Bigstar Content





Big Star Content » Bigstar Content Blog

SEO Copywriting and The Power of Persona – Part 1

September 6th, 2010

Here’s a bit of a philosophical question for an SEO copywriting blog.

Are we always the same person?

After all, don’t we adapt to different environments, different circumstances altering our behaviour, our speech and even our thinking depending on where we are, who we’re with and what we are doing? People are inconsistent. Certainly superficially. Is the nightclub you, the football match you? Is the boardroom you the intensive care unit you? Probably not. That would be a bit weird. What do we do? We all draw on the various constituent aspects of ourselves and deploy them in ways that feel natural or comfortable.

In spite of these tactical adjustments to the immediate world around us, experts seem to be of the opinion that, fundamentally, we have core cognitive styles. The consensus seems to be that there are 4 basic personality types:

  • Competitive
  • Spontaneous
  • Methodical
  • Humanistic

Interesting, huh?

SEO copywriters understand this clearly. That when David Ogilvy taught that all good marketing requires empathy, he wasn’t just right. He was as right as right can be.

In the scramble to meet deadlines and the rush to get campaigns up and running it’s often the case that copy content is left until the ipsus lorem last minute. Sure, in-depth keyword analysis has revealed a list of relevant keywords and expressions as long as Maradonna’s left arm. Keywords that you will use as the SEO cornerstones of your online campaign.

Does this keyword research really tell your story in a way that your audience will identify with? What about the actual copy you should have already thought about? The stuff in between your keywords, the stuff that ignores your keywords or is just informed by them? The stuff that really, truly talks to your target audience in ways that they can genuinely relate to? The copy that will keep them reading, will move them and end up converting them from mere observers into customers?

As Copyblogger put so well – not all soccer moms are created equal. And neither are CEOs, students, Belgians, computer experts, pet lovers or even UK copywriters. Who then are you talking with?

How can you be confident that you stand a realistic chance of getting your messages across persuasively and ultimately profitably? And how can you be sure that your copy slams the What’s In It For Me buttons for your target audience?

It’s a question of persona.

In the second part of this four part introduction to copywriting personas we’ll define personas and take a closer look at how to craft them.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Copywriting Tips, copywriting training | No Comments »

How the Right Hash Tag can Make Your Campaign a Success

September 3rd, 2010

Lira Leirner is the Social Media Consultant for Big Star Content

Last time I talked about how the hash tag can make you a more elegant copywriter and help you create a context for your Social Media content without wasting unnecessary space from the limited 140 characters.

However, there are many other uses of hash tags. In fact, this is not an official Twitter shortcut such as the @, which directs the tweet at the user you place immediately after the symbol. No, it has been introduced by the users themselves and therefore merely relies on a code of conduct and general consensus. But since it is the users we care about, and not twitter, that’s actually quite important.

Once you understand your audience and who you’re talking to, coining a hash tag to promote a Social Media campaign is only one step away.

Hash tags tend to shift a little here and there in the beginning of their existence. Make sure you’re the first to create yours or understand which ones are trending in order to plug into the already established hash tag. At the beginning they may look like #health2eu, #HealthForTheEUParis, #HealthConferenceParisEU2 etc. The variations are of course endless. The shortest version, however, often tends to win the upper hand and more often than not, very quickly establishes itself. In the case of the Health 2.0 Europe conference in Paris, the trending hash tag turned out to be #health2eu.

Topic or Event

This is used to a great extent for conferences but is also usually the type of hash tag which holds the majority of positions in the top trending topics. There are some famous recurring trending hash tags such as #NowPlaying and #ff (Follow Friday, I’ll be discussing this in another article), which is used across the different cliques and ages of twitter. Much like the ‘voice’ of a group, each has their own recurring hash tag themes and topics. For example, in my own group I see a lot of #TodayIAmWearing, a hash tag and campaign coined by UK Vogue.

