Up to this point, topics such as how the online environment can be leveraged, tools that can be used for this purpose, trends in the online environment, ways to apply the tools, etc. have been covered. It is time to put the spotlight on the importance of content and how it can become a valuable tool in promoting any online business. Whether it’s a start-up business or a growing business, it’s good to have these tools in the quiver to leverage the online environment. This topic was discussed at length by Alin Niță, moderator of the IT Forum show, together with communication specialist Diana Șerban, who is also the founder of a communication agency.
Moderator Alin Niță: How can it help us, what are the marketing approaches we can integrate into this content? Can we start by defining a little bit the idea of content marketing and what are the areas where this content is applied?
Diana Șerban: If I had to give a very short definition, I would say that it is a long-term commitment that any business makes. You can’t just do content for a month or a week and then not do anything because content ensures the hygiene of the business, it is an integral part of the online marketing strategy, ensuring better visibility for any business online. Until the health crisis hit, content was considered ,,nice to have” and very large companies that had departments abroad were doing this. Now I have noticed that even Romanian companies with a highly technical field of activity are starting to turn to this area because they have understood that you can no longer sell yourself online even if you perform well. If, for example, you only do Google Ads, you can’t do that and be successful without content.
Moderator Alin Niță: Can we clarify where this content lies when we talk about digital marketing strategy? What are the aspects we need to take care of when it comes to content?
Diana Șerban: In strategy, I can say that it is one of the most important pillars. The other day I was watching an interview with an entrepreneur from abroad who, when asked the question “how to cope with the crisis we are going through now?” he answered with another question, “What is your content strategy?”. Here’s an answer about where content is today because it’s what absolutely everything is about promotion at the moment and content is moving a little bit out of the traditional area that we’re used to seeing on the company blog, on Facebook where everyone posts, even in influencer marketing strategies. However, it can go even further than that, in the idea that there are already commenting strategies on groups, on posts that are related to your business and where you have to recommend the company. Comments are not just for the sake of commenting, i.e. you go for very native comments in the sense that they respond very precisely to the post. We, at our agency, already do this and we train our staff to not just come in and leave a comment with a link to the podcast but to provide an opinion related to the topic with the intention of recommending the podcast but not in a very rigid way.
Moderator Alin Niță: When we talk about strategy, of course it has to include this content marketing, we have to take into account the stages in which a potential customer is. How could one define these stages and what would be appropriate in the different stages of a potential buyer, from being aware of the product to actually looking for it? How do you approach content in a strategy to take these stages into account?
Diana Șerban: The content creator must be a researcher. He is a researcher because these strategies, content, are not simply made in a vacuum, it’s about some data, some information that we have about the consumer and that we then use in those pieces of content that however native they may seem, are made to convey the company’s message. For example, there are some tools that we use, one of them is called Answer The Public, which was designed by a team in the UK. You can also use it in the free version but in this case the data you will see is more on the UK area and if you want to pay a subscription you will be able to get data for the region or area of interest. What is very interesting about this tool is that you can enter keywords or whole sentences, product names and, you can make an opinion about the unknowns you have. The tool provides a lot of interesting information on the basis of which you can even build the profile of the ideal buyer, by buying stages. Basically these profiles can be built on information such as their job, habits, what coffee they drink in the morning, where they spend their free time, what magazines they read, whether or not they have children, etc. A content strategy can drill down into all these areas. Not long ago, we saw partnerships between brands and then the content manager or content marketer can think about these things as well. I know, for example, that a group of consumers prefers a certain type of coffee, I can partner with their preferred brand or learn about their habit so that I can provide the value they are looking for.
Moderator Alin Niță: It already sounds like a story, so the content is a story where we involve customers and potential customers in this journey?
Diana Serban: Absolutely, it’s very interesting to think of marketing strategy as a story that has continuity. From the moment you start it, you’re actually telling your story that people, consumers, your partners, come into, and we see this on the retail side a lot. We’ve seen a lot of examples where the big brands are promoting themselves very well through the stories of the small producers they’re working with. I confess that such stories manage to touch me. From a consumer point of view I like to know that when I go to a supermarket, for example, the salad I find there is produced by someone I know, I have seen it on TV, I have seen how he grows it, he has told me how he does it.
Moderator Alin Niță: We talk more about how you use text content in these stories. Is the integration of more video, audio tools equally important and how can it be integrated into the strategy?
Diana Serban: Absolutely. It’s worth remembering that through content we are in constant dialogue with our customers and then we have at hand several platforms that lend themselves to certain types of content, some to written content, others to video content, for example the same information can be disseminated in a short blog post or a short video on Insta Stories or a slightly longer video on Facebook. You can also do a live IGTV where you have a conversation with a local expert or producer. It’s all about being persistent and people will remember that on a certain day, at a certain time a new type of interesting information comes out. At first you may have 10 followers and then the number starts to grow. People will start to be more and more curious and even interested to try what you are promoting. If you just make content and don’t have a message to convey people won’t come after you.
Moderator Alin Niță: Is it like an opening of the heart of the company when you operate outside?
Diana Serban: I see it as a friendship, if we were to boil it down to such an aspect that we deal with in our daily lives. When you make a friend you don’t just talk to them once a year, you make a routine, every once in a while you call them, and if you don’t, then they call you, maybe you go out for coffee every week. In a friendship you’re always connected and if you don’t give any sign people forget you. So does content, it needs to be maintained. At first it may be a more cordial relationship but as you go along things warm up until you get the full trust of the potential client. Your content strategy needs to be very well researched, communicate interesting things, don’t just do it for the sake of doing content. Behind the content that we as consumers should be seeing there should be a lot of documentation work and we should be getting information that is really relevant to our needs. It’s very easy to lose trust when the content doesn’t give them anything interesting to see.
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