Do You Use One Of These Brand Narratives? Should You?
B2B marketing advisor Leila Nazari provides a look at 6 of the most common story narratives unicorn brand tech marketers use today and gives an example each.
They’re great to reference as a starting point, but I’d urge us to consider that if they are considered common at this point that without the proper tweaking you might end up blending in if you adopt one of these narratives.
I think we’d all do well to start here but to consider a combination of brand point of view and new category creation narrative design for our products if we want to stand out.
Camille Trent of MarketerHire and I are having an ongoing discussion (a brandversation, if you will) about this on LinkedIn if you want to join us.
Do You Publish Commodity Content?
In this article, Molly Donovan explains the difference between commodity content and proprietary content.
Commodity = answers a question or fulfills a need without forming a meaningful relationship between reader and brand.
Proprietary = takes readers on a transformational journey they attribute to the brand that provides it and might be considered refreshing, original, entertaining, inspiring, or educational (or all of these).
Molly writes that there is danger in creating commodity content (think listicles and brand blog content that doesn’t distinguish itself from competitors who could just as easily create the same content) because it fails to further a brand’s relationship with readers.
“With every piece of content designed to provide a quick answer or solution, you lose an opportunity to form a deeper relationship with your audience. With every blog post you write or podcast episode you produce that customers could get anywhere, you dilute the value of your brand’s unique voice and perspective.”
This reminds me of the question of whether a curated newsletter creator should include commentary. Obviously, I prefer to add some context, but I’ve spoken with others who prefer to just include links and less opinion. I think it ends up being an issue of whether the collection of links you choose to include speaks for itself or needs more insight from you.
I also think this a topic we’ll see surface continually in this age of content saturation.
Related: Check out How Content Marketing Became So Saturated by Timothy Carter, which offers some ideas for standing out and ranking.
B2B Email Marketing Advice From... LinkedIn
Joe Sullivan nailed it with this LinkedIn post that explains why your B2B email newsletter might be missing the mark, and what you should do about it.
“So how about reinventing your company ‘newsletter’ as a digital delivery vehicle for targeted insights and resources that will help THEM, not serve YOU?
Think of yourself as a niche media source or publication for your specific audience. And be a resource.
That’s how you earn (and keep) the attention of the right people.”
In Why and How Companies are Turning to Brand Journalism, Sally Ann O’Dowd explains how brand journalism is different than content marketing.
“‘With brand journalism, the intention is to build reputation and promote expertise, not leads for somebody to sell something,’ says Jim Ylisela, a former Chicago investigative journalist, author, and co-founder of Ragan Consulting Group, which helps companies and nonprofits set up journalistic-style newsrooms.
‘[Some] audiences have grown weary and see through PR and marketing,’ he says. ‘If you can cut through the clutter by telling a good story that has people in it, then [your audiences] will pay attention to you.’”
This piece is worth a read as you consider thought-leadership marketing and achieving public awareness of your brand and its role in society. Read through to the bottom. She provides five tips for doing “Brandjo.”
Why Authentic Marketing Will Replace Advertising
Leia Ruseva provides a case for transitioning from ads to what she calls “authentic marketing,” aka content marketing aka telling your brand’s story.
Related: Learn how Facebook’s latest ad tool fail puts another dent in its reputation.
Also Related: And why Instagram is Letting Advertisers Create Posts With Users’ Accounts.
B2B Marketers, There’s a Disconnect Between What We Think People Want & What They Actually Want
Ray Schultz at MediaPost gives some context to a recent UberFlip survey. 500 North American B2B marketers and buyers participated in the survey, The Experience Disconnect.
Here’s how it breaks down:
52% of marketers think they’re doing great (rating of 4) for content personalization
33% of buyers rate irrelevant content as one of the most frustrating tasks when researching a purchasing decision
Whitepapers, 42%
eBooks, 30%
User reviews, 64%
Product tours, 43%
Videos, 33%
It’s not a huge surprise that marketers are prioritizing content that, when gated, earns leads, but that customers prefer to be able to learn something without that step.
Related: Check out Get Ready For Video In 2021: Watch 5 Creative Examples of B2B Marketing on YouTube.
Should Brand Perspective Replace Brand Story?
Just when everyone is wrapping their minds around content marketing concepts and Donald Miller’s StoryBrand methodology, Kyle Monson is saying the editorial approach to marketing should be more about a brand’s perspective than its story.
To be fair, StoryBrand is about positioning the customer as a hero and the brand as a guide who helps her achieve greatness, so this can read as a bit of nuance, but I like what Kyle’s saying about aligning a company around a brand point of view and really focusing on how you serve your audience.
“We’ve spent the past decade applying an editorial approach to brand communications, and we see the marketing world moving more and more in this direction. In my opinion, it’s a future we should all be pushing for, because it’s entirely based on providing value to people, and optimizing for the audience experience.”
He also makes a very valid point about how storytelling alone can fall short of building brand identity.
“So be careful building your content channels around storytelling. A smart POV, on the other hand, contextualizes the world of both the brand and the audience. So what do you stand for? Why do you exist? What do you think about the space you’re in?”
This ties into my intro today and the problem with too much content that doesn’t actually achieve the goal of earning attention and building a relationship.
How to Use Emotion to Make Your Brand’s Content More Compelling
“People remember what makes them feel.
Content is no different. If you want something to resonate with audiences, you need to tap into what emotions you’re addressing. If you don’t have a handle on this, you won’t execute the content as well as you could have, and you may not engage as many people as you’d anticipated.
Here are some best practices I’ve found when it comes to fusing emotion and content.”
4 Strategies Marketing Leaders Can Steal From Hip-Hop Producers
This one is 2 Legit 2 Quit (Reading).
See? You get your feast after all.