Event hash tags almost deserve their own category for being such a popular use of hash tags that it even prompted some useful tools to emerge. In many cases, the hash tag for a conference starts with the official announcement, for example #health2eu and start of the discussion. This can range from excited chatter to logistics questions to already full on discussions. Events tags are one of the few hash tags that are easily and very quickly established with a majority of consensus. To get the most out of a conference hash tag, use some of the following tools, which allow you to respond, chat and update as well as follow:

  • http://tweetchat.com/ This is an extremely useful application which gives you three options to choose from and facilitates the use of hash tags tenfold
  • http://tweetgrid.com/ Useful for when hash tags are not quite agreed upon yet – you can create a grid with a window for each variation of the hash tag allowing to follow them all at once.

Rules

  • Keep it short
  • Tweets are real time feeds – dates aren’t necessary. Not #WorkMeet2010 – #WorkMeet will do and means it can be used again later
  • Use uppercase letters for each new word
  • Don’t use spaces or symbols such as ‘&* etc, it will break the tag
  • Use proper grammar. Not #YoureCool but #YouAreCool since #You’reCool will look like #You

Handy #Tools

If you’re using the actual twitter page, you can see trending topics on your homepage on the right side. However, sometimes it is advisable to use some helpful tools

  • http://hashtags.org/ Where you can see the trends neatly displayed in a graph as well as an even neater layout listing the users, actual tweet and time
  • http://www.whatthetrend.com/ This is a great place to understand what those trending topics on the right actually mean or stand for – a useful tool when you’d like to join in but don’t understand what the deal is 100%. You want to know before you engage!
  • http://twubs.com/ Particularly useful to find grouped trending tags ranging from conferences to news to TV

Go ahead, try it! But don’t forget to actually engage within the content of the rest of the tweet, otherwise the hash tag is just a lonely signpost.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in SEO copywriting, Social Media | No Comments »

3 Quick Techniques for Learning About Your Audience

September 1st, 2010

Steve Kellas is the Content Director of Big Star Content

As a copywriter, you are expected to find not just a voice for the copy and content you produce. You are also supposed to write the copy in a way that ‘resonates’ with your target audience, ideally in an authentic way. Often, you don’t always have an accurate picture of your audience, or even a lot of time to get to know them on any level.

When I started out as a copywriter, I learned a very quick series of techniques for getting to know my audience. Some of these techniques overlap with User Experience techniques, and tasks you may have done in marketing or journalism courses. I hope you find these techniques will save you time, and even some re-writes along the way.

1. Ask your client for more audience insight

Obvious one right? Maybe. But, if you’ve ever been under a tight deadline with not much time for research, you know how likely you are to just ‘get it done’ without first getting more insight into your audience.

Talking to your client about the target audience shows you are professional, that you care about your work and that you are doing what you’re supposed to do as a copywriter – write for your audience.

Most clients will know far more than you about their target audience, and because of this familiarity, they don’t always think to include pertinent information in their briefs to you. That’s okay – just ask.

The most useful bits of audience insight you can get from your client are things like what of magazines the audience reads, their level of education (giving you an idea of the type of language you can use), country of residence (should you use British English or US), what TV programmes they enjoy, where they shop, and what websites they frequent.

Getting these nuggets of background information is copywriter gold. By reviewing the magazines and TV programmes and websites, you’ll know what kinds of information they like to consume. Once you have the background you can move on to technique number 2.

2. Spend 15 minutes writing a detailed persona

What’s a persona? It’s essentially a story about the person you are writing for. This is the best way to figure out who it is specifically that you are targeting. By writing the story of this person’s life, you will come to an understanding of what drives them as a human being, what concerns they have, what habits, and you’ll discover what it is about the product or service you are writing about that will turn them on.

