Content For Creative Industries
You know all about the effectiveness of content marketing. You’ve put together some smart and innovative strategies for your clients. But when it comes to marketing your unique talents and capabilities, are you hitting the same heights? If you work at a creative communications company, PR firm, branding or advertising agency, you understand the challenges that come with the territory.
As with most businesses, creatives often put their own interests last. There is an old cautionary tale about the shoemaker who is so busy making beautiful shoes for his customers that he fails to notice his children are running about barefoot. Can the same be said about you? Are you putting so much effort into helping your clients attract new business that you don’t put any effort into your business marketing strategies?
Even worse than doing nothing, some creative agencies fall into the trap of being run-of-the-mill and ordinary in their strategies. This can be especially true for those who specialise in B2B marketing. They typically use content marketing to share research, case studies and opinions because that is what they believe their prospective clients want to hear. They would not even think of creating such drab content for their clients, but feel it is appropriate for their purposes. That is perhaps understandable as they want to provide justification for their fees and demonstrate ROI, so they adopt the conventions of drier, less creative communications.
What if your content was just as attention-grabbing and creative as what you dream up for clients? Don’t you think that would help your creative company stand out from its competition and attract the interest of those prospects that are just itching for an agency that can help them stand out, too?
Here is a challenge for all the creatives out there. Stop being boring when it comes to your own content!
The Case for Creative Content
Why is content more important than ever before? According to WordStream’s round-up of critical content marketing statistics for 2019, Forrester Research revealed that 74% of B2B buyers perform extensive research before making a purchasing decision. That includes researching which firm they will choose to work with on creative projects.
As you might say to your clients, "If your business can’t be found on the web, you won’t be found." The first step is getting seen; the second step is capitalising on that awareness with creative content. B2B marketing is more necessary and vital now, and content is leading the way. If you think about it in a different light, you will see that content marketing:
Serves as a lead generation technique
Boosts your company’s brand awareness
Improves your relationships with media outlets
Shortens buyer cycles by decreasing the time between interest and action.
Most importantly, good content marketing can spark the creative spirit and really be a lot of fun.
Your organisation’s content marketing needs to stand out among the crowd.
Brilliant Alternative Content Approaches For Creative Businesses
“Conversion = Content + Context + Conversation” – 1827 Marketing
The one non-negotiable tactic that creative businesses absolutely must engage in is to STAND OUT!
How else are you going to convince potential clients that you can help them stand out? You have to be clear about what it is that makes your creative agency or PR firm different from everyone else. You know why you are better or different, so tell them what you’ve got and why it will help make their business stand out to its prospects. The best indicator of what you are going to do for a client is what you do for yourself.
Although this is an example from the B2C world, take the male grooming sector. Razors are a pretty dull topic, right? So, how did the Dollar Shave Club manage to propel the idea of direct-by-mail razors to a stratospherically higher level? They make their concept stand out with dynamic video. It’s edgy, and “in your face,” yes, but it works on so many levels to make their ideal customer want their service. Can you say the same about your marketing?
Need a few idea generation solutions to get your creative juices flowing? Here are some you can put to good use in creating content that will make your creative business unforgettable:
Be Visible
In a recent study by Ascend2, marketers said that video is the most effective content format for building relationships to generate leads that convert. If video isn't part of your content marketing strategy it's time to start thinking about its inclusion. Use the sight, sound and emotional impact of video to discuss interesting topics and showcase your firm’s creative capabilities. Inspire prospective clients to begin thinking about what you can produce for them. Livestream meetings or upload webinars, and let prospects be present in the conversation. Include a video in an e-mail or e-newsletter to spice things up a bit.
One exceptional use of video is to be more transparent. Ever wondered what is appealing about YouTube influencers who let viewers in on every detail of their life? It’s transparency. People love to see the “reality” behind the facade and feel they can get it from one of these behind-the-scenes shows. Even though it is all cleverly managed and produced, it has an impact and sends its stars and the products they use to the top of the charts. Use video to make your creative business more real.
