Strengthening Brand Muscles Through Content

Published in

Chris Garin

5 min readDec 30, 2015

The problem with many brands is that they don’t seem to be taking full advantage of content creation. It’s not that they aren't creating enough content, it’s the type of content they are creating. We believe that content creation that does not reinforce pillars of a brand’s identity is content wasted.

Here’s a short guide on how to use content to strengthen your brand.

Articulating Your Brand

One way of articulating your brand’s identity is to sum it all up in one statement. Include your brand’s BIG WHY, who your target market is, how you want them to perceive your brand. What is it that you are fighting for? Why was the brand put up in the first place? What problem are you trying to solve? Who are you trying to help? What movement are you trying to create?

The role of content in strengthening your brand is simply to tell stories about it. Your brand is like a book, and every piece of content is another chapter that makes the story all the more clear.

This is very difficult to do if you yourself are not able to articulate clearly what your brand is all about.

If you can’t define your company’s brand, the challenge becomes tougher in supporting your brand’s identity in the content that you create.

Know this statement by heart. This will guide as to the direction your brand will take on the kind of content you will create.

Identify Brand Pillars

The pillars of your brand are the values, principles, beliefs, mission, and personality that dominates your brand’s identity. It is tempting to be the kind of brand everybody loves, but this will also make it easy for your brand to lose its identity.

The key here is to prioritize. What about your brand do you want to prioritize? Which 2 or 3 things do you want to be best known for?

Think of it this way. In a party, you've had some time to get to know a couple of people, but not enough time to actually get to know them well enough. But you do have a thing or two to say about them. Now, when your brand leaves the party, who do you want it to be know as? Is it the billionaire philanthropist? Is it the condescending rich lady in green? Is it the artist who never stopped talking about his recent creating?

Once you've identified who you want to be labelled as, now its time to know which values, principles, beliefs, and personality you should highlight and prioritize so that you are able to construct the identity you want your audience to perceive about your brand.

This is where content comes in. Through content creation, you have a chance of building your image piece by piece, article by article.

Set Your Goals

Before you begin rolling out content, you first have to establish goals in order for you to make the most out of your time. Is your goal to inform? educate? persuade? entertain? inspire? Set a mission.

Who do you want to inform, educate, persuade, entertain, or inspire? Are they existing readers? Customers? Other businesses? Leads?

These are essential in creating a content strategy that will give you the most bang for your buck, and most importantly, result to time well spent. As mentioned earlier, it is easy to lose sight of what is essential. It is easy to chase the new shiny objects. That’s why goals are important, especially for content where options are limitless. Just remember that you are creating content to establish the identity of your brand.

To be the best at one thing, not average on everything.

Know your options (Types of Content)

I used to think that content meant blog posts and blog posts only. Only now have I realized that anything you put out into the world, written or verbal, is content. It is an ever present opportunity of telling the world something the the way you would tell it.

Here are 20 types of content that you can use to your advantage:

Infographic
Meme
Videos
Guides
Book Reviews
Opinion
Product Reviews
Lists
Link Pages
Ebook
Case Study
Podcast
Interview
User-Generated Content
Slideshare Presentations
Event Information
Embedded Tweets
Live streaming Videos
Access to Periscope
Cartoons/Comics

Although there seem to be numerous types of content that you can create, it is best to let your goals guide you which ones you should plant your feet on and master. If you can, try them all, and see which one works for you. Every brand is unique. I mean, I hope yours is. So a different mix of content works for some but may fail with others. Again, always be testing.

Begin creating consistently

Now the step is simply to show up. Show up everyday. When you show up, eventually, people will too. Begin creating and deploy consistently.

Remember that although quantity would be great, nothing beats sincerity and intimacy. I would rather read one genuine piece than 10 robotic articles.

So humanize it. Give it your voice. Give it your heart. Start creating.

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If you resonated with these ideas, join our movement by connecting with us.

Partizan Media is a social media + branding agency that works with purpose-driven brands, non-profits, and social enterprises. We believe that profit should not only be the standard of success but also their impact on society.