The key here isn’t to spend a long time getting this 100% accurate. You’re writing a story about a typical person in your target audience. What you want to do is quickly sketch out that picture of the person:

  • What is his or her name?
  • Where does he or she live?
  • Is he married?
  • What is his or her typical day like? What things to do they do from morning to night?
  • Where does she work?
  • What does he eat for lunch? Does he brown bag it?
  • What websites is she visiting and when?
  • Who are his friends? How often do they spend time together?
  • What sports does she enjoy?

And so on. The important thing is to do this quickly, and include as much of the reasearch you previously did either on your own, or by speaking to your client. Share the finished persona with your client for a quick approval so that you know you’re on the right track. I trust you’ll nail this exercise because like all humans, you are already a student of human interaction.

3. Interview some real people

Time doesn’t always permit this one, but it is simply the best way to get to know the real audience. Maybe your client has a contact list from user-groups, or interview transcripts from past marketing research. It’s best if you can ask your own questions, but if someone has already covered this ground for you, you’ll be saving some time.

The kinds of questions to ask are the sorts of things you’d want to know from writing the persona (see #2 above). The great thing about talking to real people is that you get to hear how they speak, how a conversation with this person unfolds, and if you pay attention, you’ll be able to spot what gets them excited and motivated to share with you.

These techniques will help you craft better copy by writing to a specific target person, you’ll be able to find the motivations, influences, and conversion points that will make them leap.

Upcoming copywriting courses

Writing For The Web – 28th October

Writing For Search – 29th October

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Copywriting Tips, copywriting training | No Comments »

How to write a killer blog post in 15 minutes. Ten pro copywriter secrets for INSTANT content generation (PART ONE)

August 26th, 2010

Derryck Strachan is the Managing Director of Big Star Content

01. Use a punchy headline that works and promises content in a list format.

Also, make sure your headline includes a promise or a series of promises that the reader will receive information that will be of benefit to them. You wanted to read this article because I promised you several things:

  • That I would show you how to do something you don’t already know how to do but that would be useful to you if you learned it
  • That you would be able to learn this thing in a very short space of time
  • That, on finishing the article, you wouldn’t just be able to do it in an average way, you would be able to excel at it
  • That I would impart some secret information that you don’t already possess
  • That I am an expert, so increasing your desire to read what I have to say because what I say must therefore have more value than if written by some average Joe
  • That the content would not be challenging but easy to read because it’s a list

02. Provide your content in a list format.

People love lists. They’re easily digestible with information in bite-sized chunks. They’re also easy to write because your content is clearly defined by the topic of the list. For example, if I told you to write a blog about why Twin Peaks is one of the greatest TV shows of the last thirty years you may struggle. If I asked you to list the five greatest things about Twin Peaks you would be able to rattle them off (provided you’re aged at least 30 or a serious TV nerd)

There are endless types of list you can create. Here are a few

  • Reasons why each of your USPs is so important (for example, “Seven reasons why you need to focus on consistency in your [insert business] service,” “The top 10 reasons why reliability is important to [insert product]”)
  • Top ten things about your sector (with one being directly related to your product or service)
  • Top ten mistakes people make when shopping for your product or service
  • Ten best, ten worst
  • Ten most influential people in your sector (in your city, in your country, in the world)

03. Act like a good SEO copywriter and get your keywords in there

As Robert McKee is so fond of pointing out story is structure – use your keywords to provide the structure for your article, the scaffolding around which you build your content. You already have the list to work with, so when you create the headline for each point, use your keywords as a starting point.

Like here – I wrote down “SEO copywriter” as the title for point 4 then fleshed it out. Get your main keyword in the title and your main and secondary keywords scattered around the blog or article, especially in places like sub-headers.

If it’s a blog post then you can use these keywords as the anchor text for links back to the relevant pages on your main site. If it’s an article, don’t go overboard on the keywords – some article sites reject article with too many keywords. They will also reject article that are overtly promotional or with too many links to your site. Check each article site’s guidelines for their submission criteria.

