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The Holidays are a Time for Giving — But in Business You’ve Got to Give Them What They Want!

Happy Holidays!

It’s the season for celebrating, rejoicing and for giving. But when it comes to business marketing, “it’s the thought that counts” doesn’t really count at all!

In fact as marketers, if we don’t give the people what they want…they are gonna get it somewhere else!

So to make sure you are giving them what they want, check out this interesting research from the Marketing Insiders Group about what people want from branded company content:

branded-content-dec2016

What is “Branded Content”?

Before we get into what people want from branded content, let’s define it. Branded content is a form of marketing or advertising in which companies generate original content (articles, graphics, white papers, video, etc.) that provides some value–it’s not a blatant sales pitch. A perfect example of branded content is this blog post. We write informative articles like this for two reasons: 1. We want to add value and help marketers and companies grow; 2. We want to associate our brand with progressive, smart marketing so that when companies have a marketing need, they turn to BARQAR. The end goal is generating business–but it’s not a hard sell. By generating valuable, branded content you can build trust and showcase subject matter expertise–and over time this generates revenue.

What Gets Consumers to Engage With Branded Content?

First and foremost, branded content should NOT be a blatant sales pitch. It should add value for the consumer. It can have a tie-in to your product or service but the focus should be on value first. But beyond that, here are the three main keys to providing consumers with what they want in terms of content:

  • Content Marketing Quality

    If you’re going to be a successful publisher of branded content, it has to be quality content. Take time to learn and understand what your target audience truly cares about. Find out what your prospects biggest challenges or headaches are, and then build quality content by solving those problems!

  • Content Marketing Relevance

    Not only must the content be of high quality–but it needs to be relevant. If your content doesn’t address a specific issue your prospects are facing right now, it’s not relevant. Get in the habit of becoming a great listener and a consumer of other content. When you come across interesting and relevant research (like this study), share that with your audience. Relevancy is also a key component of search engine marketing. If you write about current and relevant topics, you’re more likely to show at the top of search results.

  • Content Delivery Channel

    You could have the most amazing content in the world, but if you’re not posting it on the right channel, it’s useless. Take the time to find out what channels your audience relies on and engages with. Just like how traditional media (TV, Radio, Print) can provide demographic breakdowns of their audience, so can digital media. In fact, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can provide very detailed overviews of audience demographics, frequency of use, time of use and more. Use this all to your advantage to make sure you’re posting content to the right platforms, at the right times. Then use web analytics to look at engagement and conversions so you can continually improve your message and reach.

Want an easier way to “give ’em what they want”?

At BARQAR Marketing, branded content is what we do. We have a team of 10 content managers that will work with you to identify what interests your audience. Then a team of 50+ writers will work to create a compelling message that gets engagement. From there, we will identify what channels will drive the more visibility with your audience and develop a distribution plan that drives results.

Want to learn more? Contact us today at 888-576-6100.

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