Be Visual
The phrase about “a picture being worth a thousand words” really carries weight in our digital marketing age. Infographics, memes, and GIFs are the new Polaroids of the digital age. Practically nothing gets communicated without a catchy visual. Use excellent graphics to get your message across. As a creative agency, it is essential for you to impress upon clients and prospects your ability to communicate efficiently, elegantly and in fresh ways. This could easily be boring information, but as this example from Domo shows, raw data can be the foundation of an eye-popping and attention-catching graphic. Their infographic showing how much data we generate every single minute is a great conversation starter. How can you use visuals to stand out in a sea of information?
Be Sociable
Social is zooming its way up the B2B marketing ladder. LinkedIn is the place to be for B2B marketing, but don't underestimate other platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube as excellent vehicles for promoting your content. Instagram, for example, has become one of the world’s most prominent social media outlets, and it's not only mummy bloggers and influencers on there. Post the brilliant campaigns and visuals you create for your clients to demonstrate your expertise, or give your prospective clients a behind the scenes, candid look at your company culture to show why they should work with you. For quick and consistent content hits, Twitter can be an excellent adjunct to your social media marketing strategy.
Be a Storyteller
Since the earliest days of childhood, stories are used to teach, tell and translate. People love a good story, so why not appeal to that inner need with your content? Instead of just putting out a drab case study, use it as an opportunity to connect through story. How have you beaten the odds or gone the extra mile to fulfil a brief? Do you have any tales of daring-do or endearing comedy? Spin us a tale!
Build Partnerships
“No man is an island” has never been more accurate than in the content world. Find non-competitive partners and work with them to build content kingdoms. The different approaches, new insights, and multiple links will produce astounding results as you piggy-back off of each others’ audience. Use collaborations to create compelling content that reaches beyond your own audience. For example, the Adobe Creative Cloud “Make it Now” videos on YouTube partner with creative agencies to deliver short, snappy tutorials that are very shareable (and insanely useful!).
Have Someone Else Tell Your Story
What is more credible than a satisfied client? Don’t just put your own people out there to beat their chest about the fantastic services your agency provides. Use a real client instead who can provide solid examples of what you have done and the results you got for them. Put them in your marketing, web page content, and social media, so they can toot your horn for you. It is more believable to demonstrate results than to make stale promises about what you can do when given a chance.
Use Your Voice
Be aware of what is going on in the “real” world, in your industry, and in the lives of your potential clients. Write insightful content about it, don’t be afraid to give your opinion, or show what you would improve or change. Prospects like an agency that has a definite voice, and they want to know how this strong voice can be adapted to their purposes as well.
Help Them Be Better at What They Do
Don't shy away from giving your audience DIY tips and insights into how you do what you do. It won’t hurt your business because you're not giving the whole shop away, just a showcase. Consider it as more of a taster, a way of demonstrating your creative spark and ingenuity. You'll also be accruing goodwill as a company that always wants to help, even when there is no apparent immediate benefit to you.
Get more from every piece of content
When it comes to those busy prospects and their challenged attention spans, the chances are that they are not going to carefully read an entire piece of content, even if they really like it. If by some miracle, they actually do, they are probably not going to take action based on one impression.
It takes multiple impressions to motivate an action, but who has time to generate that amount of content? It turns out you don’t have to; you simply have to come up with one great idea and build on it from there. It’s called the “hub and spoke” technique, where your main topic is the hub and then you emphasise specific sub-topics through spokes, utilising a broad range of tools such as webinars, e-mail, video, landing page, press releases and social media. Each time your prospect engages they pick up a piece of the puzzle, until a complete picture is assembled. KISSmetrics happens to be great at pumping out high-quality material that gets social shares and high SEO rankings.
So strap on those booster rockets and stop being mundane. Use creative content to increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, and watch your creative business soar.