04. Make sure you give out at least one genuinely useful thing

Even if your content is largely off the top of your head, make sure you give out at least one genuine insight that you know as an expert in your field. Readers want valuable information that they can take with them although in my experience, blogs have a cumulative effect on both readers and search engines. Success is about the consistent delivery of relevant content over time PLUS dogged promotion of that content through social media, commenting, guest blogs, email marketing and other channels. An individual blog post has to give just enough to get each reader to sign up and stay with you.

05. Split your blog post into two parts

Ten points are an awful lot to do in one go – how about making a two-parter or even a series of blogs on the same topic? Make sure that you make some big promises in the first part to get people coming back for more.

End of part one. Next time:

  • One major tip on how you can create a never-ending stream of content,
  • A template for INSTANT article generation,
  • Why controversy works
  • Why TV advertising is a total waste of time and money.
  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog Copywriting, Copywriting Articles, Copywriting Tips | No Comments »

Can anyone be a copywriter?

August 25th, 2010

Derryck Strachan is the Managing Director of Big Star Content

So, as a professional copywriter who trades on the value of my experience, track record and sheer wordsmithing talent, can you guess how I’m going to answer this one?

That’s right. The answer is “no”.

To most of you reading this that answer will seem obvious and will require no further explanation – you can skip forward to the bit with the link to our copywriting courses and then book on to one of them, or mail me with a brief for a massive web copywriting project. You can see the value of an employing someone who knows what they’re doing to produce your web content.

Yet for some reason there are thousands of people out there who think that, unlike other highly valued professions, you can just become a copywriter overnight or you can go out and hire anyone who can string a few words together. How hard can it be? Pretty much everyone can write, right?

Just because you can write, doesn’t mean you can write.

In the same way that, just because I can talk doesn’t mean I’m a great public speaker, just because I can cook doesn’t make me a chef. And just because I can dance doesn’t make me Michael Flatley – although, Lord help me, after a few pints of Guinness and some twiddly Irish tunes I might delude myself that I am.

You don’t just need words, you need the right words

Just as trying to be Michael Flatley very nearly resulted in serious injury to myself and my companions, so employing a copywriter with little or no experience is at best a total waste of money and at worst could seriously damage your business.

There are lots of people out there who try the Michael Flatley approach to copywriting (sorry to extend the analogy but I like the image). They wouldn’t let an intern do a presentation to the managing director of their biggest client on the justification that the intern can talk, yet they persist in letting any old Tom, Dick or Harriet do their web copy, their blogs or their articles.

Sometimes they even let people whose native language is not English write their web copy. Not that I have anything against the people whose native language is not English. It’s just that, in my experience, even if they get spelling and grammar right, writers whose first language is not English rarely grasp idiomatic use of that language, its nuances, traditions, humour, context, points of reference or flow.

Just because you can write well, doesn’t mean you can write to sell

Even if you can write lucid, engaging English it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a great copywriter. Here are some of the things copywriters do over and above writing some words that make sense together:

  • Understand your business very quickly
  • Understand who your customer is and what kinds of things they will respond to
  • Create strategies to communicate your business to your customers
  • Form cogent arguments for pretty much any viewpoint (we currently write for three telecoms companies who all offer a different service. We have argued the case against the other two for each client.)
  • Do things that have worked in the past for other businesses
  • Write much quicker than you can
  • Do research that makes your business look smarter
  • Come up with great ideas to inspire, entertain and inform your customers

Most importantly they can:

  • Sell your products and services

Fortunately, while there is no substitute for experience, if you can already write well you can learn some of the tricks of the trade by finding a reputable copywriting course. Or just employ a professional to do the copywriting for you.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in copywriting training | No Comments »

The # tag user is a more elegant writer

August 24th, 2010

Lira Leirner, Social Media Consultant

Yesterday I had an intense conversation in which it transpired that we no longer look at content in its own right. When you are being shown a photo album, it comes with commentary rather than five further pictures that would explain the content.

