Every business has a unique identity, and that identity can work for you by attracting a solid group of like-minded customers. If your identity isn’t clear, you miss out on those benefits, plus you could actually drive people away by being inconsistent and unremarkable.
In content strategy, building a unique identity and sticking to it is key to both attracting new business, and keeping existing loyal customers. Especially if you’re in a field with heavy competition, your identity is a huge piece of being able to stand out above the other guys.
I recently read an article on the Content Marketing Institute website called Identity Matters: How Content Strategists Build Trust and Loyalty. It was a great read, and I highly suggest taking a look! Make sure you read through the whole thing, because there are some examples at the end that really bring the idea home.
If you don’t have time to read it, here’s the gist:
Build a content (and communication) strategy based off of your core values. Your core values should inform everything you do, including each piece of content.
Companies that do not have clear, responsible sets of core values applied effectively come off as inauthentic and inhuman. It doesn’t matter how creative and flashy their branding efforts are.
– Melissa Eggleston and Julie Lilles, Content Marketing Institute
How to Avoid an Identity Crisis in Your Content Strategy
Because your core values are original and unique to your business, building any content off of those values will make for unique content. Another of my favorite paragraphs from the article reads:
Originality in communication combines creativity with identity. Originality is about being creative within the identity you’ve already determined for yourself. You should be unique, unusual, and – most of all – you! Any content you produce – be that on your website, in digital ads, or wherever—should not be mistaken for anyone else’s.
Yes! The best content strategies out there have been unique, unusual, and clearly associated with one company and that company’s core values.
Want to be great at using your core values in your content strategy? Melissa Eggleston with co-writer Julie Lilles writes that you should ask yourself these five questions:
- Are our company’s core values reflected in all our content? If not, why not?
- Do customers know who we are and what we stand for? Do customers trust us? How do we know?
- Is our communication consistent? Do we look and sound the same in all our channels? Whose responsibility is this at our company?
- Do we have something original to say? Or do we just sound like our competitors?
- Do we use both qualitative and quantitative measures to see if our communication is accurately portraying who we are? Or are we just guessing?
These questions are awesome, whether you’re a content strategist, a business leader, or even in sales. Everything you do, say, and write should align with your company’s core values and goals as a business.
Need help with making your content strategy stand out and align with your business’s core values and goals? Thrive is here to help. Let’s chat.
