonates with your customers lets them know that you understand them, recognise their needs and care about their interests. If your content is consistent in tone and overall message, it will signal trust, reliability and credibility. Content that is thoughtful, well-written
That’ s all well and good, but as creators it can be difficult at times to step away from our output and objectively assess if we’ ve nailed the brief. So here’ s a great way to test if your content is on brand …
“ If your content is consistent in tone and overall message, it will signal trust, reliability and credibility”
Focus At the start of a campaign we strongly recommend setting up a focus group with around 20 to 50 individuals and road-testing around three content sample pieces for tone of voice. Select participants that are not already customers or identify as very familiar with your brand but still fit broadly into your demographic. Allow them to read and process hard copy versions of content concepts and complete an evaluation form that shares some common fields to your briefing form. You should keep the following questions front of mind during this process:
●●Are you getting strong overlap in brief input and evaluation choices?
●●Is there a huge disconnect with your perceived tone of voice and your ideal demographic?
Depending on the size and scale of your content plan, you might also want to consider a‘ control’ focus group of
Freedom in a framework If you follow the advice and process ideas we’ ve provided here you can push the boundaries of creativity with your content marketing without fearing that your campaign is going to bomb.
Get it right and you will have an entertaining marketing asset that will have a consistent message which aligns with target users’ expectations and assumptions about you and your brand. Be aware of what tone and what type of content your customers are likely to expect from you, i. e. what is appropriate and what fits your overall message. Don’ t be afraid to show your brand personality!
NICHOLA STOTT is founder of theMediaFlow, a multi award-winning digital marketing agency that specialises in organic search and content marketing. Nichola has almost two decades of experience in digital communications and featured in the BIMA Hot100 Digital People of 2015.
26 iGB Affiliate Issue 62 APR / MAY 2017