Brand Voice, Content Intent, and the User Experience

On the intimate link between an organisation’s image, its content marketing message, and the overall customer experience

The current content landscape

Through my experience, I have found that content is more often secondary to traditional marketing channels and sometimes even a mere afterthought.

When content comes in at a late stage in the strategy (and it will come in), it is usually either because,

a) it is now a necessity and content needs to be rapidly generated to establish brand ethos and values, or

b) because it is simply missing from the marketing campaign and it is needed for content’s sake. 

Both are tricky sells for the user and community and there are often challenges when synchronising content message within the previously executed marketing efforts.

Content is a much more powerful marketing tool that weaves the aspects of the brand, marketing campaign, and user experience together in a comprehensive and consistent manner that produces long-lasting results.

So where do we see content fitting in to the overall marketing strategy and how do we employ its methods to create value in the user community, generate high-value accounts, and loyal repeat clients?

Content connects a brand with its users, and clients with the brand

Content is the intimate link and core component for community building, establishing trust, fostering brand loyalty, and consumer feedback and response. Its ROI is fundamentally different from other marketing and sales channels, so it needs to be measured appropriately (more on this below).

When content is effectively carried out, it is a high-value lead magnet that acts as a reliable baseline for traffic and conversions that sits atop other channels, such as email broadcasts and cold calls.

Indeed, one great advantage of content is that is switches from outbound to inbound, once your community is established, via direct connections including email newsletters, direct messaging, and social media engagement.

Synchronising brand voice to content strategy

How a brand’s voice is synchronised with its content strategy and conveyed through its online presence.

It takes a well-planned and executed strategy to achieve consistent message, all the way from initial interest through to customer feedback. We have consistently found that collaborative efforts always pay higher returns for all parties involved, i.e. entering more of the business strategy into the content strategy. Integrating the two enables a closer connection of values, objectives, and goals.

One piece of content will not convey the entire message of the organisation. Viewers do not make contact and convert into clients during their first contact. Typically they return three or more times via multiple channels before moving into the sales funnel, we have found. In this manner, the content campaign tells the brand story: its backdrop, ethos, purpose, and current news. When the user makes contact they are already a well-informed potential client.

A well executed content campaign, more often than not, includes professionally written pieces complemented with video or audio (or both) and, of course, a strong social media presence with active community engagement.

We are increasingly seeing direct messaging channels open up between users and brands where two-way interaction fosters value and engagement. This method is relatively easily achieved now with the help of a.i. chatbots to streamline processes.

Content’s place in the user experience

Content is central: it will likely be the first point of contact for a new user and therefore it needs to be consistently on-point on every channel e.g. video, organic and native content, and social media posts.

When content is not the point of first contact (an ad, for example) it is very likely to feature in the user follow-up such as social media content, a social business page, videos, or the website blog. This makes a synchronised message all the more important in the carefully planned user journey, especially when branding and strategy adjustments occur. Including content in the marketing strategy and integrating it into the early stages of planning allows for more achievable aims and measurable goals.

Insightful, well-positioned content reflects the brand story, its current activity, and the journey to the customer right down to the individual user. Therefore, when a user makes contact, they very likely know a great deal about the organisation and their offering already, lightening the coming sales element somewhat.

Content beyond sales

Content exists beyond sales. Well-executed content strategies build robust communities. Our clients have found that users are more often handled as complete customer accounts rather than one-off sales events.

Essentially, users won’t stop using your content immediately after converting to customers. Indeed, they are much more likely to engage you for a suite of services over a longer period compared to finding you through narrower sales channels.

Content driving customer service

Content is taking an increasingly central role in after-sales support, mainly through predictive customer behaviour, such as FAQs and known pain points.

When content is included in the after-sales journey and managed correctly, customers first go through the content stage of customer service to answer their questions and address the issue before proceeding to contact a representative or an a.i. chatbot (if at all). 

The best customer service are delivered by organisations where you virtually never need to directly contact a rep, and predictive content is a key feature of this.

Levels of service, client satisfaction, and customer feedback

The level of service, overall satisfaction, and feedback are key to defining a client’s final judgement of a brand and its offering, and they heavily impact word-of-mouth and repeat business.

Where content and active social media participation is used, we see valuable brand-user engagement. This often includes customer feedback and market research gleaned from social media interactions. Furthermore, users are far more likely to speak their mind on open platforms without the concern of reprieve and this is excellent feedback for future growth and R&D.

Online reviews, star ratings, thumbs up, etc. rank highly in users’ overall image of an organisation or product. Today, everyone sees through paid reviews; these will never take the place of authentic client engagement, even if it is somewhat coerced through invitation and incentive such as a value exchange.

Integrating content into the marketing strategy

Think of content as blended inbound and outbound marketing. Optimised SEO and high rankings increase visibility, while a strong social media presence draws users into the community fold. This is aided by promoted content, search engine ads, influencers, and boosting posts.

Users are then converted into community followers where they engage in repeat visits, email-for-value exchanges, and other forms of direct engagement. This is the point where social media interactions, direct messaging, email, and other inbound content channels take over.

By weaving the brand message into the overall content strategy, it percolates down through the content campaign to each individual post and engagement, with new viewers and existing community users equally valued and informed about a brand and its offering. This generates the evergreen aspect with content far less likely to go cold over time, with traffic and leads slowly declining to 0 hits.

Measuring objectives and performance

As I mentioned, the ROI differs when it comes to content marketing, partly because content lasts. When content is pushed out with no intention of scheduled maintenance and updates, it is more akin to advertising as a short-term means to boost traffic and gain leads.

Accurately measuring a campaign, while using the same data to inform strategy performance and make adjustments, requires appropriate analytics tools and interpretation. The returns from well-positioned content can potentially continue indefinitely when it is updated regularly: something included in all comprehensive content strategies.

Thinking beyond content

When content is implemented as a central part of a business strategy, it underpins the aspects of the brand voice and user experience I have outlined here.

Content is a key resource tool for the organisation as well as its community members and clients, who can reference and return to it throughout the customer — and brand — journey.

Thinking of content in relation to your users and their journey is the best approach. A predictive strategy will yield optimum results, and it will be comparatively easy to measure and adjust when it is in motion. Plus, the optimised strategy is capable of being differentiated according to target segments and can be readily applied to new offerings as well.

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Stay tuned for more insights on the theme of brand story, content intent, and user experience as we explore the client-centred journey from initial contact, through to the marketing campaign, community response, and on to client feedback and recommendation!

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