Within the possibilities and resources of each company, carrying out a content marketing strategy can be very beneficial to achieve the proposed objectives for an SME. The creation of a company blog will allow you to establish a communication channel with clients, potential clients and anyone related to the company, and it can even serve as a means of customer service and to attract leads and sales.
As long as the necessary resources can be allocated to create it and, above all, maintain it, providing it with quality content, betting on content marketing is an interesting option for any SME. Creating and distributing relevant content for users, whether it deals with the specific brand, its sector or any other aspect that may be considered relevant, will always create stable links between the company and the consumer.
Branded content for SMEs
Within content marketing strategies, there is the so-called “branded content” or “branded content”. It refers to the techniques used to connect company users through highly creative content that attracts the attention of clients and potential clients.
It is, therefore, an inbound marketing action that can be carried out by those small companies that allocate the necessary resources to the creation and management of the campaign, creating content about the brand, but without being considered advertising as such.
The idea with branded content is to transmit a specific value, a message, a feeling… that identifies with the main values of the company.
It is not about publishing content about the brand as such, it is not even intended to sell. In this case, the individual must be placed at the center of the strategy and must be provided with an experience, entertainment, additional value… thanks to branded content. The brand is only part of that experience and will, therefore, achieve its notoriety, but in a secondary way.
The content (texts, photographs, videos, infographics…) that are part of this “brand content” will not be about the firm, nor about a specific product. However, you must make them revolve around a concept, an idea, a value proposition.
To see it clearly, think about the advertisements that some beer brands make many summers, which are nothing more than a set of summer images, on the beach, where a group of young people gather to have fun. They hardly even drink beer, but the important thing is the whole experience that is lived around them.
Storytelling
Throughout our lives, we are being told stories. A story, a narrative… serves to draw our attention and help us acquire a series of learnings and teachings. We can apply the same thing to the creation of content for our brand and it is called “storytelling”.
Using this technique, you must carry out the content creation using narrative, telling a story…which will allow you to communicate those values with which you want your brand to be identified, in a subtle and easy way for recipients to consume: through a story.
For example, to continue with the previous example, if a short film is made in which two of the young people meet by chance on the beach, because their towels were placed next to each other, and later they meet in the water, and later at the beach bar ordering the same beer and they fall in love… that’s storytelling.
In the end, you’re telling a story to attract people who might not otherwise consume content about your brand… and you’re reflecting values like summer, fun, and even love.
Transmedia narrative
If you also manage to make that story, that story, develop “in parts”, as if it were divided into chapters, on various platforms, but creating a global and coherent story, then we would be talking about another concept, that of transmedia narrative.
For example, part of the story can be told on social networks, another, in a short video for YouTube, another, in a mobile game… Furthermore, all these parts of the story form a common whole, with which the same story is transmitted. value, the same message… and in which the user also plays an important role.
Think, for example, of a television program like Operación Triunfo. In addition to the weekly gala on television, you have the 24-hour channel on YouTube, an app where the user is the one who makes the decisions, you can listen to streaming music, you can go to record signings or live concerts… They are different platforms in which a global story is told, that of improvement and musical evolution of 16 young people aspiring to have a recording career.
Creating content marketing strategies is recommended for every company, regardless of its size, as long as it can allocate the necessary resources. The mere creation of content for social networks can be considered content marketing, which is a fundamental part of inbound marketing and can be developed, among others, through branded content strategies, storytelling and new transmedia narratives.
