The politics of content marketing
Content marketers Stateside are getting their teeth stuck into the content marketing lessons to be learnt from the increasingly fractious race for the Democratic nomination for President between Hillary 'Billary' Clinton and Barack 'time for change' Obama.
Newt Barrett at Content Marketing Today is convinced as to the reasons why Obama has gained the recent momentum:
'There is a fundamental reason that Barack Obama is beating Hillary Clinton’s brains out. It boils down to who is using content marketing most effectively.' (Newt Barrett, Content Marketing Today).
He goes on to explain that Obama is much more tuned into understanding the needs and attitudes of his audience and is using this insight to craft relevant and valued positioning messages that motivate voters to act: the cornerstone of great content marketing. For that reason he focuses on the message that he will bring change to American politics and society before he moves on to talk about policy details. The detail of his policies are there, but they are packaged within a message that enables Obama to first build a trust and understanding with voters. In other words, he is crafting a message that taps into the mood of the market, and only then is creating content to support it. Conversely, says Barrett, Clinton appears to be reciting a 'laundry list' of policies/features to the electorate - which leads to shallower connections with voters than those which Obama is achieving. The lesson:
'In order to connect with your customers so that you merit their trust, you must have a deep understanding of what is most important to them. Only then can you create a communications strategy that will achieve results. Relevant content derives from true understanding of your customers.' (Newt Barrett, Content Marketing Today).
This is really important: when marketing a brand or for that matter marketing yourself as a brand, you need to think about positioning yourself in a way that speaks to your audience in a clear, compelling and distinctive way. Yes, you need to have substance behind the message, but people see the style before they see the substance and that's what they will remember. Take a simple example: the content you craft for your resume/CV.
To be effective you need to think about what a potential employer is looking for, decide on a clear and differentiated positioning statement that appeals to its goals, wants and needs and then include evidence (in the form of your career history, portfolio or testimonials) that supports the position you have taken. You should state the positioning statement clearly upfront - in your covering letter or email and at the head of your resume - and integrate it throughout by defining what you have done in your career in the same context. The alternative is to list numerous examples of what you have done/what you are going to do if you get the job, without ever making your central message explicit.
This is a clear lesson from psychology as to why the former is more effective, as featured in a recommended book for content marketers: Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion. The authors describe an experiment in which two groups of business students saw two different adverts for BMW, one stating: 'BMW or Mercedes? There are many different reasons to choose a BMW. Can you name ten?' The other: 'BMW or Mercedes? There are many different reasons to choose a BMW. Can you name one?' The research found that those asked to name ten reasons had a lower evaluation of the BMW than those who were asked to name just one. In psychological terms, this is to do with the 'fluency' of the experience - that is, the easier task - recalling one reason as to why a BMW should be chosen - played better, precisely because it was easier to achieve.
You can see the power of this in action just by looking at the Clinton and Obama websites. They are both superb sites from a marketing perspective: easy to use, clear calls to action, contain viral tools, provide easily navigable content on the candidates, the policies and the campaign trail and have superb design. But all of Obama's content is framed in his central message: 'I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours.' It's both aspirational and personal, simple and clear yet it contains complex and attractive ideas. Obama may or may not get to the White House, but I have to agree that with a more 'fluent' position in the psychology of voters, he has won the early content marketing victory.
Be relevant, be valued and get your customers to act.
