Whether you make your living as a web developer, copywriter or SEO specialist here in Utah or elsewhere, it’s imperative that any and all digital content be made available for mass consumption in a presentable fashion. Unfortunately, we’ve all had the displeasure of visiting websites that were riddled with complex interfaces, poor site navigability and—perhaps most troublesome—indigestible content, regardless of whether it be editorial or visual.
In order to make a website work for you, your respective clients and the World Wide Web’s most influential search engines, take the necessary time to make certain that content—particularly of a written nature—be readable, enjoyable and provide something of concrete value for site visitors. Still confused? The following infographic promises to simplify the tricky endeavor:
Defining the subtle differences between advertising, marketing and public relations can be a difficult endeavor, even for the country’s most successful ad agencies. While answers certainly exist as to what barely separates and drives the booming communicative fields, most communications professionals have always felt that—on the flip side of things—content marketing and digital PR were held at opposite ends of the spectrum by way of huge distinguishing factors.
In reality, however, the overlap is prominent, to say the least. In fact, so joined at the hip are the two practices that—sooner, rather than later—you’re bound to hear the term “Content PR” being tossed around down at the office. Needless to say, whether it’s content marketing or digital PR that you consider your God-given forte, there’s bound to be a heavy mixture of both advertorial tactics.
As an improved spinoff of traditional marketing, content marketing is focused primarily on the creation and distribution of meaningful content which, when consumed, both engages and acquires a target audience. Interestingly enough, PR strives to do something very similar: build rapport and trust with a predetermined demographic. In time, as the aforementioned specialties continue to evolve, the dividing line of separation between content marketing and PR promises to become thin.
Distribution Is Just as Important as Production
Does the term “churnalism” ring a bell? You might’ve heard it mentioned a few times during an introductory journalism course in college or while working an entry-level gig at any one of America’s many ad agencies. “Churnalism” refers to a writing style that’s centered on quantity, rather than quality.
When done properly, content marketing needn’t be an activity in speedwriting; moreover, an exercise that aims to examine the questions and concerns of consumers—a very PR-driven concentration, in its own right—and address them through published content. Sure, production is important for content marketing to take effect, but it means absolutely nothing without sound distribution techniques.
This is where PR comes into play for marketing agencies. Content marketers and their respective agencies tend to allocate the majority of their publication efforts towards channels that they rightfully own and manage. Owned media helps with long-term growth, search-engine rank and becoming an industry-specific thought leader, but there’s more out there to be discovered.
On the other hand, PR spotlights the importance of earned media. Of the matter, says ContentMarketingInstitute.com, “Key elements of marketing are to attract an even greater audience, lead pool, and increasing brand awareness. While content marketing beefs up one’s owned-media outlets, PR bolsters earned media and likely garners new eyes for a brand.”
Brand Reputation Is Strengthened With Every Link Hit
Blogs are important and most content marketers already know it. They have to know it, seeing as how they spend countless hours crafting engaging posts for both blog subscribers and those who might stumble upon their site through random Google searches or social posts. With that in mind, however, blogs aren’t necessarily the most important thing for content marketers and the agencies at which they work.
Let’s say, for example, that the CEO of your tech startup has a new app update that he or she would like to announce to the world. Obviously, a well-written blog post should be crafted to help get the word out. When shared through a company’s numerous social platforms, people are going to learn not only what said update is and how it can help them, but how they can get their hands on it.
That being said, blogs aren’t always the perfect solution for agencies. The problem with blog posts lies in the fact that there’s a certain self-serving stigma that surrounds them. Now, imagine if The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal wrote a piece on your startup’s newest app update. Not only would more people know about it, but they’d be more inclined to believe that such an update could really help them. If this sounds like a worthwhile pursuit, go nab your closest PR representative and get to work on gaining coverage.
Content Marketers Must Think About the Bigger Picture
Writing purists will argue that the world’s greatest authors wrote, write or will write for writing’s sake. This sort of utilitarian approach is fine, but usually there’s a greater good that’s being accomplished. In the case of the aforementioned authors, making a living, providing for loved ones or presenting an important message all might take the proverbial cake as a main motivating factor.
As far as agencies are concerned, content marketing is no different. At its core is a heavy editorial skill set, but there’s so much more that’s being accomplished through the strategic writing process that’s often forgotten. Content marketing agencies must remember that they’re not writing to meet deadlines or to fulfill a quota; they’re working to better serve digital audiences healthy doses of incredible stories, industry-shaping news and groundbreaking ideas.
