How To Create Impactful Content For Brand Marketing Recent Harvard report suggests that cost of consumer attention has increased seven to nine folds in the past two decades
By Jignesh Maniar •
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Mentos, Fevicol, Bajaj and Vodafone — one thing that is common between these brands is their engaging advertisements. Even after many years, consumers still remember them and are connected to them. With more than 38 different advertisements being aired on national television per minute, and add to it the plethora of social media platforms, it becomes imperative for marketers to create content that breaks the clutter.
Creating Impactful Content Greatest Challenge
The current advertising landscape, along with its opportunities, offers several challenges to advertisers as well. A recent Harvard report suggests that the cost of consumer attention has increased seven to nine folds in the past two decades. With the outburst of the Internet, individuals are exposed to content 24/7 and that too through multiple channels.
In earlier times individuals would be exposed to content only during the half-an-hour morning newspaper session and the one-hour television session during the night. But today, an individual is exposed to content constantly. Thus, creating impactful and long lasting content is a greater challenge today than it was ever before.
Three Pillars of Impactful Content
Any impactful content has three pillars: timelessness, relevance, and engagement.
Timelessness
A campaign must have an endearing message that people can connect with for years to come. It should cut across mediums and if it is a mass-brand, across demographics.
Relevance
This has emerged as a key pillar in today's dynamic environment. With consumers having access to multiple screens at the same time, it becomes very crucial for the campaign to convey a relevant message in order to retain attention. Data intelligence has thus emerged as a crucial tool for marketers. Analysing consumer data and drawing relevant inferences helps marketers to understand consumer trends, preferences, likes and spending habits.
Engagement
The third pillar is equally crucial for creating impactful content. Marketers must ensure that they create content that consumers want to see and not what they want to show. Engagement plays a key role in creating successful campaigns. The consumer has to be entertained enough and feel compelled to act on your communication.
Steps to Create Long-lasting Content
Ideation
Behind any impactful content, there are multiple steps and strategies involved. And they should all begin with ideas. Ideas provide the framework for the entire campaign. A marketer must start the ideation process with an empty canvas and let his/her creative juices flow in all directions.
When you think of a hundred average ideas, you will get one good idea and when you think of a hundred good ideas you will get one great idea.
Execution
The next part of the process is execution. One must remember that any vision without action is just daydreaming. During the execution stage, one must take care of the detailing; it is important to understand every dimension of the campaign and pay equal attention to each one of them.
Right Team
Another key consideration during the execution stage is having the right team. A right team, with the right skill sets, working with the right goals can create wonders.
The ones behind the idea must be involved in every aspect of the execution process and must ensure that the vision is correctly implemented in the campaign.
A Balance between Effective Content and Brand Engagement
Every successful campaign manages a balance between content and brand engagement. While the ultimate objective of any advertisement is to convey the correct brand message, it is impossible to do so without providing engaging content.
Having access to content 24/7 across multiple platforms has changed the advertising space in a profound way. For example, as per a recent PWC India report, individuals between the age group of 16-30 use mobile internet for an average of 2.2 hours per day.
But irrespective of these trends, the core of every successful campaign will always remain the same - Great, relevant, engaging, entertaining brand ideas.
