How a considered content strategy can boost your brand.
Content marketing can play a big role in helping to promote your business as a brand, and can be a key part of crafting a killer self-promo campaign. By sharing content that others find value in, you can build brand awareness and help others – and at a low cost, to boot.
One of the wonders of the web is its low barrier to entry. In today’s connected world it’s possible to share your thinking with a global audience who are just a click away. The web offers a wealth of content, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for another voice: yours.
With your product behind you, you have an opportunity to build brand awareness through sharing content focused around your core beliefs and values. By sharing the lessons you’ve learned on your journey you can not only inspire others, but also raise awareness of your product or service.
By writing around topics that relate to your product or service – not to mention the invaluable experience you gained getting your idea off the ground – you can help others and you can draw in a potential audience.
Developing a content strategy focused around a series of core themes is a great way to build content of value and grow awareness of your brand. By investing a little time in establishing a core message that is focused around ‘pillars of content’ you’ll establish a content strategy that will serve you and your brand well.
Mediums and messages
Hosting your own content is a good idea, as you'll own everything and there’s no chance – should the free blogging platform you choose be acquired and shut down – that all your hard work writing will go up in smoke. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t cross-post to other services.
Medium is a great tool, with an extensive community, that’s worth exploring to increase your reach. Medium not only offers a beautifully designed writing environment, it also – importantly – enables you to broadcast to a much larger audience.
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Jason Fried, co-founder of Basecamp, highlights the benefits of using Medium in a short article titled (appropriately) Medium Has Been Great for Us, stating: “We hosted Signal vs. Noise on our own site for nearly 15 years... People often ask me why we switched to Medium. There were a variety of reasons, but one was reaching a new audience, and another was aiming for wider distribution.”
"Sharing your experience can prove a valuable way of reaching new audiences."
Of course, Fried’s audience – thanks to the considerable reach of Basecamp – was extensive to begin with, but the benefits of moving to Medium that he shares are hard to argue with. As he summarises: “the results couldn’t be better. More readers, wider distribution, new audiences.”
Regardless of the platform you’ve chosen – self-hosted, a third-party tool or a combination of the two – sharing your experience can prove a valuable way of reaching new audiences.
Your product is an extension of you and your values. By sharing content focused around your values and interests you can raise awareness of your brand and – as a welcome by-product – drive a few sales in the process. As Fried puts it: “Win, win, win.”
This article originally appeared in issue 298 ofnet, the magazine for professional web designers and developers – offering the latest new web trends, technologies and techniques.Buy issue 298 hereorsubscribe to net here.
Christopher Murphy is a writer, designer and speaker based in Belfast. He's a passionate educator, mentor to creative entrepreneurs, and the author and publisher of Tiny Books.