More often than not, PR helps content marketers fine-tune the emphasis being placed on the public. In the process, fresh insights, new angles and creative perspectives are formed and implemented.
Truthfully, it shouldn’t matter if it’s a basic blog composition or a bit for The Huffington Post, if a target group is kept in mind right from the very start, the end result will be worthy of everyone’s time and energy. With a similar goal driving both content marketing and PR, it won’t be long until “content PR” becomes a mainstay of any communications team.
In just a couple of years, Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll—the original creators of Vine—have proven that being long-winded isn’t necessary to get a message across. Seriously, it only takes six seconds or less. Still not convinced? As of April of this year, Vine—a short-form, video-sharing smartphone app— had managed to attract over 40 million registered users.
With upwards of 12 million Vine videos being uploaded to Twitter and other social platforms each and every day, it’s hard to argue against the strange, yet successful amateur video production outlet. Sure, it’s fun to watch miniature videos of house cats making fools of themselves or young, unsuspecting fathers taking a wiffle ball or two to the groin, but is there any real video production or social media marketing value with Vine?
Seeing as how more than half a trillion Vine loops run annually, the answer to the aforementioned question is a positive one. With that in mind, however, there are certainly better, more approachable methods for making Vine an effective tool for brand building. The following are a few of the more prominent strategies:
Product Demos
Nowadays, it seems that most people prefer online shopping over having to actually get up and go to a nearby store. While true, it’s much harder to purchase an item without the luxury of having it right in front of you. Simply put, digital buyers want as much information as possible made available to them so that they can shop smart.
Vine videos, coupled with a bit of video production magic, do an excellent job of highlighting a product’s most defining characteristics. When viewed in action, people—without physically being present—are much more willing to invest their hard-earned cash in whatever you’re selling.
Keep Things Light and Entertaining
Nearly 23 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds are active on Vine from a mobile device. Truthfully, few social outlets rival Vine for targeting Millennials through video production. There’s a reason for that: entertainment. Honestly, there aren’t many young people who consciously care about product reviews or brand history.
Instead, they prefer to enjoy social media while laughing and that’s exactly what Vine does for them. Regardless of the industry that you represent or how funny you may or may not be, make certain to provide your followers with Vines that’ll keep them coming back for more. That being said, there’s a fine line between what’s pleasantly hysterical and the compromising of brand values.
Company Culture on Full-Display
In past decades, it’s been near impossible for companies to develop meaningful relationships with their customers. Through social media—in this case, Vine—that’s no longer the situation. If you’ve seen MTV’s hit show “Catfish,” then you’re more than aware of such a reality. Being in the same room is no longer necessary for genuine dialogue to develop. For example, consider creating a handful of videos that focus on the subtle ins and outs of your business’ culture.
Though it’s unlikely that potential clients be drawn to you because of your insane ping pong skills or ability to beatbox by the water cooler, when it’s time for a buying decision to be made, they’re more likely to remember your social and video production presence than the minute specifics of your competitors’ product or service rates.
Social Engagement
Engagement is the real beauty behind social media. Think about the last time that you were at a retail store and the sales clerk hit you up for your email address to add you to the store’s “system.” Unbeknownst to most, this is a pathetic attempt at B2C interaction. Sure, if you toss your personal email address their way, you’ll probably receive a couple of promotional coupons.
But before you’ve even made the decision to open a promotional email, you’ll have already registered their account as spam. Ya see, when social media—more specifically, social media with a video production twist—is made a mainstay of a marketing, consumers aren’t interrupted with information; they voluntarily pursue it and are met with more than they’d originally expected.
Maybe you’re experienced with social media; maybe you’re not. Perhaps you’ve dabbled in a few beginner video production projects; on the other hand, you might not even known how to work a basic camera phone. In spite of your experience—or lack thereof, for that matter—to survive as a digital marketer in today’s fast-paced environment, adaptation is key. Vine, along with a host of other social channels, isn’t so much of an option as it is a necessity.
Brand storytelling isn’t a new endeavor. In reality, it’s something that traditional marketers have been doing for years. What’s relatively new, however, are the fields of social media and content marketing. Joined at the hip, both industries—falling under the larger canopy of digital advertising—have made brand storytelling an all-encompassing practice.
With so many content marketing specialists competing for social space, great stories—not just good ones—are what earn valuable clicks and build search engine rapport. If you and your marketing firm or agency are struggling to build audience intrigue, it’s never a bad idea to get back to the basics.
