Content - More than a Sum of Parts
Part four in the 4C’s of Brand Messaging introduction series.
Content, firmly rooted in context, aligned by channel and given purposeful cadence is still only a sum of parts. It’s through the creative lens that content gains something truly powerful: personality. And a brand without personality is like a human being without personality - totally forgettable. Welcome to the final installment of our introductory series on the 4C’s of Brand Messaging - Content.
To develop great content we should always operate from the foundation of good strategy. However, most strategies don’t tell us anything about the voice, tone, look, or feel of what we’re creating. Most often, it’s these less tangible elements that help brands stand out in a crowd. If strategy represents what our body needs in order to function (e.g., arms, legs, a face, etc.), it’s creative vision that represents the expression of our heart and soul. As marketers, when we want customers to connect deeply with our brands - not just give us passing glances - we show heart and soul.
So how do we show heart and soul, and develop brand personality? Frameworks of course. Every creative worth their salt uses frameworks for understanding and conceptualizing a brand. It’s like having a room to operate in, which allows creative expression to take place. Every creative team needs a starting point to triangulate the initial brand position and begin exploration.
Examples of creative frameworks include: creative briefs, message architectures, and brand guidelines. These important documents set the stage for tone and voice, look and feel - they are the on-paper rule books for how to act, talk, and look as a brand. Creative frameworks provide the necessary shape and structure for each piece of content we create. And the best part is, these frameworks can be updated over time, allowing brands to evolve and grow as if they were real people.
“Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures.”
Establishing brand personality also requires consistency - across both copy and design. To be recognizable, a brand must be consistent in its tone, voice, and visual approach. As tempting as it might be to cater directly to the audience of a specific social channel, a brand must never loose sight of who it intends to be. Brands must first establish a core personality, through an unbroken series of successful gestures. Once firmly established, the brand personality has greater flexibility for nuance.
Content embodies each of its predecessors in the 4C’s of Brand Messaging, and it also stands alone. Without creative vision, content is just a bland collection of facts and figures, hoping to get noticed. Hats off to all the creatives out there working to make brand personalities sing. And hats off to everyone who made it all the way through this introductory series to the 4C’s of Brand Messaging.
Find me at: www.njmclain.com