Whether you’ve recently undergone a rebrand – like V2! – or your business operations are on pause as a result of the ongoing pandemic, now may be an opportune time to prune the content on your brand’s platforms. Presenting a cohesive company image is essential for attracting and retaining audiences and customers, but as content accumulates over time, the messaging across it can easily become unfocused or outdated. To step into the new season with a strong brand image, here are our tips for tossing content that no longer supports your company’s persona as well as setting the tone for all content going forward.
Solidify what your brand stands for
Effective branded content should increase brand awareness, educate audiences, showcase thought leadership and industry positioning and increase customer loyalty – and it does this by being consistent in what it advertises. Any conflicting content risks confusing audiences and their business.
To this end, the first step in decluttering is having a baseline for what you ought to keep. As you parse through materials, have your brand’s most recent messaging and value set as a reference point for discerning which pieces represent your company’s current vision. If your brand does not have any messaging guidelines, let this be a motivator for organizing an executive storyboard meeting to discuss the brand narrative you want your organization to tell. The results of this can be used as a litmus test for whether all future pieces of content deserve to live on your platforms.
Set intentions for your content
Content comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, so you want to understand which format best maps to your brand’s larger PR goals and will make an impact in today’s vast and saturated media landscape. If you’re looking for sales tools, opt for customer case studies that incorporate customer testimonials to underscore your products or services’ value in action. Or if you’re looking to affirm your brand’s legitimacy in the industry, work on timely thought leadership pieces that position the company’s executives as experts of their crafts. Without intention or strategy, content can easily become white noise to audiences.
Spring is also the time for fresh starts, so use this period to assess your existing content stores and identify areas to diversify. If your company overwhelmingly produces wordy bylines and blog posts, try incorporating infographics or videos to diversify how your messages are being presented.
Extend PR campaign themes to content efforts
Content projects shouldn’t be siloed from one another; rather, one core narrative can – and should – fuel multiple efforts in order to sustain messaging continuity across the entire company. The themes behind PR campaigns – which should be conceptualized based on your company’s core values – can be extended to assist with lead generation efforts, develop assets to complement the sales cycle and alleviate strain on internal team bandwidth so that multiple departments aren’t exerting themselves to come up with ideas. In turn, well-coordinated content bolsters any PR program, reiterating a brand’s story and core values to make a lasting impression on audiences.
Now’s the time to hit refresh on your company’s content program. Decluttering your digital platforms will better showcase your company’s values, which will strengthen audiences’ perceptions of your brand and prompt interest and engagement. For more guidance on how to develop an influential content program, visit our website.