No, not what was taught in your Marketing 101 course back in college, but the actual basics of storytelling and writing. Unbeknownst to most, by so doing, engaging brand stories become the norm and less the occasional occurrence.
1) Audiences Want the Truth
If you’re like most Americans, the thought of dealing with a car salesman is enough to make you cringe. It’s not that the people who push new or used cars are bad people, it’s just that everything that’s presented is assumed to be a lie or stretched truth. Nobody likes to feel like they’re being sold, and brand stories—regardless of medium—must keep consumers comfortable.
In all of life’s situations, honesty is the best policy; content marketing is no different. Sure, “stories” are being crafted, but make certain that they’re rooted in the reality of your company’s history, products or industry.
Furthermore, keep things consistent. Once brand stories begin to drift from what audiences come to associate with a business, confusion sets in. Truthfully, confusion, more than just about anything, is the top brand-killing force, at least from a content marketing standpoint.
2) Develop Meaningful Characters
Every great story comes with a team of lovable characters. Just as you and your family love rooting for Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, so too can any money-making entity win over the approval of potential clients. Take Progressive’s Flo, for example. While not upheld by a team of supporting characters, Flo’s success is found in her relatable and quirky nature.
That being said, it’s not imperative that a fictitious character be created for widespread emotional appeal to come about. Buyer personas, real-life clients and employees are also able to present their respective points of view in an advertorial manner.
Speaking of the end goal of brand characters, says Susan Gunelius of Forbes, “The important thing is to create characters that enable your audience to become emotionally connected to them to such an extent that the audience wants to follow their character arcs.”
3) Make Your Brand’s Personality Shine Through
The appeal of social media and content marketing is found in its entertainment value. As opposed to advertisers approaching customers with pamphlets, sales pitches and a series of “incredible limited time offers,” target audiences are allowed to ingest information on their own terms.
Because of this, it’s key that you infuse any and all stories with a dash of brand personality to keep people coming back for more, time and time again. That is, after all, what’s supposed to separate you from the masses, right? Without a writer’s true colors on full display, readers will most assuredly bore quickly and revert to industry competitors who can more fully captivate them.
4) Build Intrigue Through Suspense
Whether it be a blog post or a podcast, do your best to make content a type of reoccurring page turner. Social media can be great for dangling the proverbial carrot in front of the ever-engaged eyes of your brand’s biggest followers. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and even email lists are awesome for building intrigue with audiences.
Also, perpetual marketing—in addition to building story suspense—provides content marketing gurus with the ideal opportunity to promote their content through offline and mobile marketing measures.
5) Make Certain to Include a Beginning, Middle and End
Middle schoolers all over the country know that any good story comes fully equipped with a beginning, middle and end. If the aforementioned model is good enough for the world’s greatest works of fiction, it’ll get the job done for your company’s content marketing needs.
In the beginning, a story’s keynote players are established. Next, the middle portion of a brand story brings with it arguably the most important phase: character conflict. Here, a featured dilemma is presented so that a final resolution can take place. Lastly, at the end of a brand story, you guessed it, an audience learns how difficulty has been overcome. The idea is that, as a character’s story arc is developed, public participants enjoy the story and bring others onboard. Such is the exponential power of sound storytelling.
Always remember that content marketing allows consumers to interact with your brand when and where they’d like. With multiple stories which cling to a central brand promise and a number of social outlets to tap into for involvement, brand fans soon translate into hard ROI for companies to appreciate.
If you were to go up to just about anybody on the street and ask them to speak of the differences between marketing and public relations, odds are that you’d find yourself hunting for the answer for quite some time. Though subtle, the differences between the two advertorial fields are gargantuan enough that, in recent months, some of the world’s largest and most successful marketing agencies have opened their own PR divisions.
In December of 2014, for example, Havas Worldwide Johannesburg made way for Havas PR to come into full effect. Likewise, just this month, the Black Snow Group decided to take the PR plunge. Could the biggest of PR’s pillars and marketing differentiators—relationship/reputation maintenance, networking and procurement of owned media—really be enough to push the globe’s biggest powerhouses of marketing into full-fledged PR involvement? Apparently, many certainly feel so. Here’s why:
1) The Field of Communications Is Changing
Simply put, traditional marketing no longer works and marketing agencies have taken notice. Yes, there are a few industries that might still benefit from a radio advertisement or highway billboard, but they are few and far between. What was once television commercials and flyers is now sponsored tweets and link-driven articles. No longer do consumers—regardless of industry—want to feel that they’ve been sold.
