Brand Strategy vs Content Marketing Strategy
Like brand strategy, a content marketing strategy is the blueprint, but it's the blueprint for how you’re going to use content to support your brand strategy.
Crafting a content strategy can feel overwhelming, and it does take time. You might have to hit the pause button on your content machine, reallocate some funds for branding or rebranding. But it’s crucial to do so to provide clarity, create a measurable framework, and empower business to work more effectively. And that’s the key to great content marketing.
Additionally, a documented strategy can help you track your own thinking and strategy. The more you test, the smarter you get.
How to Make Sure Your Content Marketing Strategy Supports Your Brand Strategy
The relationship between brand and content marketing can be murky if you’ve jumbled them all together. This makes each ineffective and leads to a lot of frustration. To avoid this, here are a few tips to help keep things clear.
If You Don’t Have A Brand Strategy Get One. It may seem inconvenient to dismantle the house and start from scratch. But if you don’t have a solid brand strategy, (your core identity, your purpose, vision, mission, values) you can’t work effectively or efficiently as these elements influence everything you do should influence everything you do.
Know Who You’re Trying to Reach. Your content can’t make an impact if people don’t care about it. You need to know what will strike a chord with people. That means you need to learn more about the people you’re trying to reach and what they are going through right now. A content strategy fills in the gaps here, pushing you to define (and document) who they are, what motivates them, where they are in the buyer’s journey, and what problems you can help them solve through content. It also helps you identify the right channels to reach them so that you can identify not just the stories to tell but the formats that will resonate best.
Design matters. A well-thought-out strategy is critical, but design is equally important. Creating content that is on-brand, consistent, and easy to navigate is crucial to appeal to people and make content easier to comprehend.
Content Strategy isn’t permanent. Most importantly, as you begin to implement your content strategy, remember to experiment, test, and tweak according to your needs. A good brand strategy provides a foundation, but it’s content strategy, is not set in stone. The more adaptable you are, the more effective you’ll be.
Your brand strategy and your content marketing strategy both serve the same goal: to strengthen and grow your brand.
The distinction between brand strategy and content marketing strategy is pretty much this:
BRAND STRATEGY = The Plan to Achieve Big Idea
CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY = The Tool to Execute the Plan to Achieve the Big Idea
A brand is a promise. It sets an expectation of an experience. Branding is the process of ensuring the promise is realized at every touch point. Marketing is about communicating the brand promise to clients/customers.
Ask for help if you need it. If you’re stuck or need a fresh pair of eyes, I’m always happy to have a chat about it.
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