A message for purpose-driven brands that struggle with content marketing
Most of the time, purpose-led brands have something that huge brands long for, relevancy.
Consumers today, especially younger generations (Millennials & Gen Z), prefer brands that not only offer a good product/service, but that will also impact the world in a positive way. This means purpose-driven brands are already relevant for these consumers.
Yet, many purpose-driven brand leaders struggle with content marketing for the same reasons other brands do, they don’t know what to content about.
If you lead a purpose brand, your brand IS the good news
Before I say what I am about to say please know that, if you are leading a purpose brand [or work for one], you are already a rockstar to me. Doing what you do requires courage. Not only for sticking to your beliefs but also for taking on the criticism of being an “optimist” in times like we are living, and keeping going. My respects, really.
With that said, you might be screwing up your marketing a bit. By trusting your purpose too much, you could be forgetting that marketing, too, is an act of balance. It is easy to get carried away with thinking because we do good, our content will engage people. Thus, people will organically share our content only because we’ve posted it.
60% of marketers create at least one piece of content each day; Facebook has 8 million advertisers. That is a lot of content competing for a lot of attention.
Even when there is a captive audience waiting to feel inspired and join your mission, your customers need to be able to find you and spot you amid a massive amount of information.
If this sounds like you, here are 3 tweaks to your marketing that might help:
#1 Balance content quality and content quantity
No-one can tell you really how much content is too much content for your brand. This will always depend on your business model, your budget, your creative capacity, and the message that you want to convey to your audience. Do as much content as you can while keeping high-quality standards, and ensuring your message is reaching the right people.
It doesn’t matter if you post a pretty picture on Instagram every day if you don’t know if this is actually helping your business. Now, this obviously doesn’t apply to creative souls that find their passion in content creation. If this is you, go for it. But when we talk about business growth you should probably think more strategically.
Whatever amount of time you are dedicating to content, make sure you spend half of it on creative efforts and the other half on reaching the right customers.
This AMAZING article from Hubspot about Content Marketing Effectiveness is a great way to start a content audit.
#2 As a purpose-driven brand, let content partnerships and user-generated content do their magic
I insist: If you lead a purpose brand your brand is the good news.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to media outlets, bloggers, or influencers whose audience is a match. Offer your content to publish, or better yet, customize it for them. Media is always willing to run interesting stories and this is a win-win exchange.
And what about running an advocacy plan? By now you probably know that your clients are willing to support your mission. Actively ask them to join you by sharing their experiences about your product or services. Remind them to mention your social media accounts and tag or link to your digital channels.
Check these 8 examples of brands that nailed user-generated content. See the pattern? They appeal to something bigger than the brands. As a purpose-led brand, you already know this is key. Jump on the opportunity of using this proven technique in your favor.
#3 Advertising is becoming a dirty word. It doesn’t have to be
If you haven’t watched the Social Dilemma you should. In 90 minutes they explained something that at a much smaller scale I experienced during the years I worked for magazines. The advertising industry sucks when the only thing that matters are profits, which is most of the time.
There is no simple solution to the whole #StopHateForProfit issue. “Major advertisers on Facebook reduced their spending by millions of dollars in July, but not enough to significantly damage the platform’s revenue”, wrote Tiffany Hsu and Eleanor Lutz for The New York Times.
So while we wait until Mark Zuckerberg and friends figure out a way to make things less bad, What can we, as purpose-led brand owners do? I’d say using the power of social media to vow for kindness, and again, try to balance that scale.
Find a campaign expert that is not only good at what they do but also understands your mission and will genuinely work to get your ads to the right people. This Wordstream article shows examples of copy for social media ads. Notice the wording sensitivity around the pandemic. Good stuff.
Finally, I’d ask you to remember marketing is not so much about expertise but about an ability to ask the right questions.
You don’t need to be an expert in CPCs, PPCs, Share of Voice, etc, etc. Focus your time and attention on learning to ask the right questions. What does your brand need? The rest is not important for you.
Don’t get discouraged; for what it's worth remember you are my rockstar.
