When Content Marketing started to be voiced all over the world, among those who delivered the most opinions on the subject, printed media professionals were at the forefront and in the majority. The actual reason for this was the leadership of writing.
Each content story begins with an idea and the first state of content before it takes any shape is text. This is the case from songs to movies. The case may be different when it comes to photography, but if the idea is to prepare content with a marketing target, a photo project proceeds the same way, begins with an idea, and then the idea is put on paper. This is why printed media experience is highly valued and sometimes essential to have a say in the subject of Content Marketing… But today, Content Marketing requires much more than printed media experience… In terms of strategy, creativity, and production.
We, who see Content Marketing as a strategy (we are quite a crowd when the whole world is considered), have to produce solutions with a multitasking brain. There is a need for much more than an idea or a text in order to provide the content strategy for each client that aims to communicate with the consumer. Content can never be thought of as one-dimensional, as both context and expression affect its success directly.
Based on the above information:
• Let’s use the X feature on Instagram…
• Video is strong. Let’s make a mini-series…
• Let’s publish a photo magazine “Mag is the New Black”…
• X will be used intensely according to 2019 predictions, let’s open an account there…
• Let’s enter advertorial to VoD platform…
• NO radio spot, what do you think about the podcast?
Let’s stop and think before we go hand in hand with those who got ideas with such enthusiastic emotions and those who take their share of this enthusiasm. You may be right but not leaving it to luck and making sure that every step taken is compatible with others is in your power.
If you know what kind of a content you want and if you can find the one who makes the best, you can definitely create a very good content, but that doesn’t mean that the content will succeed in getting you to the goal.
If you want to prove the opposite of this, you can make a relevant media buying, and you can cry with joy when you look at the numbers/datas that make you feel great but unfortunately “now” everyone knows that these are not real… Very simple math: compare the media budget allocated for your content’s visibility with the increase in your sales budget. Of course, I’m not talking about the world’s most brilliant and therefore exceptional viral projects (I’m going to discuss this in another article).
A good content marketing strategy contributes to sales and the role of media planning in this contribution is tremendous but first comes the content strategy that complies with the goal of communication!
For a good content strategy, primarily the needs and the objectives have to be described very well (Let’s assume that we already have that. Otherwise, this paragraph will never end). What should be done when determining the way to achieve these goals and meet the needs?
1. Create/Discover and/or Clarify the story or the idea.
2. List the content formats that can be used in order to implement this story or idea (I do not mean “choose”, be careful)
3. Determine the publication or broadcasting methods of content formats that will enable them to participate in life in accordance with the behavior of the target audience.
4. Clarify the context and frameworks of these content publications and broadcasts.
5. Make the combination of the options in items 2, 3, and 4 according to the budget for the full explanation of the story or the idea.
6. Prepare a time chart including a plan B for the meeting of this combination with the target at the right place and time.
Of course, these items may vary according to the target and owner of the story, but it’s true that these are the essential elements of the basic operation of Content Marketing. You can choose to use only the “printed” methods or experiences, but it is also necessary to be able to evaluate other methods and experiences to make this choice feasible.
Television, radio, VoD platforms, magazine, Facebook, or mobile… If you’re also questioning “how” that idea which you trust will reach your target audience instead of “where”, you shouldn’t be satisfied with looking for the answer through a “printed” frame. Most of the communication professionals who rely on Content and Content Marketing strategies are visionaries and want more, so they don’t like the word ‘satisfied’, so I can say we’re in a safe zone.
You or your partners can find a good idea or story, but you should know that you can go beyond the limits when you implement them; you must sit at the same table with a complex experience that can master:
-all content formats
-the broadcasting methods of these formats
-audience/consumer behavior in the media that they take place
Otherwise, you will risk facing the situation: “The content that nobody sees actually does not exist.”
Strategy is the plan to reach the goal by eliminating uncertainty and chaos. Those who recognize chaos cannot be unidirectional.
