The Biggest Mistake Brands Make With Their Digital Content

Using digital content for promotion alone is a short-sighted mistake brands are still making in 2020.

Let’s rewind the clock back to a time before digital content ruled our worlds. Think about how easy it was to get in front of an audience and get their attention. Billboard ads. Magazine spreads. Commercials.

They all had a few things in common. They interrupted or distracted an audience. They didn’t need to have an audience’s permission to communicate. They focused almost entirely on a product or brand. They were generally about immediate sales results, versus long-term, meaningful relationships.

Marketers have been preaching, selling, and indeed, focusing on the strength of digital content and its unique ability to reach audiences for more than a decade now. So why do we still see so many brands creating content that struggles to break through and gain traction online, burning through their marketing budgets for minimal ROI?

It’s because brands are still treating their digital content like a billboard advertisement. And they refuse to play the long game.

Why digital content can’t be constant self-promotion.

It’s not to say brands should never use digital platforms to push a direct promotion or some other conversion-focused campaign. (Confession: we all love a good BOGO.) Of course, increasing sales is always the ultimate goal.

But inundating an audience with constant product and sales pushes often gives them little reason to engage.

First, because it’s a constant ask for something. And second, because it’s all about the brand. That gets old, quick. There’s no value in this type of content for an audience. That’s a huge problem when there’s an infinite portal of free, high-value content competing fiercely for a user’s attention.

Users/readers/viewers don’t have the time or desire for an ad amidst YouTube, breaking news, their favourite Netflix binge and so on. There’s no room for overt self-promotion within their attention real estate.

But this wasn’t always a problem for brands. At a point in time, they more or less had a captive audience, or at least, a captured share of space. The audience often had no choice but to be aware of whatever brand was put in front of them. (Ah, life before PVR.) Brands didn’t need their audience’s permission to communicate with them.

Now, however, audiences are actively empowered to avoid brand messaging. Besides strict social media algorithms protecting them from brands clogging their feeds with undesirable content, many users now actively use ad blockers to prevent brands from reaching them.

In 2019, Edelman identified through their “Trust Barometer” that 74% of consumers avoid advertising by using one or more “advertising avoidance strategies.”

That means three out of four people really, really don’t want to hear from a brand without giving that brand their permission.

Why digital content should be focused on storytelling.

We’re entering the age of digital consent. Everyone needs permission to communicate with their audience.

Look at this type of communication like dating.

If someone constantly nagged you to go out with them, would you? If you actually decided to give them a chance, and they spent the whole time constantly talking about themselves, how great they are and how you should really seize the opportunity to date them, would you call them back? No. You would run for the hills. Or avoid them like the plague.

Why? Because there’s nothing in it for you. And they’re annoying. And you’ve got better, more emotionally rewarding things to do with your time.

On the other hand, imagine if that person engaged you with interesting discussions, if you discovered you shared some of the same values, if it felt like they really knew you as a person and kept the conversation focused on your wants and needs? (Let’s just say they had you at “hello.”) That’s someone you’d make time for in your calendar. Because they offer you value.

That’s exactly why brands should focus on storytelling. Storytelling is how brands offer their audience value. Value is a way to earn permission to communicate with an audience and win a share of their attention.

Winning a share of attention is how you get an audience interested in a particular brand.

How do brands offer value through storytelling?

Storytelling for brands doesn’t necessarily mean crafting narratives in the traditional sense. It’s simply a different way to communicate value and build a long-term relationship.

There are three essential value propositions for story-driven content. In our world, we refer to it as the Three Es:

1. Entertain

This is probably the most literal interpretation of “storytelling.” The key to making entertainment-focused content resonate with your audience is being laser-focused on what your audience is interested in, within your brand identity, even if it has little to nothing to do with your actual product.

Perhaps no brand has done this better than Red Bull. Their content is focused on extreme sports and the concept of “energy.” You will never, ever see someone drink a can of Red Bull or talk about the product. It’s entirely focused on the space between their audience’s interests and their brand identity.

2. Educate

Audiences are still seeking some form of utility online, so not everything needs to be purely for fun. But why educate your consumer around something that doesn’t necessarily involve your product or that they could even apply to using a competitor’s product? In a word, trust.

Empowering your audience with valuable, no-strings-attached education is a road to building trust. The same 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer also cites the importance of building trust amongst your audience. The more they trust you, the more they reward you.

IKEA has a whole series on decorating tips and tricks. Sure, there are IKEA products in the videos, but they’re often sharing tips that could apply to any piece of furniture, and they don’t push products with pricing or promotion. They exist only as inspiration. IKEA wants its audience to be better decorators.

Coach teaches you ways to wear its products with on-brand stylish animation. There are no specific products in the videos. No pricing. Or call-to-action. Just pure educational value. Technically, someone could apply all of Coach’s styling tips to a Zara scarf, but Coach is building trust in its product and authority in its brand by offering its audience a free fashion lesson.

3. Enlighten.

Taking up social issues is another great way to build trust with your audience. But they have to sincerely believe that you take the issue seriously and stand for it in a meaningful way. If you don’t actually walk the walk, you could end up turning off your audience.

It also means dipping a toe into the world of reporting. This isn’t just entertainment or even education on a topic. Enlightenment means putting your weight behind a worthy cause or social issue — it’s a matter of public importance.

Teaching someone how to get a stain out, like Tide does, is education.

Shining a light on the fight to save wild salmon, because your brand stands for environmental sustainability, like Patagonia, is enlightenment.

Remember, this is playing the long game.

Creating and publishing great content won’t transform a brand overnight. Solidifying a story means telling it consistently and often, in high-quality ways.

It’s easy to see why brands don’t take this route. It takes investment, time and patience to tell a great story that will build trust with consumers and earn their permission to communicate when you do have a sales push or promotion. But sadly, most brands are addicted to instant gratification.

The easier path is constantly pushing out promotional content and accepting minimal results, because at least those results are instant.

But the true value in digital content is the ability to grow long-term, meaningful relationships with consumers by telling them a story about a brand they trust and they feel identifies with them.

Think about the brands you’re truly loyal to and whose content you regularly engage with. Do they offer value? Do you feel like they understand you as a person? Or did they just hit you with enough promotional ads? I’m willing to bet it’s the former.