Instead, they’re demanding transparency and quality with the information that’s being given them. For that very reason, social media and SEO-driven article integration have taken the marketing world by storm. In the near future, in order for complex marketing solutions to be both developed and implemented, public relations will need to play an important role.
2) From a Business Standpoint, PR Is a Necessity
While marketing and advertising certainly fall under the canopy of “professional communications,” public relations, when combined with the aforementioned disciplines, ensures that all communicative channels are efficiently addressed. Long gone are the days when funds devoted to public relations where considered expendable.
Says Chris Verrijdt, Head of Havas PR, “These days, with information being consumed at the rate and across the channels it is, it would be naïve to keep PR out of the mix. Earned and owned media are integral to the conversation our clients have with their customers. Real time and right time communication is a necessity rather than a luxury.”
3) Through PR, the Client Always Comes Out On Top
Truthfully, it’s nearly impossible that a client fail to benefit from the services offered by a reputable PR team. Marketing agencies—specifically content marketing agencies—from all over the world can agree on one thing: “content is king.”
At this point, it’s the biggest buzz-centric phrase that the realm of professional communications has to offer, but it’s true. Public relations places a great deal of emphasis on content and, through content, the solidifying of a specific brand as an industry leader.
By creating helpful, informative content, not only is reputation enhanced, but leaders, potential clients and investors are drawn to a business. Needless to say, whatever your specific company’s marketing needs may be, public relations can help.
For as long as businesses have been around, they’ve been promoting themselves to consumers in an effort to bring in more money. Generally speaking, the most successful companies have managed to produce advertising greatness to make such an occurrence a reality. In the following video, we present some of our favorite advertorial campaigns and the actual costs associated with them:
Regardless of industry, it’s important that marketing—specifically digital marketing—be given proper attention. Whether it be a matter of web development, graphic design, video production or content marketing, without the help of professional advertisers, marketing quickly becomes more of a headache than a money-making endeavor. That being said, if the wrong marketing agency is brought onboard, a similar headache is bound to take place. In order to ensure that a positive relationship be formed, there are certain questions that should be asked before anybody signs on the proverbial dotted line.
Regardless of where you’re from or what your background is like, you love viral videos. Whether they be devoted to hilarious animals, adorable children, U.S. soldiers coming back from the Middle East or courageous stories of triumph, the American commoner can’t seem to get enough of them. Truthfully, as far as sound video production is concerned, there’s no greater success than an Internet video that reaches that ever-elusive state of liquid shareability.
As far as most of the world’s web and SEO enthusiasts are concerned, there are only two real players in the search engine game: Google and Bing. Though Google currently lays claim to a more dominant body of loyal users, Bing is quickly rising in popularity. Only time will tell who will win the great battle for complete and total digital dominance.
For marketing professionals from Utah to the farthest reaches of America’s East Coast, video production is of the utmost importance. While web development, graphic design, content marketing and public relations might be at the forefront of the marketing world, as traditional marketing gives way to that of a digital variety, video production continues to cement itself as a game changer for those willing to adapt their advertising strategies.
For marketers, little is certain. That being said, there are a handful of sure-fire ways to convert the attention of potential consumers into real revenue. The canopying answer? Video production.
1) Digital Sales Presentations
Even here in Utah, a mass delivering of consistent sales messages can be a costly affair. When executed virtually, vital sales and marketing information are transmitted at a fraction of the cost of a typical, more traditional sales call. In fact, small business profiles with videos get 30% more profile clicks, 18% more calls and 24% more sales.
2) Step-By-Step Instructional Videos
Custom-made videos, whose formation came about with key decision makers or sectors in mind, optimize efficacy and increase the likelihood of literal marketplace success. Furthermore, video in email marketing has been shown to increase click-through rates by over 96%.
3) Virtual Product Demonstrations
Technical products and complex services are made all the more straightforward by way of motion graphics, screenshots and voice-over presentations. Studies show that visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not.
4) Featured Corporate Videos
In the digital age of communication, both here in Utah and elsewhere, the Internet has quickly become the ideal platform from which branding strategies are launched. A corporate video is a simple, yet direct representation of a company’s personality, character and culture. In fact, studies show that 59% of senior executives prefer to watch video over reading text. Though difficult to master, a sound video production effort is well worth your brand’s time, effort and funding.
