Business Media Club: Don’t be content with just creating content

03 May Business Media Club: Don’t be content with just creating content

Content. It’s all anyone ever talks about in marketing these days as if producing content by the bucketload is all that counts.

Never mind the quality, feel the width, eh?

And there’s the rub. Content has an image problem. An unspecific collective term for all manner of written articles, blogs, posts or books, audio-visual productions like videos and podcasts and promotional marketing such as e-shots, social media posts, newsletters etc. rendering it devoid of meaning and value.

In 30 years of broadcasting, I never once heard anyone call the programmes we made ‘content’. It would cheapen the professionalism and purpose involved. Make it feel less worthwhile. And there’s the danger – de-skill the substance and production values diminish. Spread bet your marketing content and it is left unstructured, ill-conceived and failing to hit the mark.

What you need is a coherent story. A narrative thread skilfully woven to interconnect all of your communications to amass a clear, consistent message. More later.

Marketing gurus hate this veil being pulled back, of course. They despise creative talent and see it as a threat, unsure of its potential to erode what one of them (not so) lovingly described as ’wallet share’. Your wallet, their fingers.

You see, the gurus aim to befuddle everyone with the supposed science behind long range digital marketing and make simple marketing sound horrendously complicated.

Sure, there’s technique involved, but it’s a bit like saying broadcasters should bow to technicians who erect radio masts rather than trust their own editorial judgement.

So what’s the answer?

Easy. Become your own multimedia editor. Yes, call it content if you like (for want of a better word) but focus on the quality of your message and the overall story you are aiming to tell  – and make it coherent so it connects with people and can engage and inspire interaction.

In other words, set your own creative juices flowing.

Sometimes it makes sense to leave the big stuff like branding, media production and, if you can’t find the words and don’t have the contacts, PR and comms to professionals, but with so many easy to use tools available you’d be daft not to produce your own mass marketing material and shape the direction and message.

That means getting your story straight from the start to create a consistent narrative flow that runs throughout your entire marketing – making it about character as much as storytelling and marketing.

Variety is also the spice of life so by making your marketing an engaging, creative and imaginative experience, you can enjoy telling your story and promoting your expertise to build trust, inspire interaction, win hearts and minds and motivate people to get in touch.

Connecting with real people is what counts and in May’s Business Media Club meeting (May 27) we’ll show just how easy it is to become your multimedia content editor to pep up your marketing across many different platforms to  promote your business, specifically your very own One Big Thing.

For further information visit our Business Media Club page.

To book your seat for this meeting visit our Eventbrite page.