If you’ve been following the rise of content marketing, you’ll know that creating great stories around your brand is a proven winner for audience engagement and conversion. For those new to the content game, engagement means the content has an emotional connection with the audience and conversion means they did something about it.
Story-telling on the rise
There are a few reasons why brands should tell stories. The main reason: consumers want to know about the people behind your product. During the path-to-purchase consumers will ask themselves, “Is this a company that shares my values and interests? Do I relate to them? Do I even like them? Do I want to share my hard-earned money with them?” Great story-telling is an effective way of doing this, reassuring consumers you know who they are, and that your product meets their needs.
Consumers are also judging the quality of your product by the quality of your content. Reassure customers that your products are up to the job with good, engaging content, presented in the right context (i.e. where the customer is).
So, how do you create good content? This is not a perfect science, but there are some golden rules to follow to create meaningful messages …
Here are 5 of our golden rules for creating good content
| 1. Be authentic | Know your stuff and don’t talk bull. |
| 2. Be relatable | Talk your customers’ language. Know their aspirations, icons and visual cues. If humour is a key driver, then use it. |
| 3. Be purposeful | Be clear on what you want to communicate. Focus on core messages, not your life story |
| 4. Be dynamic | Use a variety of tools and platforms to communicate your message, including well-crafted words and images that tell a story. Charts and diagrams are also great ways to illustrate technical information |
| 5. Use quality communicators | There are good writers, photographers and designers. Like any trade, you pay for what you get. |
Case study
Two marine clients put this theory to the test at a recent boat show. The old brochure was replaced with some engaging stories written by Moby Dick Content, wrapped in dynamic images and delivered in a crisp, modern mini-magazine design. The product was still the hero.
THE RESULT: The pick up rate on the mini-magazine was several times that of the old brochure. People referenced the stories and enquiry was up.
How engaging is your print material?
