Nobody really likes huge faceless companies that don't have any personality no matter how good their products might be. In fact, faceless international corporations are often made fun of because they often seem aloof and out of touch. Worst of all, consumers might be unwilling to patronize businesses that they don't feel understand them and their needs.
Millennials and even younger consumers have been proven time and time again to be willing to spend money on products that show elements of personality. They're more likely to buy things that present a message that resonates with them. Some marketing experts have even suggested that this kind of thinking might be true for nearly all consumers in spite of the fact that it might not always be obvious.
This is precisely why you need to keep this in mind when assembling both written and multimedia content for your company's promotions. If your firm doesn't have a set personality, then everything you write or post will come off like a cold press release. You might be thinking that your brand doesn't really have it's own personality yet. This is fine, but take a look at your current blogs and social accounts at your earliest convenience.
Your commentators might have a lot more to say about how they perceive your company than you imagine.
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If you don't know how to effectively communicate your message, then it won't really matter how good it is. Nobody will be able to connect with your brand, and they might not even realize that you were trying to share something with them to begin with. This is especially problematic if you've been sending out email blasts or trying to attract readers to your blog.
Start by taking a look at your company's corporate identity and see what needs to be updated. Remember that what looks neat and professional isn't always right. A company that markets extreme sports equipment online would want to project an edgy and disheveled image. They might purposefully post loads of videos and photos that look underproduced. Firms in this market might even try to get their own customers to develop content for them.
For instance, if they had enough personality they might be able to attract people who share with them their own hang-gliding or BMX photos. Consider designing a narrative to frame the rest of your company's message around. You want to sell people their way of life if at all possible. Think more about what your customer's underlying fears and concerns are. Our example firm was able to target its content marketing tactics because it understood what its customers valued.
Communication is always key, so you might also consider retraining yourself in this art. There are a few ways to do this. Start off by paying close attention to your interactions with customers. Back off a bit and try to understand things from their point of view a bit more. If you're having trouble, then consider researching neuro-linguistics programs or perhaps take a traditional language arts class. This might be able to help you read between the lines when it comes to what your clients have been telling you.
You'll be in a better position than most larger companies once you have this down, but there's no reason you can't look at the way they've geared their content marketing tactics to get a few pointers.
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Larger enterprise-level firms often look so ridiculous that people have taken to ridiculing their marketing efforts online, but a few firms have recently been able to escape this stigma. By dialing in directly with what their customers care about the most, a few firms have been able to shed their big corporate image and present themselves as though they were catering to the needs of individual consumers.
These companies have figured out a secret that really shouldn't be all that secret. Namely, content is still king no matter what. In some cases, companies have been able to sell their customers products and services that they don't really want simply because they understand their base so well. They've been able to use emotionally-driven content to get their customers sold on an idea.
For instance, some people have criticized cars made by Tesla for having features that the environmentally-minded consumers who would traditionally buy electric cars would never want. They care more about performance than anything else, yet Elon Musk's force of personality has extensively built up the brand in spite of this. He's essentially sold a story to his customers, which is vital since building a brand personality can help to engineer a scenario where people want to purchase one of those cars because they feel that in doing so they're sharing in the success that it represents.
Tesla Motors has gotten so good about promoting content that fans have developed their own unofficial Facebook page, which in turn helps to promote the brand. They're not the only ones doing this, either.
Wendy's has been acting like an antagonist on their Twitter feed by posting purposefully toxic content. Most content marketers would cringe at this kind of thing, but the fast food giant has been gaining followers by acting out in ways that their fans find funny and rebellious. These Tweets work because they're both authentic as well as conversational. Being authentic is one of the most important things when it comes to presenting a new identity. Customers will see right through anything that's obviously phony.
Normally, people think of content marketing as a company broadcasting a message out to people, but what customers say back after hearing a message is just as important. Wendy's is presenting them with a snarky personality while still remaining engaged. This could be looked at as something of a subtle way to find out much more about what their customers are really looking out for.
Once you're armed with this information, you should be able to further dial your content into what your customers are looking for.
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As soon as you've found a way to effectively communicate your brand's personality through relevant content, you'll want to stay the course. Too many companies end up experimenting unnecessarily and they then find that they lose whatever it is they had. Don't feel the need to reinvent your company once you have a successful strategy in place.
At the same time, though, don't feel like you need to stay completely static. Aim for a healthy balance of putting out new messages and reinforcing the old. You'll then want to get ready for success because when you finally do strike that balance you'll resonate with your customers and make them want to buy into your brand image.
