Branded Content Marketing – Building a Strong Online Identity

In today’s digital age, traditional advertising methods are becoming less effective in capturing and retaining the attention of consumers. That’s where branded content marketing comes in – a strategy that involves creating content that aligns with a brand’s values and message, while also providing value to the target audience.

What is Branded Content Marketing?

Branded content marketing is a strategy where a brand creates valuable content aligned with its message and values to connect with its audience. It includes various content forms such as videos, articles, and social media posts. The aim is to increase brand visibility, establish trust, and reputation with the target audience by offering relevant information or entertainment. It differs from traditional advertising as it focuses on providing value instead of direct product promotion, which can lead to increased sales and customer retention.

Whether you’re a marketer looking to improve your brand’s visibility and engagement, or a business owner seeking to create meaningful connections with your target audience, this post will provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to get started with branded content marketing.

So, let’s dive in!

What Is Branding?

Branding is about having a specific voice, style, and tone for your business to make you unique.

It also helps potential clients/customers build trust and remember your brand. Remembering your brand is vital because if they can’t buy from you now, they can when they’re ready.

Branded content is about sharing and creating content across media that discusses the mission and value of your business. It often evokes the emotions of those reading it. It’s not necessarily about talking about your product or service but about the brand itself.

The Pre-requirement To Generate Branded Content Marketing

Branded content is just one part of the overall content marketing strategy. Your strategy can still include product-centric as well as promotional content. The branded content strategy is focused on spreading the word about your business without becoming too salesy.

Setup a Style of Communication

Your branded content marketing strategy needs to include a style of communication. There are multiple ways to communicate in business, including email, social media, face-to-face, and more.

How you choose to communicate with your employees and clients/customers are both important. Communication style helps build content marketing branded content to ensure you stay on brand. If you’re a formal brand, you want to ensure that you keep that across multiple channels, whether online, in-person, etc.

Be Coherent in Your Online And Offline Spaces

Your branded content isn’t only about creating a compelling story. It’s about matching your tone of voice, colors, and meeting your brand’s vision.

If you create a persona online that doesn’t match in-person meetings, it could impact the reputation of your business to that client. In advance, come up with your brand’s voice.

Your brand’s voice could be humorous, formal, quirky, etc. Once chosen, stick to it across various channels.

Next, your brand’s colors are just as important. According to color Psychology, certain colors will evoke specific emotions.

Decide what emotions you’d like your clients to feel when viewing your brand. For example, the color green evokes nature, calmness, and sincerity.

Declare Your Value, Mission, and Vision

Your mission is a compelling story about the purpose and roots of your business. Whereas your vision is the goal you’d like to reach. It’s about what your business aims to become.

Your team needs to have a goal that’s achievable, and that you all can work toward. The value of your business comes down to employees, customers, suppliers, etc.

Think about your company’s value and what separates you from the rest. Check out competitors; how can you stand out and prove you provide valuable services?

Even if, hypothetically, your rates are higher, they’ll know that they’re receiving a better value overall. If you offer promotions, sales, or more affordable rates, you could discuss that too.

Build Your Buyer Personas

A buyer persona is a fictional character that matches the ideal client/customer. They include demographic information such as location, income, age, motivations, interests, etc.

You might use a fake name and face to make the buyer persona come to life. The buyer persona should be included in each part of your marketing strategy to ensure you’re meeting customers’ needs.

Head to Facebook for audience targeting options. Facebook ads allow you to input features about the demographics of your audience.

If you aren’t sure where to begin, research your buyer personas. Send out surveys in your newsletters to see what they care about. Google Analytics also allows you to see information on your customers as well.

Differentiate Your Brand From Your Competitors

What makes you different? Brand awareness and understanding of what you have to offer will help you stand out.

Check out the competitors. What are they doing well with, and what could they improve?

Could you offer this feature to your clients for the areas that need improvement? Your branded content marketing isn’t only about having your voice and mission, but what sets you apart from the rest.

They want to build trust with you. Clients will pay more if they trust your brand and know that they’ll receive high-quality results. Whether you use traditional advertising or head online, standing out is essential.

The 5 Steps Guide To Developing a Branded Content Marketing Strategy

There are multiple steps to build brand awareness, so many contact a digital marketing company to help. From Providing value to keeping your brand’s voice consistent and having amazing content, it can be overwhelming to do on your own. Even though it’s overwhelming, whether you do it yourself or hire a digital marketing firm to help, it’s necessary.

1. Create Amazing Content

If you’re not a copywriter, this can be a challenge. People will click away immediately if you have fluffy content that doesn’t provide value to them.

As you create content, consider your buyer persona and how to meet their needs. What are their pain points that you could help solve?

Many will contact a company specializing in copywriting since it’s vital. Your content could help your business flourish.

2. Give More Value Than Your Audience Expects

Your branded content marketing strategy needs to go beyond their expectations. Other businesses could meet their needs, so it’s vital to exceed their expectations to stand out.

Your content marketing strategy must define your buyer persona and what they’ll look for online. What matters most to them when making a decision? How can you go above and beyond?

The type of content you choose has to offer your audience solutions to their pain points and knowledge. Show that you’re an expert in your field, and that’ll build trust with your audience.

Define why they should trust you and deliver that in your content. When you have articles on your page, it isn’t about promoting your products; it’s about providing value to your customers, so they build trust with your brand.

3. Maintain the Same Design Style

Whether you’re on social media, your website, or another place, it’s important to maintain your style. Many businesses will contact graphic designers because they aren’t sure what design to implement.