When you go to an art gallery, there’s a description next to the painting rather than several other paintings telling you the story of the artist’s life. When you watch a play, you’ve read the program rather than having an actor talk you through the production background and credits.

Moreover, when you see something on its own, you are more likely to either bypass it or search for supporting information. Content, especially supporting content, is everywhere and no more so than on here, the empire in which Google rains and SEO purrs by its side like a tamed tiger. The hash tag is the beautiful and popular twin-sister of the content tag.

Imagine an empty white space with a big window and a broken piece of furniture, which you just so happen to walk past on the way to work. This can mean a lot. It can mean a shop has gone bankrupt, emptied the space but dropped that piece of furniture. It could mean there’s a new pop – up gallery that hasn’t finished constructing the space – hence, there are no descriptions, titles or tags. What if you looked twice and there it said “Waste of Space” at the bottom corner of the window? How about a scratched out “Wo-lw-rth-“ or in really obvious cases “Shop coming near you soon”. Would that be clearer? Maybe not, but it gives you a second layer of information to explain the situation with.

Now imagine a piece of content that has no reference to anything but itself. Imagine you’re working on your spread- sheets and an automated Social Media interface such as TweetDeck makes a little “ping” noise. You look up and there it is, between all the headers and questions and links. Just a plain little tweet statement that says, “Leaves are green”. What on earth is that twitterer trying to say? But then you see a hash tag, and it all makes sense. It could be #ObviousStatements, #ScienceIsWrong, #EnjoyingNature, #ItIsNotAutumnYet, #IAmBored, #ResearchingPaint – anything. But it will make the tweet a lot clearer without disrupting the copywriting itself in any way.

Make the most of your 140 characters

This is particularly helpful when you want to make sure the SEO of your content is covered without having to add a whole other pointless sentence taking up any of your 140 characters of a tweet. You want to engage your reader but not bombard them with statements.

“You don’t ask visitors to do heavy lifting as soon as they come through the door either, do you? http://ow.ly/2lnUx #CopywritingTips”

  • The majority of the 140 characters are taken up by the interesting question or  content you want to pose to your readers
  • Although the question itself does not use the key words you need, anybody looking for copywriting tips will be able to find this tweet and with it, the link
  • It indicates the nature of the answer of the question without giving it away
  • It evokes curiosity and a higher possibility of tempting the reader to click on the link because they know it is relevant to them but are not sure how

If this were a tweet, I’d add #TheRightWayToUseHashTags. Imagine there was no hash tag description at all… People might have thought the question was meant literal and that the tweet was discussing courteous ways of greeting guests.

#HowNotToWriteTweets

  • “This is a Copywriting Tip.”
  • “One of our copywriting tips is wondering whether you should ask visitors to do heavy lifting as soon as they come through the door.”
  • “The right way to use the hash tag is as follows in an example”.

Hash tags can be used in many different ways and are helpful for SEO, online campaigns, which denote solidarity on a topic, and identifying trending topics such as #ff to join in, hereby ensuring a higher readership based upon miniscule use of words that could have meant missing out entirely. I’ll talk about the different uses in another #SocialMediaHighSchool article.

There’s nothing wrong with being mysterious. As long as it’s clear what you are talking about, of course.

Words by Lira Leirner (Big Star Content’s Social Media Consultant)

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Why your blog is rubbish

August 23rd, 2010

Aren’t blogs great? Your opportunity to inject a little personality, a little zest, zing and zap to your website. That’s not to say that your site in itself isn’t engaging and informative, worth a visit in its own right, but blogs just add that splash of colour, a loose collar, a ‘hey have you heard’? – intimacy that people enjoy. Keeping visitors regularly updated with considered input and info won’t do your SEO any harm either. The search engines like nothing more than an active site with plenty of juicy interesting content. There are the link building opportunities too. Your blog as a fresh source of content makes a great destination. Blogs – the interesting, human face of your organisation.

