4 KEY STRATEGIES ON CONTENT CREATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS
In today’s world of ever-evolving social marketing strategies, standing out from the crowd is more important than ever. In Seth Godin’s TED talk, “Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable,” Godin’s main point is that every business must have something about it (and its marketing) that is remarkable–that is, worth making a remark about–or t
hat business will die.
Here are some key strategies to consider as you begin promoting your business and making it shine.
1. Use Multiple Platforms
An emerging strategy for pulling customers is content development on a variety of platforms. A holistic approach to advertising now includes Internet banners, info-graphics, YouTube videos, blog content, a variety of social media outlets, trade-show content, TV commercials, and print spreads. A few avenues less used but with enormous untapped potential are the emerging fields of virtual reality and live interactive experiences.
Content marketing groups are popping up everywhere to fill the growing social media needs of businesses. According to the Content Marketing Institute (http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/04/truths-content-marketing-agencies/) , “Social media agencies are realizing that it’s not the channel but what goes into the channel that counts.”
Consistency across these very diverse platforms is key.
2. Use a mix of long-term and short-term campaign bursts
Many traditional agencies are more concerned with the immediate strategy that awards them the contract rather than the execution of the remarkable, long-termand high quality digital content so vitally needed to engage and capture consumer attention. In order to get projects awarded to their teams, social media content creators have supposedly “cutting-edge” short-term “campaign” ideas without the technical and artistic skill to execute them properly. Most don’t consider the fact that advertising is a consistent long-term game. It is vital to come up with a permanent “program” of creating beautiful content that has life over a period of time in addition to “campaign” bursts in order to make an impact.
As a model of merging both short-term and long-term strategies effectively, a good example is McDonalds. Love them or hate them today, they have had a history as one of the most successful promoters of their brand. In addition to regular advertising for brand recognition (Remember Ronald McDonald!) on television in the 1980s, they have had many campaign bursts that have lent consistent weight to their appeal over the years.
One of the most memorable marketing ideas in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the introduction of a game in the monopoly campaign. In 1987, at its inception, one could collect monopoly cards every time they bought food and the draw of getting large cash prizes attracted many. It was also fun, collectible, and at the time kind of cool to be a part of. They had created a fan culture. The TV monopoly animations, interactive games and prizes drew consumers far and wide to the yellow arches.
It was a campaign strategy that was updated and rerun several times over many years. To catch up with the digital age, the latest monopoly games allowed customers to add stickers to a virtual game board from mobile devices by entering a unique code from each sticker. Between the monopoly games, McDonald’s continued a steady stream of commercials both online and on TV.
Today even McDonalds is attempting to keep up with the latest trends in marketing strategy and consumer culture. In the 21st Century more immersive technologies are just now being explored by McDonalds. In fact, in 2013 the company announced it is rolling out 150 interactive Happy Meals Play Zones in the UK to encourage children eating at the restaurant to be more active. Perhaps helping them combat negative associations with the food, whilst keeping up with the latest technologies available. https://econsultancy.com/blog/63032-10-brilliant-digital-marketing-campaigns-from-mcdonald-s/.
Innovation is happening and not every business is set to compete with the exponential increase in technology.
3. Have company values that make the world better
Philip Kotler says In his new book Marketing 3.0 that, “…the new generation will market, not just products and services, but the company’s vision, mission and values in a way that has a deep understanding of consumers complete humanity.” Long-term marketing, he believes, is a discipline. (http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/marketing-long-term-paradigm-new-markets).
The IBM 2012 CEO Survey concluded, “Engaging customers as individuals involves far more than responding in a singular fashion; it is about knowing a customer as a whole human being — with interests, attitudes and life circumstances that color preferences and needs.”
With growing social and environmental concerns, consumers are taking more of an interest in buying from companies that have morally aligned business practices. Incorporating conscious ideals and practices is becoming not just cool but necessary to stay ahead.
4. Create beautiful, unique eye-catching content
Social media is in a Renaissance, but as a business owner in the 21st century, in order to stand out, it is important to create the most unique content possible. In some cases this may include using new innovative interactive technology such motion capture and multi sensory input devices combined with new output media like see through screens or projecting onto water jets, to create memorable and invigorating experiences. In screen based media, a series of well placed engaging and entertaining videos with cutting-edge 3D animation might draw the eye of potential customers. There are many people creating content, but truly great content often comes at a premium and finding the right people to work with who can tailor to your budget while maintaining quality can be tricky.
To capture the eyes and hearts of an already distracted generation, ad agencies, marketing departments and social media teams may consider consulting or partnering with the new wave of high-end digital content creation providers and seek experts in the many new emerging fields using interactive technology, in order to create unique and outstanding results for their clients.
To learn more about the process click here.
About Edge Visual
The Edge Visual founding artists have worked on many high-end movies such as “Jurassic World,” “Tron 2,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” “The Jungle Book,” and “Ironman 3.” They also have a pedigree in creating interactive immersive experiences. With a background in software engineering and new tech, they have been involved in the building of several interactive experiences for stage and live events. They bring together the highest level of creativity with knowledge of the most cutting-edge technology on the market and a passion for beauty and innovation.
Edge Visual founder Edd Dawson-Taylor emerged as an integral part of live interactive theater group The Sancho Plan (www.thesanchoplan.com) who toured the world playing for a hundred thousand people in Madrid, opening for the Microsoft annual marketing conference as well as partnering with music legends Tosca(Richard Dorfmeister of Kruder and Dorfmeister) on a permanent immersive interactive stereoscopic installation in Ars Electronica, Austria’s famous digital interactive art center that draws a huge crowd year around .
Edge visual founders have worked on countless music videos and Internet/TV commercial campaigns for Burger King, Mustang, Disney/Pixar, and many more. Edge Visual have presented multiple times at the visual effects conference SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles, winning the dailies award in 2013 ahead of stiff competition from Pixar and Dreamworks
To learn more about how Edge Visual can work with your existing marketing/social media team to make your digital content more effective, or if you would like a consultation on creating interactive experiences or digital content for your business, please reach out to us at: