The Web is a blessing and a curse. It’s the greatest publishing platform ever devised, it offers accessibility and allows for the free flow of information. On the other hand, it has made getting actual exposure even harder. Yet, some brands still mistake the former for the latter and continue to pursue traditional marketing strategies.
Pic by Dmitry Kabanov
The internet is a one-stop shop where the currency is your attention. At any given moment, we have thousands upon thousands of articles we could be reading, videos we could be watching, games we could be playing.
This sort of competition leaves many in a permanent state of option paralysis. As making an informed choice is impossible in such a climate, people gravitate towards content that appeals to them on a very basic level. And it’s hard to exploit for brands that want to build meaningful relationships with their clients.
The tech media landscape in particular is driven by scandals, speculations and negative news. Serious tech publications are able to cover these topics because they’re meant to play the role of an independent observer, but even they often compromise ethics to do so. For a brand it’s next to impossible to get in on this honeypot of attention. Negative ad campaigns often backfire and competitor criticism is harshly regulated.
One wrong step and you could earn yourself a world of bad PR.
There are no quick ways to guarantee being noticed. Thankfully, if you are willing to take the long road and properly establish your brand, there are online avenues to do that. UGC platforms that allow you to publish whatever content you like can be a great way to build an audience. If that’s not your cup of tea, you can take advantage of established contributor platforms that publish branded content as long as it meets the host’s editorial standards. However, old marketing tricks don’t work anymore. Traditional PR agencies haven’t updated their toolkits in decades and still rely on dead formats like press releases. So, you have to adapt.
First things first, you need to define your culture. Your brand is more than just a logo. What is your essence? What are your values? What kind of people do you want to reach? Why will they want from you? Your answers to these questions will define the lens through which you present your content, and lay the groundwork for all your marketing decisions going forward. Then you need to take this culture and further humanise it.
A sterile and impersonal corporate image might have been a safe decision in the 70s, but not anymore, even if most of your clients are other enterprises. After all, businesses are run by regular people. And people can only truly connect to each other. They will never feel anything for a brand that doesn’t offer this opportunity.
More on my YouTube channel
However, your cultural ambassadors can’t dedicate all their time to public outreach. And that’s okay. They’ve probably got better things to do. That’s why you can simply use them as starting points for your content. A team of professional editors will keep track of your and your ambassadors’ professional life. If put into context of what your industry is going through right now, it will make for genuine, engaging content.
You pinpointed the essence of your culture, found your ambassadors and hired an editing team to share this vision with the masses. You worked out all the quirks, got into a habit of documenting your corporate life and turning it into an instrument of user engagement. You amassed a backlog of topics to cover and create quality content week after week. What’s next?
You need to scale. And the key to scaling is being able to rehash/repackage your content for different platforms. For example, your editors release an article about the mix of millennials and technology in the workplace. It is written from the point of view of your cultural ambassador and gets published on platform A.
Its core ideas can be used as the basis for a conference talk, after which the speaker can discuss the topic in depth with their colleagues. The talk itself can be filmed, edited for brevity and uploaded to platform B. Both the talk and the discussion that followed can be recorded and turned into a podcast episode on platform C.
More on my YouTube channel
But don’t keep too close a focus on the inner workings of your particular business. You can safely branch out and use your content to explore all matters of related subjects through the same cultural lens. From industry news to social commentary – as long as it’s unmistakably yours, it’s going to work towards your brand recognition. Just be sure that every piece of content you put out has got your unique cultural flair.
It might be tempting to do this all by yourself. However, supporting your corporate image through content requires a great amount of time. If you have the means, please hire someone professional. This way you can rest easy, knowing that there are people who make sure that your story is heard just the way you want to tell it.
About the author:
Dmitry works with tech brands to create content and promote corporate culture at scale. He is acting as an advisor for both the SXSW Pitch and Release IT event (since ’17), and a Startup Digest curator (since ’13).
Meet A Content Strategist: An Interview with Techstars Curator & SXSW Advisor
How Startups Can Integrate Culture Into Their Content-Marketing Strategies, and Scale It Fast
Content Marketing Culture: Why Cultural Influence Trumps Fighting For Social Media Traffic
How Brands Can Increase Visibility in Tech Media and on UGC Platforms
The Game of Archetypes: How Storytelling Works for Tech Brands
How Brands Can Break Through the Tech Media Bubble
3 PODCASTING LIFEHACKS FOR BRANDS
HOW TO DO MORE & BE MORE, STARTING NOW
Pic by Dmitry Kabanov
Breaking through option paralysis
The internet is a one-stop shop where the currency is your attention. At any given moment, we have thousands upon thousands of articles we could be reading, videos we could be watching, games we could be playing.