Well, then how come so many blogs are duller than ditch water? Maybe you’re a mega corporation then you may to an extent have your hands tied. It goes with the territory that size means systems and guidelines which can often shut down the sort of expression and personality needed for an interesting blog presence. You’ll need to work within a corporate framework.

But what about other organisations?

SMEs and smaller businesses don’t have the excuse of being constrained by red tape or excessive rules of engagement. How come so many blogs fail to deliver? How come so many of them are rubbish?

Here’s how to make people stop and take notice of your blog.

Sit on the fence – Don’t. Your opinions define you. Express them. Take sides, draw lines in the sand and be prepared to fight your corner.

Don’t try too hard – Needy is the biggest turn off there is. Sure you may be desperate to please. But the minute you let it show there will be rush for the door.

Be interested in your readers – No, that doesn’t mean pretend to be interested in your readers. It means if you can’t find it within yourself to actually care how your reader engages with your blog, if you can’t find a way of delivering something of use, of interest  for them, then don’t bother. Indifference is futile. You’ll be wasting everyone’s time.

Be prepared to be disliked or to make enemies – For example I am rapidly developing a severe aversion to so called SEO gurus who seem to think that polluting the internet with spun, machine generated copy created only for machines is clever. I have no problem expressing my dislike of them. If they want to call me out, then that’s fine by me.

Be yourself – We’re all different. The more you reveal your individuality the more important your blog will become.

Get to it.

Words by Martin Williams

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog Copywriting | No Comments »

7 SEO copywriting secrets guaranteed to make you a millionaire

August 18th, 2010

If you thought the secret of SEO copywriting success was simply a case of;

  • slipping a keyword or keyword phrase into your ’7 SEO copywriting secrets guaranteed to make you a millionaire’ H1
  • jamming a few keywords into the beginning and end of your body text
  • keyword density
  • a couple of hundred scrapped and spun articles
  • bullet points

then you’d be right…………….if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Of course, most of the above are important tactics. That’s all they are though. Focusing only on fixes reveals a lack on strategic understanding and the knowledge that the very simple key to SEO copywriting success, to SEO success in general, is, and always will be….. quality. That if you want to develop a sustainable and profitable online profile then you need to build it on content that isn’t just adequate. You need content that excels. Win your online wars with killer copy.

When SEO companies approach SEO and especially SEO copywriting as a challenge to outwit the search engines then you’re in trouble. The schoolboy gang mentality that treats Google as the enemy, that insists on sticking it to ‘the man’ by finding ways to circumvent spam traps and quality filters is at best short termist. At worst damaging.

Honestly. If you ever find your self surrounded by a certain breed of SEO pro at an SEO convention or meet-up you’ll struggle to avoid that nudge nudge wink wink, “I’d have to kill you if I told you” SEO stuff that can make dealing with the industry such an underwhelming experience. When secrecy is your most valuable asset I guess that’s what you ought to expect.

Don’t buy it. Don’t buy the concept that there’s a way of gaming the system that won’t damage your online profile and profits eventually. Don’t buy the idea that there’s a code you can break or spell that can be cast to instantly turn your site into a traffic magnet.

Instead of wasting your time plotting and scheming how best to bypass the relevance tests and to hoodwink the algorithms wouldn’t your efforts be better spent on developing world class content? Working with a copy partner who can help reveal your true identity, your unique personality, your differential? Developing copy content that not only impresses the search engines but entertains, amuses, informs and persuades your human visitors. Content that converts?

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , ,
Posted in SEO copywriting | No Comments »

What SEO can’t do

August 12th, 2010

SEO in its simplest, purest and most wholesome sense is a wonderful thing. A website optimised for search engines is lovely. All tagged up, with your page titles succinct yet informative,  weighing in at a feather light 65 characters. Page descriptions honed to a super relevant, not toooooo salesy 140ish characters. Then there are your H1s and H2s, your anchor text, delightfully rapid load times and not a hint of floppy flabby code to confuse the bots. Your graphics are nice and compressed, your keyword density is nestling somewhere just under the 3% mark. Files are named and the navigation is a dream.

