In the fast paced digital world we now find ourselves in, it’s easy for brands to fall into the trap of being market-led, constantly reacting to trends and competitors rather than forging their own path. Whilst following trends might keep you relevant in the short term, it doesn’t build the brand loyalty you need for long term strategic success.
So, how can your content stride above the noise, differentiate you and position you as market leaders?
Well, you have to be prepared to be bold enough to develop creative content that is centred around communicating your differentiators, values and customer benefits in a way that will lead to long term impact. Here are five creative content moves to help your brand rise above the noise and transcend your competition.
1. Adopt conscious marketing practices
How have we got to this point where exaggerated claims and fear-inducing statements are frequently used to desperately conjure up a sense of urgency for you to make a purchasing decision?
The result? It is becoming harder for consumers to trust brands. With over 70% of consumers saying that it is becoming more important for them to trust the brands that they use today than in the past, and with trust still remaining as a top three consideration in the purchasing decision (Marketing Charts, 2023), perhaps it is safe to say these anxiety-inducing techniques and unrealistic claims are having a long term negative effect that outweighs the short term boost in sales they are aiming to achieve.
The first of our 5 creative content moves to help you differentiate is a challenging one, but can you adopt a more ethical approach to your messaging in a bid to offer transparency and authenticity to your target audience in order to build long term brand loyalty?
Create an audit of your current marketing messaging, and honestly assess whether this is making exaggerated claims, or is aiming to create an unauthentic and unnecessary sense of urgency (because some urgency can be acceptable, if this legitimately is the last chance to sign up for an event, for example) and aim to replace this messaging with that which communicates the value and benefit to your customers that your product or service offers.
If you would like to read more about conscious marketing, the Core Insights LinkedIn newsletter by Anne Oudersluys offers a fantastic series on conscious marketing that we would highly recommend!
2. Let your values develop your brand voice
Your brand voice is more than just words on a screen, it’s the personality, tone and ultimately, the way you leave your customers feeling. We are seeing more and more that consumers are increasingly drawn to brands that feel authentic, relatable, and aligned with their own personal values.
This is particularly true for the younger, emerging generations. One study in 2022 found that 18-24 year olds were the most likely age group to be influenced by a brand’s ethical values and sustainable practices when it came to purchasing. In comparison, this was seen to be the case for less than 50% of those aged 65+ (Smith, 2023).
Unfortunately, too many companies rely on strategies that are centred around mimicking their competition, leading to a brand with little to no differentiating factors, never mind a unique brand voice that communicates their values.
In order to become a leader in your market, your brand voice must be distinguishable and unique. It must resonate with your target audience and generate strong positive emotions that build trust and loyalty. This means when it comes to creating your content, whether this is an article, a long form video, or a Reel or TikTok, you need to consider your audience, infuse your values and remain consistent to develop a strong and distinguishable brand voice.
3. Combine creative storytelling with powerful data
Data can hold a lot of power, but when it comes to producing engaging content, data alone will not do the job. That’s why combining data with storytelling is one of the most effective ways to create content that engages your audience whilst also delivering valuable insights.
Not only that, but data can provide evidence for your insights. More and more frequently we see others are quick to share their opinions online, and products and services are purchased because of the opinions of influencers. Opinions that often lack data to provide evidence for their claim.
Trust is built when opinions, insights and stories are supported by data to highlight value.
So how can you infuse data into your content in a creative way?
Whether you are creating B2B or B2C content, data can be applied in many ways. Polls are becoming more popular and add a level of engagement and interaction to content, especially on Instagram with the introduction of polls.
In the B2B landscape, infographics are a great format to provide quick, snapshot insights and data around particular topics to educate your audience and position your brand as thought leaders.
To differentiate a poll or infographic, think about the story you are trying to tell and aim to assign some narrative to the insights you share. As well as this, think about how you can engage with your customers’ story, and using data to support this, you can start to build an authentic emotional connection with your audience to build trust.
If you think of a health and fitness brand or a personal trainer for example, sharing a customer testimonial around how the product or service has positively impacted their health and lifestyle is a lot more effective in the first instance than talking about the offering itself. Applying data as a proof point on top of this, such as the customer now being able to complete a 5k run five minutes faster than they could in the beginning, builds on that trust that what you offer adds real value and tangible results.
Data can be used in all sorts of creative ways, including personalisation. Why not look at adding a deeper level of personalisation to your next email campaign or sharing key milestones or behavioural insights with your audience? How can this personalisation help you to tell a deeper story to your audience and build a stronger brand connection?
4. Create valuable evergreen content
Evergreen content can stand the test of time. This kind of content refers to material that remains relevant and useful to your audience, over longer periods of time.
Trends change at a rapid pace, but evergreen content that provides real value to your target audience by addressing their needs and challenges remains beneficial to this audience for a greater length of time. Value driven evergreen content can establish your company as key opinion leaders, and when strategically partnered with SEO, can lead to exponential organic search benefits.
This sort of content could include how-to guides, tutorials, and industry insights that address common pain points or questions.
But think creatively about how you can design and format this content. It doesn’t always need to follow the same templates as your competitors.
To add longevity to your evergreen content, address the long lasting pain points belonging to your target audience and suggest how your differentiated offering can provide solutions to these challenges in ways that your competitors can’t.
5. Develop opportunities for interaction and utilise user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) is a great way to turn your customers into brand advocates. What better way of generating social proof for your potential customers, than your existing ones telling them how great your product or service is.
UGC is one of the most powerful ways to build credibility and trust with your audience. Rather than creating all your content in-house, UGC leverages your existing customers experiences and testimonials.
Not only does UGC provide social proof, but it also offers fresh, authentic content without the need for extensive production. Whether it’s customer reviews, social media posts, or video testimonials, UGC can help humanise your brand and foster a sense of community.
A great example of this in action is with Airbnb, who highlighted real stories from both travellers and those renting out their properties. By encouraging their customers and users to share their positive experiences across social media, with images and videos, Airbnb is able to generate authentic stories around their service that drives awareness and ultimately builds trust with their target audience.
Through this content, Airbnb has also cleverly tapped into the desire and aspiration of many younger travellers to become travel influencers, giving them an opportunity to have their content and experiences shared with a wider audience. This, in a sense, offers these customers a reward for creating this content.
What sort of incentives could you be giving your customers to generate content for your business?
Conclusion
In a crowded digital world, being market-led and following the latest trends is not enough to stand out and achieve your long term strategic objectives. By embracing bold, creative content moves, such as the use of conscious marketing practices, developing a value-driven brand voice, using data to tell powerful stories, creating evergreen content that provides value to your target audience and developing opportunities to inspire user-generated content, you can become a market leader that transcends trends rather than follows them.
Take the first step today by evaluating your current content strategy. Identify where you can implement one or more of these creative strategies, and watch your brand stride above the noise.
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