This sort of competition leaves many in a permanent state of option paralysis. As making an informed choice is impossible in such a climate, people gravitate towards content that appeals to them on a very basic level. And it’s hard to exploit for brands that want to build meaningful relationships with their clients.
The tech media landscape in particular is driven by scandals, speculations and negative news. Serious tech publications are able to cover these topics because they’re meant to play the role of an independent observer, but even they often compromise ethics to do so. For a brand it’s next to impossible to get in on this honeypot of attention. Negative ad campaigns often backfire and competitor criticism is harshly regulated.
One wrong step and you could earn yourself a world of bad PR.
There are no quick ways to guarantee being noticed. Thankfully, if you are willing to take the long road and properly establish your brand, there are online avenues to do that. UGC platforms that allow you to publish whatever content you like can be a great way to build an audience. If that’s not your cup of tea, you can take advantage of established contributor platforms that publish branded content as long as it meets the host’s editorial standards. However, old marketing tricks don’t work anymore. Traditional PR agencies haven’t updated their toolkits in decades and still rely on dead formats like press releases. So, you have to adapt.
Initial Culture Offering
First things first, you need to define your culture. Your brand is more than just a logo. What is your essence? What are your values? What kind of people do you want to reach? Why will they want from you? Your answers to these questions will define the lens through which you present your content, and lay the groundwork for all your marketing decisions going forward. Then you need to take this culture and further humanise it.
A sterile and impersonal corporate image might have been a safe decision in the 70s, but not anymore, even if most of your clients are other enterprises. After all, businesses are run by regular people. And people can only truly connect to each other. They will never feel anything for a brand that doesn’t offer this opportunity.
More on my YouTube channel
However, your cultural ambassadors can’t dedicate all their time to public outreach. And that’s okay. They’ve probably got better things to do. That’s why you can simply use them as starting points for your content. A team of professional editors will keep track of your and your ambassadors’ professional life. If put into context of what your industry is going through right now, it will make for genuine, engaging content.
Scaling your culture
You pinpointed the essence of your culture, found your ambassadors and hired an editing team to share this vision with the masses. You worked out all the quirks, got into a habit of documenting your corporate life and turning it into an instrument of user engagement. You amassed a backlog of topics to cover and create quality content week after week. What’s next?
You need to scale. And the key to scaling is being able to rehash/repackage your content for different platforms. For example, your editors release an article about the mix of millennials and technology in the workplace. It is written from the point of view of your cultural ambassador and gets published on platform A.
Its core ideas can be used as the basis for a conference talk, after which the speaker can discuss the topic in depth with their colleagues. The talk itself can be filmed, edited for brevity and uploaded to platform B. Both the talk and the discussion that followed can be recorded and turned into a podcast episode on platform C.
More on my YouTube channel
The interviews your speaker is likely to give during the conference can also be utilised to create more content. Social platforms are different by design – use it to your advantage. If you apply this method, you can get a great variety of content without wasting anyone’s time.
But don’t keep too close a focus on the inner workings of your particular business. You can safely branch out and use your content to explore all matters of related subjects through the same cultural lens. From industry news to social commentary – as long as it’s unmistakably yours, it’s going to work towards your brand recognition. Just be sure that every piece of content you put out has got your unique cultural flair.
Don’t go alone!
It might be tempting to do this all by yourself. However, supporting your corporate image through content requires a great amount of time. If you have the means, please hire someone professional. This way you can rest easy, knowing that there are people who make sure that your story is heard just the way you want to tell it.
About the author:
Dmitry works with tech brands to create content and promote corporate culture at scale. He is acting as an advisor for both the SXSW Pitch and Release IT event (since ’17), and a Startup Digest curator (since ’13).
Meet A Content Strategist: An Interview with Techstars Curator & SXSW Advisor How Startups Can Integrate Culture Into Their Content-Marketing Strategies, and Scale It Fast Content Marketing Culture: Why Cultural Influence Trumps Fighting For Social Media Traffic How Brands Can Increase Visibility in Tech Media and on UGC Platforms The Game of Archetypes: How Storytelling Works for Tech Brands How Brands Can Break Through the Tech Media Bubble 3 PODCASTING LIFEHACKS FOR BRANDS HOW TO DO MORE & BE MORE, STARTING NOW