But how can your content marketing strategies stand out in a veritable sea of content? Creative content marketing is part practice and part experimentation; To stand out from the countless marketing firms also cranking out content, yours needs an edge – something that resonates with your audience. In creative content marketing, adopting a creative approach is a breath of fresh air from monotonous, cookie-cutter content.
The Importance of Storytelling
The emotional resonance we feel from a good story is a vital strategy utilized in marketing. After all, it’s what has propelled storytelling throughout history. When a brand can leverage a good story, the audience can authentically connect. And while telling your brand’s story on an “About Us” or “Our Story” page is still a useful tactic, incorporating a story into content marketing can go even further. Incorporate storytelling techniques in social media posts, blog posts, videos and illustrations.
Tell stories that are relevant to your brand and goals. Consistency is key when building brand loyalty. Telling an irrelevant story or stretching one to fit a certain context can alienate your audience and make them feel frustrated and manipulated.
Furthermore, it’s also important to keep it simple. When you’re telling a story, don’t overcomplicate with unnecessary details. Instead, keep your language and descriptions concise by sticking to the point. Make the story relatable by telling it from a perspective that’s similar to your target audience’s.
For example, in a post featuring a photo of an iguana and a mockingbird in the Galapagos, the caption on an Instagram post from National Geographic’s official page includes a short description from the photographer describing the symbiotic interaction depicted in the photo between the two animals.
The story you tell doesn’t need to be long, just engaging. National Geographic could’ve simply included the photo credit in the caption and called it a day. Instead, they provided context to the image, making it educational and entertaining, which are two important aspects of the Nat Geo brand, while setting their posts apart from other wildlife photographers on the app.
Take Advantage of Video
According to Statista, 85% of internet users in the United States watched online video content on a device in 2018, with YouTube leading the pack of video and entertainment websites, outranking even Netflix and Hulu. This survey also revealed that smartphone users between the ages 18 and 24 spent on average 83 minutes per week watching video content.
The future is video, especially on smartphones, but this is old news. HubSpot’s 2017 survey indicates that, across many demographics, over 50% of consumers prefer video content from their supported brands and businesses. In video production, higher quality typically means more money. If you’re thinking of producing video content, it’s vital to assess what content your competitors are producing. If a larger competitor produces video content at an unattainable budget for your business, this lack of budget will show if you want to make the same type of video.
Fortunately, a low-budget project doesn’t need to be low quality. Assess your resources and find a way to optimize what you have access to. There is a concept for every budget, so brainstorm ideas you can afford. Try building off of the content you already produce. Do you record a podcast? Consider filming your recording sessions and post them to YouTube to attract listeners who prefer to watch podcasts like a talk show.
One video creative content marketing example can be found through the video marketing company Wistia, who produces a series called Brandwagon, in which the company’s CEO, Chris Savage, talks marketing strategies and tips with marketing experts. The informative, light-hearted series optimizes their resources and produces content their target audience finds interesting while also providing a service by offering useful advice. By utilizing a format that is on-trend and anticipated to grow in demand, this draws people in and keeps them there with actionable content.
Going Mobile
In a study done by Perficient, mobile devices were found to drive 61% of website visits in the United States in 2020. This is an increase of 57% since 2019. These days, people spend more time on their cellphones than the desktop. Whether you’re creating blog posts, videos, podcasts or illustrations, optimizing your content for mobile devices will give you an edge over companies that don’t.
Optimize websites for mobile use by ensuring text and embedded videos and images display correctly and the site loads quickly. It doesn’t take much for a user to leave a page and search for the next, so it is essential that your site is easy to read and navigate. Furthermore, ensure blog posts are easy to read on mobile devices by breaking up paragraphs into smaller clusters and increasing white space using headers, embedded images, video and infographics.
If you want to go even further, create content that is easy to consume on a mobile device. Post video content to YouTube and embed the video on your website instead of posting it straight to your site. Get your podcasts on Spotify or Apple Music to reach a wider audience.
Invest in Quality over Quantity
When you’re engaging in creative content marketing, it is essential to remember that quality will always beat quantity. No matter how much content you produce, something will always outshine it if it’s subpar. Investing in quality means spending more time or money on content development and production. Optimize your resources and invest where you can in content writers, videographers, photographers and illustrators.
Take the time to research and understand your audience if you want to determine their areas of interest and pain points. What will they find intriguing? What will they click on? Simply making creative content that resonates with your audience isn’t enough, though, content matters. If you want high-quality content to lead to conversions, it must be actionable.
According to CoSchedule, actionable content targets specific readers in your intended audience and provides value by supplying a step-by-step process. Think: “Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life.” Build brand loyalty by showing your audience how and what they can achieve rather than just telling them.
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