Excellent. Everything but everything SEOwise is A1, ship shape and Bristol fashion.  And after a while here comes all that lovely traffic. Lots and lots of visitors eager to spend their time mooching around your website finding out all about you and what you do and what you offer before wending their way to your checkouts, arms loaded with products. Maybe you’re not actually selling, maybe your visitors are subscribing to your publication or voting or downloading. Hey! It’s your business objective after all.

But hang on? All these first time visitors. Well, it’s a bit much isn’t it to expect them to do the do on their very first visit? And you find that many don’t. They hardly know you for heaven’s sake. Would you go all the way at the first time of asking? Probably not. Never mind. There’s always next time.

Except. There isn’t a next time. And there won’t ever be another time. You’ve gone to all that trouble attracting, enticing your prospects and well…. you’ve blown it. The came, they saw, they bounced.

Why? Because your content doesn’t cut it. All that investment in SEO to attract visitors but when it comes to engagement, entertainment, value, the close, you goofed. Maybe they were bored, or patronised or just saw that there was nothing in it for them. Maybe they just didn’t quite trust you enough.

Think about it. All you can realistically hope to achieve on a first visit is to start to nurture a relationship, to build trust. It’s only on the second, the fifth, the fifteen visit that your call might be actioned and the sale made or the email submitted or whatever. When your content offers a compelling reason for someone to revisit your site then you stand a chance of building build the necessary trust that will eventually lead to your objectives being fulfilled.

What can’t SEO do?

SEO can’t convert.

If your content fails – you fail. No matter how.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , ,
Posted in SEO copywriting, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The lost art of storytelling – Why every brand needs to tell a tale

August 11th, 2010

What is a brand? Why do we all want one so badly?

Essentially, when we look at ‘brand’ we are looking at a set of consumer value judgments against a given product or service. Driven by both emotion and function, these value judgments create an overall impression of ‘brand’ in the consumer’s mind. As marketers we hope that the impression we create will generate more value than the sum of the parts.

In a nutshell, we all want ‘brand’ because it allows us to sell to our consumers in a more profitable and more sustainable way.

So where to begin on a journey in branding? Well, it’s always been about story-telling, creating emotional and functional differentiators that a consumer latches on to. Each time they come to purchase we hope the little story we have created about our product/service will replay in their minds.

In earlier times pre-advertising, the vehicle for story-telling was the packaging. Think about all those complex, multi-layered elements and messages on 19th Century packaging. They told the consumer the story of what they were buying, shouted out all the key things they should know:  awards, medals, royal approval, product differences etc. This was the very early form of brand marketing which then gravitated to poster advertising.

Over time, TV advertising became king and the art of the brand story was lost. It was simply too expensive to buy the amount of time required to give consumers any more than a quick fix, jolt in the arm ‘buzz’ about brands. Packaging became about super slick design. The functional disappeared and we were left with pure emotion and the well worn, now rather tired, FMCG model of securing widespread distribution combined with a big ad campaign, job done.

The media landscape is now changed; digital advertising expenditure has outstripped its small screen cousin. To the next generations the TV will soon sound as old-fashioned as the ‘wireless’ did to our own ears.

We have a major change in approach to contend with. The online space demands content. It feeds on words. Consumers are reading, texting, tweeting, blogging, exchanging opinions every day. In the second phase of the web the lost art of story-telling will be reborn.

You have time, you have space and you have new opportunity.

The challenge that lies ahead is to create or re-create a new brand story that supports and nurtures your product or service. It will be shared, discussed and debated. It will engage, and it will connect if written well.

The brand story was and still is the heart of the brand, carrying those emotional and functional differences that form the value judgements of consumers. The digital space will allow it to be heard once again.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Brand Strategy, Copywriting Articles | No Comments »

» Older Entries