Branding is how people perceive and interact with an organization. It’s not just a logo or website, but as branding author and speaker Marty Neumeier says, “It’s a person’s gut feeling about an organization.”
Branding forms a crucial foundation for making emotional connections and developing relationships with donors, members, volunteers, and other stakeholders.
There are four reasons why starting with a brand strategy can improve your content marketing and make it more engaging.
When you use brand strategy as a foundation for content marketing, you’re better able to focus on topics that are relevant to your audience. This helps to cut back on fluff pieces and gives your audience content that resonates with them and excites them. It also helps you create content that is in line with your organizational goals.
After content is published, you can track KPIs and results to make improvements and further hone your content strategy.
The most popular channels for content marketing are social media channels.
Once you have a brand-centered content strategy in place, you’ll be better equipped to organize your content. By creating a well-thought-out framework, you can see how pieces integrate with each other.
A content framework can also help identify any gaps in your content marketing or new areas to explore. It also makes it easier to repurpose content
The preferred areas of investments for companies are in content creation and production.
Rather than having random content, a brand-first content strategy helps to tell your organization’s unique story. When content is story-driven and resonates with the audience, they will want to come back for more—and share it with others.
About 40% of all companies are looking to incorporate more infographics into their content creation.
By looking at it through a branding lens, your content marketing will have more impact and a farther reach. When content resonates with an audience and their values, they feel seen and understood.
When content is relevant and relatable, your audience will be inspired to take action and align themselves with your organization. And when that happens, genuine, long-term connections are also made.
Now that you know why it’s important, stay tuned for our next post that will discuss how to align your organization’s brand strategy with content strategy.
Be sure to read my next post on Aligning Brand Strategy Effectively with Your Organization’s Content Strategy.
To learn more about integrating branding with content marketing for your association or nonprofit, please visit lsvdesign.com.