Remember that your design will define your business. Think about the color scheme and overall design. A clean and easy-to-navigate design is vital.

4. Grab Attention With Catchy Phrases/Graphics

Keep your content engaging by including graphics throughout the content. Your branded content marketing should have catchy phrases that’ll relate to your audience and have them connect with you.

Look at famous businesses such as Pepsi, Red Bull, and others. They develop fun slogans for their companies to grab their audience’s attention.

A digital marketing company can help you develop an actionable content marketing strategy that’ll make you stand out. Check out what’s trending right now and how you can incorporate that into your brand strategy.

5. Build a Story Around Your Product or Service

Before branded content marketing and product placement, your product must tell a story. The product or service story will communicate it across the globe.

The product vision is an important part of a compelling story. You don’t just tell about your products and services; you state how/why they help.

The product vision is about the long-term goal of the product. Whether it’s freeing up your client’s time, making a process easier, etc.

It sets you apart from other businesses. It also helps customers choose you and continue to moving forward.

You need to define how the product or service will work and help. Define what you hope to accomplish with it.

The Best 8 Channels To Promote Your Branded Content

Once you have your buyer persona and branded content marketing strategy in place, it’s time to decide on the best channels. Your buyer persona will help you decide which channel is best.

For example, Instagram’s largest audience reach is between the ages of 18-24 years old. If you’re looking for a broader age group, then Facebook might be best for you. For younger audiences, head to TikTok.

1. Website

First is your website. Build SEO on your site to increase free (organic) traffic.

SEO is short for search engine optimization. When someone types a keyword into Google, and you have that word on your site, they could land on it.

2. Facebook

Facebook is incredible for older populations since it has such a broad audience. Even if your audience is younger, you can use their targeting in ads to reach specific demographics.

Facebook is excellent for building your newsletter as well. Building your newsletter is vital for your branded content marketing strategy since it’ll build brand awareness. As customers/clients continue seeing your brand, they’ll become more comfortable with it.

3. Instagram

Instagram’s audience is highly engaged and is excellent for building your audience. Relate to your demographic; they’re more likely to like, comment, and share your content. Shared content is a great way to build awareness of your brand.

4. TikTok

TikTok is one of the most popular social media channels right now due to the popularity of video. It’s an amazing way to connect with a younger audience and show why your business matters.

Check out current trending videos, create reactions to other videos, and make engaging content. Humorous videos tend to do well.

5. Twitter

Twitter is excellent for building clientele. It’s a more professional space. Remember that each tweet is limited, so you’ll want to get your point across quickly.

6. Pinterest

Pinterest helps you spread awareness about your brand and website. It allows you to create a link back to your site.

A digital marketing company can help you create a solid social media marketing plan. Each social media channel will differ in what works best. They’ll study the latest trends to help you stand out and get more clicks to your site.

7. YouTube

YouTube is one of the quickest ways to build brand trust. Many are starting to prefer video over blogs, so you might find that you’ll have more viewers on YouTube than on your articles.

This type of content takes planning and a robust branded content marketing strategy. Use images, sound, and catchy content. If you are the face of your videos, ensure you keep them engaging, interesting, and fun.

8. Newsletter

It can’t be stressed how important a newsletter is. These tend to be the people most engaged with your content and interested in your words.

Consider what you can provide them to keep them around and build your branded content marketing. Offer them helpful content at least a few times per month.

Email marketing is low-cost with high returns. It’s a way to keep potential customers interested and entice them to buy later.

Branded Content Marketing Example To Take Inspiration

Look at competitors to get an idea of their branded content marketing strategy. It’s important to see what they’re doing well with to help you gain inspiration. Remember never to copy another example; just obtain inspiration.

1. LEGO

LEGO has positioned itself not just as a toy company, but as a media company. Each storyline in its branded content marketing strategy has a dedicated microsite.

This microsite has character explanations, a plot, polls, movies, quizzes, and more. They ensure that their site is fun and engaging for their target audience. Another way they build brand loyalty is by having a community forum where they encourage members to share videos and photos of their creations.

2. Pepsi

Pepsi builds itself through popular health and wellness, pop culture, and music. In addition, they’ve shown their value by having a blind taste test.

It turns out that people prefer the taste of Pepsi over their competitors. They also reach out to top celebrities throughout the years, whether it’s Britney Spears, Kendall Jenner, or someone else. If you do go the celebrity route, ensure that your content will relate to your audience.

3. Red Bull

Red Bull uses their catchy slogan across various channels because it’s memorable. Their branded content marketing strategy is about targeting.

Red Bull ensures that they offer a drink that various personas would enjoy since it’s affordable and will give you energy. They market themselves as an upscale energy drink that’s of higher quality.

They know their target audience and write content with them in mind on social media. For example, their posts focus on sports, sports personalities, and athletes. As a result, the engagement with their audience on social media is high.

Get Our Help for Your Branded Content Marketing Strategy

It’s vital to contact a digital marketing firm that’ll be your one-stop shop for your needs. It’ll save you time, money, and energy.

Imagine researching and creating content, spending hours just to find out it’s not engaging. Then you’ll have to contact a digital marketing firm to fix this anyway. So it’s best to start with a company that will help you stand out for all the right reasons.

How To Stand Out With a Branded Content Marketing Strategy

This guide provides an overview of creating a branded content marketing strategy. Begin with your buyer persona and go from there.

Decide what you feel they’ll care about most and how your products/services will benefit them. Then, are you ready to start with a top digital marketing company to help you succeed?

Then, contact us today! From copywriting to social media creation and website design, we help you stand out. If you have any questions, we’re happy to help!