It’s always been hard to reach target audiences and move them into your sales funnel. The overwhelming amount of information coming at people today – from social media and radio to TV and online ads to more news sources than it’s possible to count – means that it’s harder than ever to break through the noise in a meaningful way. And it’s rare for a single message to move the needle on its own.
This isn’t your grandfather’s marketing and branding landscape, where everyone reads the same hometown paper and watches the same three broadcast TV stations. You have to work harder to make your content matter.
Long-term strategies
But the younger generation’s belief that making something ‘go viral’ guarantees success is also wishful thinking. Because what’s viral today is often forgotten by tomorrow, unless you use initial virality as the launching pad for a long-term surround sound marketing and branding strategy.
Successful 21st century marketing and branding campaigns repurpose high-quality content as often as possible. Target audiences may miss the initial media article or the ad, but they’ll see your social media post and open your newsletter. Or they may miss your newsletter but catch your thought leadership at a trusted media outlet.
Same message, different delivery
This requires extra thinking, planning and execution for your content, but it may not require as much effort as it seems to secure multiples on the value of your original content. The business journal article on your new company acquisition may not be completely the same as what that ends up in your newsletter or on your blog, but they will all be similar. Your team is simply tweaking the original content for the appropriate mediums and message styles.
It’s no different from a pre-internet restaurant getting a favorable article about its new prime location, running ads on the radio about the location and its happy hours and sponsoring local parades. None of the content replicates precisely – but the thematic elements are the same, simply repurposed to ensure that the restaurant’s brand is imprinted in target audiences’ minds.
Here are seven ways to make sure your content is making an impact with the people you’re trying to reach.
1. Create high-quality content on your website. Putting a CNBC or The CEO Magazine logo on your website automatically draws eyes and boosts credibility. Press coverage also has a more genuine and “organic” feel, compared to standard marketing messaging. Post the coverage on your own news page and repurpose it for a blog post so you can create a positive user experience.
2. Improve your social media engagement. People are more likely to engage when they see your name tied to a trusted media source. Add hashtags and tag the appropriate people and organizations to further expand reach and engagement among your followers, and to reach those who aren’t currently following you. And who knows, you may get key influencers who will, yes, help your post ‘go viral’ because they saw your post.
3. Generate more email newsletter opens and clicks. Which subject line sounds better – ‘General email of the week’ or ‘See our interview with CNBC’? Better email content leads to better engagement, more clicks and fewer unsubscribes.
4. Show up better on Google. Media outlets generally have better Google/search engine optimization credibility than other websites, so using specific keywords in your content and adding backlinks to your website can improve your standing when people are looking for your products or services.
5. Turn cold shoulders into warm handshakes. When you attend conferences, good press is a cheat code for putting your name or brand at the top of the program. Placements in media outlets earn credibility with conference attendees. It transforms you from being someone they bumped into once to, “Oh, you’re the one who wrote/said that important/amazing/cool thing last week/month!”
Good press also makes outstanding handout collateral.
Good press also makes outstanding handout collateral. Double the impact by using your last piece as email eye-candy to secure meetings with high-value attendees ahead of time. It will turn your ho-hum note into a network-building tool because of how it stands out from all the other solicitations.
6. Dumb it down. No, not literally, but very few people have the time or patience to read through white papers or essays. Instead, repurpose your groundbreaking data, research and other heavy content into media coverage, blog posts, newsletters and social media content.
This will spread the word about what you’ve done in ways that will help key stakeholders understand the what and why without asking them to spend too much of their valuable time. And you should link back to the original documents for those who want more information.
7. Engage other stakeholders. Add your press wins to internal emails and PowerPoint presentations for investors, major customers and employees to boost morale and illustrate the overall trajectory of your business.
Reaching the Target
Creating the snowball effect does not guarantee success. It takes months to ensure smooth processes and to learn which mediums are useful, which are a waste and how to tailor communications for each medium. TikTok, Facebook and Instagram are all social media platforms.
But who they reach and how they are used are vastly different – much like a text article by a journalist is a very different piece of media coverage than your spokesperson appearing on a podcast or radio show.
Done right, a surround sound marketing and branding approach to reaching target audiences will beam your message straight into everyone’s brains.
Done right, a surround sound marketing and branding approach to reaching target audiences will beam your message straight into everyone’s brains, putting you top of mind to earn trust and accelerate growth and profits.
